The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 2 October 1998
by Iris Murdoch
In her third book, Murdoch constructed a comic love story that plows through staid English mannerisms and convention. Mor is a boys' school teacher, yearning for a more fulfilled life as a Labour Party minister of Parliament. His wife, Nan, is a somewhat shrewish woman who doesn't believe in him or their children, Don and Felicity. Along the way, a pretty young painter arrives to paint the portrait of a retired headmaster of the school. Mor falls desperately in love with her, and she returns the affection. But the social morés of this life paralyse Mor from taking decisive action to leave his wife and run off with the wealthy young painter. Murdoch (who had a long flirtation with the Booker Prize) put her characters through difficult and embarassing situations. They are comic and pathetic. The characters suffer from psychological and emotional stasis that is beautifully and realistically described. One of Murdoch's finer books.
Also by Murdoch: [An Accidental Man] [The Flight from the Enchanter] [The Green Knight]