The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

This topic has been created for those of you who are reading any of the Mookse Madness books by Brian Moore.
These are the four books that have been selected.

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
The Doctor's Wife
Black Robe
Lies of Silence

Judith Hearne for the win.

I am half way through Judith Hearne and wow. I read The Magician's Wife and wasn’t blown over by it so I didn’t have high expectations for Judith Hearne. Was I ever wrong! I am very eager to read the other 3 Moore books.

The Magician's Wife is the only Moore that I tried and didn't like.

I have Black Robe yet to read for MM.

Here's a very old wordpress site set up by "Lizzy Siddal" with the intention of reading all of Brian Moore's books. There's even a link to two of Trevor's reviews at the top.

https://themoorethemerrier.wordpress.com

We didn't manage them all in the end, but had some fun while it lasted.

Here's Lizzy's continuing blog:
https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com

And it looks like she hasn't forgotten:
https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/201...

I have read three novels by Brian Moore. I read Black Robe and The Colour of Blood back in the 90s and to be honest I remember very little about them (positive or negative). Lies of Silence was in one of our Booker revisits last year, and did not seem that exceptional to me. So I am hoping that Judith Hearne and The Doctor's Wife will show me what I am missing.

After advocating to have Moore's Black Robe included as it's considered a bit of a Canadian must read, I was shocked to find my library doesn't have it - or any of these! I'll be tracking down what I can second hand or through interlibrary loan.

I will be surprised if you aren’t pleasantly surprised by Judith Hearne, Hugh. I’m with Ang, it might just be the winner. Poor Judith is a pathetically unforgettable character, one of the all time great characters I might even say.

Jen, if all else fails try www.abebooks.com they have every book printed for under $10 often with free shipping.
I’m glad to know Black Robe is a Canadian must-read.

I finished The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne. I haven’t written my review yet, I have to figure out how convert the feeling of being gutted into words.

I agree with your assessment of The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Wendy - it is very impressive, particularly for a first novel, but it is too bleak for me to give it five stars though it came very close. My review.

I just realized I haven’t written my review. It’s so effecting because we see how that type of lonely destitution can happen someone like Judith.

I had planned to only, or mostly, read the Women of MM, but now I'm reading Judy Hearne because of the intriguing remarks here, but I'm counting Judith as a Woman of MM.

In only a few pages, I am reminded of Elishva in Baghdad in Frankenstein. Elishva battles with her icon of armor-clad Saint George as he battles his dragon. George is, by day, a member of her family, and at night, her portal to the other world, embodied by Jesus who speaks to Elishva, "the poor sheep who had been abandoned by the rest of the flock...." He has made certain promises to her, which he fulfills.

Judith has her Sacred Heart of Jesus to battle and beg, her "guide and comfort, and terrible judge." I think Judith has already been given her Frankenstein companion.

edit: "Baghdad in Frankenstein" is an early morning befuddlement, but after considering it in context of the novel (isn't Baghdad the foremost Frankenstein?), stet.

Yay! The central library has sent a (musty?) copy of Judith Hearne to my branch.

Library notes for its 3 copies said, "Limited Access. Inquire at desk." Are they 1955 copies?
#ithinkso
#grateful
#ridiculinginst
#Iamtobetrusted
#booksteward
#pleasedontbeasgrossasthe1965copyofadedicatedmanbyelizabethtaylor

There is a contrast between The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne and The Doctor's Wife which I found interesting. He is good at looking at women's options in life, or lack of them, for a male author.
I was not as impressed with Lies of Silence and think I liked Black Robe at the time I read it, but it was a long time ago.

I have started The Doctor's Wife - too early to say what I think.

I didn't really enjoy The Doctor's Wife - yes, Moore did inhabit the mind of his main protagonist pretty well, but I never felt the story transcended the mundane, and it is full of rather clunky sex scenes... My review

Famously The Prime Minister’s wife blackballed The Doctor’s Wife for the Booker due to the sex scenes.



My first Moore and very underwhelmed so far but it sounds like it is one of his weakest.

From his obituary in the Independent in 1999 I found this passage interesting

He had a virtual fetish about writing in the voice, and the skin, of a woman. He defended it lightly, saying, "If I write as a woman, I can do all the autobiographical stuff without getting picked up on it"; but the regularity with which he performed this trans-gender ventriloquism suggests a deeply serious engagement with female emotional responses. The charting of a doomed modern love affair, in The Doctor's Wife, filled with off-puttingly clinical sexual encounters, marked perhaps the low- point of these explorations.

Okay, it sounds like I should have stuck with I Am Mary Dunne rather than The Doctor's Wife for my recommendations. :)

My review, which references Mary Wilson, Half Man, Half Biscuit and Michael Thomas - mainly as I really had little to say about the book.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It’s disappointed to read the author of The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne has written some duds. I was also underwhelmed by The Magician's Wife. Not every book can be an author’s best, but I would dearly love to read another Brian Moore book as good as Judith Hearne.

My other recommendation which I relented on was The Emperor of Ice Cream. I highly recommend it, Wendy.

Good! Thank you, Ang. I just ordered it,

Perhaps it would have been different if I had read ".. Judith Hearne" but Moore is not the author for me.

"Lies of Silence" is an examination of the troubles and features a Milkman, but the comparison to Anna Burns book does this rather plodding sub-thriller no favours at all

My review

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reading Black Robe won't change that opinion, although I remember the novel having good reviews and being made into a well-reviewed film as well.

Gumble’s Yard, I don’t know if Moore will be an author for me either, but Judith Hearne was so good, maybe he got lucky and wrote one good book, but if Judith Hearne ever falls into your lap I don’t think you would be disappointed.