Love on a string

All of Murdoch’s novels are puppet shows in which the author shuffles her characters about on the chessboard of life for the amusement of her readers and the illustration of concepts in philosophy.

In this case, after a slow start, the result is engaging but, as with so many of Murdoch’s novels, somewhat bloodless. The puppets are never free to appear fully alive but their interplay is diverting.

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Superlative narration

This novel improves with rereadings/auditions. The principal characters are complex and interesting and the dialogues are skillfully crafted. The narration, in my opinion, is superbly done showing real versatility and insight.

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Another richly-rewarding Iris Murdoch novel

Iris Murdoch is a wonderful novelist , and what I think is perhaps most impressive of all is the way she peoples her novels with such extraordinary characters. You get to know them so well, she makes them utterly real for you, so that you really care about them, whether they're appalling people, as in the case of Julius King, or flighty, infuriating, feckless, gullible, likeable but at the same time not at all admirable or likeable (Morgan).
The novel's first part is slow and meticulous, but the author is lighting a very long, slow-burning fuse, so that Part 2 resembles a mad operatic final act, Shakespearian in its scope and depth and, it turns out, tragic, in a way I could never have foreseen.
Part 1 may be slow, requiring some patience on the part of the reader, but towards the end of Part 2 I didn't want the novel to end.
As far as Adams James' narration is concerned, 3 stars out of 5 is the most I could award. His range of voices is excellent, (apart from Leonard - oh dear!) but I do expect ACCURACY from a professional narrator! Too often he doesn't read what the author has written. Sometimes it's a very minor detail (but still annoying), on other occasions he changes an important word so that the meaning is altered. At times I wondered if he needed a new prescription for reading glasses! (I was reading the text on Kindle alongside his narration so I KNOW when he deviated from what Murdoch had written.)

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2 people found this helpful

Gruelling but good!

What a truly horrible character Iris Murdoch creates in Julian- but an amazing tale …sort of nightmare Midsummer Nights Dream …
And contrary to other reviews i thought the narration was brilliant. Amazingly so!

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1 person found this helpful

Mediocre

This might be a good book. But with lacklustre narration it is, at least here, mediocre. Murdoch's dialogue depends on performance especially in its long stretches of philosophy. Everyone here sounds the same apart from the occasional stuttering of Julius, the oddly northern Leonard and the stereotypical camp of Simon. If you want a Murdoch novel try The Sea, The Sea.

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1 person found this helpful