The Book and the Brotherhood review
Dec. 24th, 2009 04:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearThis is the second Iris Murdoch book I've read, and I found it quite troubling. I didn't like the characters, the plot, or the style - and yet I continued to read it every day for over two weeks and at no point considered giving up. I'm really not sure why.
It must have engaged me on some level to keep me reading, and my reaction when the only character I remotely liked was killed (in a ridiculously stupid but somehow horribly inevitable fashion) was much more intense than I expected.
I think I was attracted to the theme of people clutching desperately at the glorious past of their time at university, to the extent that they can't accept change in the people they knew back then, or in any way let go or move forward or appreciate what there is in the present to fulfil them. I guess, reading about such people, I was very glad not to be one of them.
Still, to get through 600 pages, it must have been more than that, and it's my inability to pinpoint what was good about the book that I find troubling. I don't like it when my literary appreciation skills desert me, as they seem to have done some time ago.
I don't seek out Iris Murdoch, but I'm glad that people keep giving me her books, as I evidently get something out of them, even if it's not simple, uncomplicated enjoyment - and I think it's important to be challenged by what you read on occasion. I just wish I could articulate my response more clearly and eloquently!
It must have engaged me on some level to keep me reading, and my reaction when the only character I remotely liked was killed (in a ridiculously stupid but somehow horribly inevitable fashion) was much more intense than I expected.
I think I was attracted to the theme of people clutching desperately at the glorious past of their time at university, to the extent that they can't accept change in the people they knew back then, or in any way let go or move forward or appreciate what there is in the present to fulfil them. I guess, reading about such people, I was very glad not to be one of them.
Still, to get through 600 pages, it must have been more than that, and it's my inability to pinpoint what was good about the book that I find troubling. I don't like it when my literary appreciation skills desert me, as they seem to have done some time ago.
I don't seek out Iris Murdoch, but I'm glad that people keep giving me her books, as I evidently get something out of them, even if it's not simple, uncomplicated enjoyment - and I think it's important to be challenged by what you read on occasion. I just wish I could articulate my response more clearly and eloquently!
