Jim Murdoch (Contributor of The best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal 2012)

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…ecce homo… – John 19:5 (Latin Vulgate) Basically there are three kinds of novels: novels where everything is made up (e.g. The Wonderful Wizard... Read more of this blog post »

Jim rated a book 2 of 5 stars

Antwerp
by Roberto Bolaño

read in May, 2013

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From what I’ve read I can see that Bolaño is a writer worth reading, just perhaps not this novel, not until one has read most of his later work which, at this point, I have not. It’s called a novella but it’s really more a collection of loosely—and I...more

Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Woman
by Richard Matheson

read in May, 2013

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This is an odd book. It starts off looking like one thing—I was reminded of, of all things, the TV play Abigail’s Party—and then seems to be heading in a completely different direction—an Outer Limits/Tales of the Unexpected-type scenario—before endi...more This is an odd book. It starts off looking like one thing—I was reminded of, of all things, the TV play Abigail’s Party—and then seems to be heading in a completely different direction—an Outer Limits/Tales of the Unexpected-type scenario—before ending up as straight science fiction. I can see why people might have been disappointed in it. Those who come to it after watching I Am Legend won’t know what hit them. Then again they’d probably be disappointed with the original novel rather than the other way round.

The title Woman works on a couple of levels and we don’t actually learn who ‘Woman’ is until the last few pages. Up until then I hadn’t thought it was that great a title although Matheson hammers the Feminist stake into all the male chests with gusto; there isn’t a man in the book that’s likeable, not even the hero, although to be fair none of the women are especially likeable either. To criticise the writer for populating his book with cardboard characters is to miss the point: they are. Woman came out in 2006 but it felt very 1970s. I’ve watched TV programmes from or set in that time and it’s quite appalling how the males behaved and what the females tolerated. If this book had come out then I can imagine it becoming a cult classic. Not now.

It is one thing—from start to finish—a page turner and that’s perhaps a little surprising since the bulk of the book is dialogue. Nothing really happens and virtually all the action—I use the term loosely—takes place in a single apartment. I found it hard to put down. The best part reminded me of the film Carnage where two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behaviour throws the evening into chaos. I’ve been in company like that, where a conversation gets out of hand and nothing can rein the guests in.

The book is not without its faults and other reviewers have highlighted them. I liked it more than I expected. It probably only deserves 3½ stars but I’m going with 4 since I got so caught up in it that I missed most of its failings and these are things a decent editor should’ve picked up; I can’t fault the author for that especially knowing what things my own editor has caught.(less)

Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Without Blood
by Alessandro Baricco

read in May, 2013

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As I started to read this novella I got the feeling I’d read it before but I couldn’t find the book on any of my shelves and yet I was sure this was not the first time I’d read it. The premise is a simply enough one: a young girl, Nina, in a hiding p...more As I started to read this novella I got the feeling I’d read it before but I couldn’t find the book on any of my shelves and yet I was sure this was not the first time I’d read it. The premise is a simply enough one: a young girl, Nina, in a hiding place under the floor, ‘witnesses’ the murder or her father and older brother. One of the men, the youngest, the twenty-year-old Tito, discovers her in hiding but doesn’t reveal her location to the other two men even when one of them sets fire to the building although knowing what he knows he’s distraught but still he says nothing. Amazingly the child survives and a few days later is discovered and taken into care.

Fifty-two years later Tito is selling lottery tickets and is approached by an old woman who turns out to be the adult Nina. He, not unreasonably, assumes she has come to exact vengeance and feeling he deserves whatever she chooses to mete out he goes with her to a local café where they basically fill in the blanks for each other since neither is privy to all the facts although she knows more than him; he’s done his utmost to put the past behind him. But how to end a story like this. It could go one of two ways and even on the very last page I still wasn’t sure the author wasn’t going to rip the carpet out from under me.

Needless to say it’s a very talky book—the second section is almost entirely in dialogue (which I like), just two people sitting across from each other—and yet it kept my interest throughout. At first I thought we were dealing with gangsters but when I realised these men were hunting down someone they considered to be a war criminal that changed my perspective. Of course the author is at pains at the start of the book not to identify any particular war and, as he says, “The frequent choice of Spanish names is due purely to their music and is not intended to suggest a historic or geographical location of the action.” Not being Spanish I didn’t find that helped but it’s a minor gripe.

Once again I’m impressed by how a talented writer can get away with next to no descriptions or action. You don’t have to show, you can tell. I’m giving the book four stars but a part of me—the part who’s sure he’s read the book before—is tempted only to give it three because it’s clearly not as memorable a book as one might expect it to be. I wonder how long I’ll remember it for this time?(less)

Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Memories of My Melancholy Whores
by Gabriel García Márquez

read in May, 2013

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I’ve never read Lolita. It’s always puzzled me that the book has managed to hold its own against its detractors especially nowadays where people are far more aware of and sensitive to what’s actually going on in the world. I can see why some people w...more I’ve never read Lolita. It’s always puzzled me that the book has managed to hold its own against its detractors especially nowadays where people are far more aware of and sensitive to what’s actually going on in the world. I can see why some people would be up in arms about Memories of My Melancholy Whores so I thought I’d check. According to Wikipedia, “The minimum age of consent in Colombia is 14 regardless of gender and/or sexual orientation. However sexual acts with children aged between 14 and 18 can be prosecuted as Estupro, under the Article 301 – Acceso carnal mediante engaño and Article 302 – Acto sexual mediante engaño if consent is obtained through "deceit".” This is, I think, is an important point although the brothel owner does indicate that what they’re doing is illegal despite the fact the girl is willing and clearly aware of what is being asked of her. It is a moot point. What happens in the book is what happens and just as with Lolita it’s probably better not to get distracted by the situation especially since things don’t pan out the way I—and I expect most readers—might have anticipated.

Others have drawn comparisons with Beauty and the Beast and it’s a fair comparison; the old man describes himself as “ugly, shy, and anachronistic” and the madam says the girl is “beautiful, clean, and well-mannered.” Comparisons with Sleeping Beauty are not out of place either. Indeed this book does have the feel of a modern fable; the whole story is a bit far-fetched.

The thing is—and I think this is why the romantic in me is willing to jump to the author’s defence here—I may be fifty-four on the outside but a part of me—and an important part of me—with always be fourteenish. I was lucky enough not to have to hang around until I was ninety to experience first love but it also came later than I would’ve liked. Fourteen would’ve been a good age to fall in love for the first time. I actually don’t see this guy as that far removed from the sixty-nine-year-old Krapp lolling in the memories of the girl in the punt (and the several other girls he mentions too).

I said I never read Lolita and that’s true but I did see Kubrick’s film adaptation and by the end it was hard not to feel sorry for the pathetic Humbert. At least this book has something closer to a happy ending. There will always be those who won’t be able to find it in themselves to see beyond the ages of the girls in these two books and that’s fine; there are plenty of other books out there to read. This one is told beautifully though and if I came away from Lolita thinking Humbert was pathetic I came away from Memories of My Melancholy Whores thinking of Don Scholar as actually kind of sweet.(less)

Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Being There
by Jerzy Kosiński

read in May, 2013

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I saw the film first. It is a very good film and also—now that I’ve read the book I can attest to this—an excellent adaptation which it ought to be as Kosinski also wrote the screenplay; the only thing I think was missed was the encounter with the ho...more I saw the film first. It is a very good film and also—now that I’ve read the book I can attest to this—an excellent adaptation which it ought to be as Kosinski also wrote the screenplay; the only thing I think was missed was the encounter with the homosexual and I can see why it was skipped because the same thing happens with EE later. Of course we couldn’t have had the film without the book and as I’ve implied there’s no great difference contentwise between the one and the other but the film is better. The events as described in the book seem a little too farfetched but when you see the film you start to see how this most preposterous chain of events might actually have happened. Politics has never interested me very much but recently I’ve been watching a few more programmes that deal with political themes—shows like Political Animals and Veep—and they beggar belief at times. That said this isn’t that far removed from the world of Jane Austin either where people read into everything. It’s a comedy of errors, plain and simple. Chance is innocent in all this. He’s innocent in that he is guiltless and he’s innocent in that he’s ignorant. He goes with the flow.

This is a charming fable and if you read it as such then you won’t be disappointed. Start to ask too many questions and the book could lose some of its charm. The book ends differently to the film—no walking on water—and that’s not a bad thing but it’s not as interesting an ending. The fun, of course, is stopping the writing before Chance gets found out. Surely he has to get found out and sooner rather than later. But we don’t get to see his fall or the egg on the faces of all those who have put faith in him. It ends the only way it could really.

Not a great book then but an enjoyable read even after having seen the film twice at least. It actually felt like a novelisation rather than the other way round and usually they’re sniffed at but I guess it depends on who the author is; Thomas M. Disch’s novelisation of The Prisoner was excellent as were Alan Dean Foster’s three Alien novels. What I would like to see is a novelisation of the film which might shed a little light on that cryptic ending.(less)

Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Behold the Man
by Michael Moorcock

read in May, 2013

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Amazingly I knew next to nothing about this book before I picked it up and deliberately didn’t seek to remedy that before I read the book which was a wise decision. I didn’t have to wait long to see where the book was going. The third paragraph on th...more

Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Point Omega
by Don DeLillo

read in May, 2013

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The politics of this story bypassed me. This, for me, was a story about waiting and watching. It’s academic that the central figure is a filmmaker because he could just as easily have been a writer. I didn’t see 24 Hour Psycho when it was in Glasgow...more The politics of this story bypassed me. This, for me, was a story about waiting and watching. It’s academic that the central figure is a filmmaker because he could just as easily have been a writer. I didn’t see 24 Hour Psycho when it was in Glasgow but I was aware of it and immediately set the opening section in the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art; the last thing I saw there was a film installation so that’s probably why. I related to the unnamed man from the jump but made the mistake, as I’m sure others did, of assuming that he’s the filmmaker Jim in the main body of the book. I’m not convinced he is because the man at the start of the book witnesses “two men enter, the older man using a cane” and later Jim mentions that in New York Elster “used a cane that he didn't need”; he takes him to see the film which Elster doesn’t like and they leave after a few minutes just like the couple in the opening section. So when, in the closing section, an unnamed woman appears I was willing to believe she was the missing Jessie but we never know for sure and it doesn’t matter.

I’d only read one book by DeLillo prior to this, The Body Artist, and was entranced by it. This book has a similar feel and that pleased me no end because I’d put off reading anything else by him in case I was disappointed. In The Body Artist we have two strangers trying (and mostly failing) to connect; in Point Omega it’s three. Jim has travelled to the desert retreat of Richard Elster, a seventy-three-year-old military advisor, to try and persuade him to let him film him. The story opens on day ten and he’s no further forward and it’s no surprise that the film never gets made. Instead they talk, cook, drink, drive, shop and other such mundane stuff. It’s as if Jim has stepped into 24 Hour Psycho. At one point Elster says, “Time slows down when I'm here. Time becomes blind. I feel the landscape more than see it. I never know what day it is. I never know if a minute has passed or an hour.” Odd then that the old man’s comment on the film was that “it was like watching the universe die over a period of about seven billion years.”

In The Body Artist Mr Tuttle vanishes; in Omega Point it’s the daughter. People refuse (or don’t know how) to move on until they’re forced to. Jim would stand and watch 24 Hour Psycho until the bitter end but the museum closes at half-five and so he’s ejected back into the real world and that’s what happens with Jim and Elster once Jessie fails to return; they go back to the hustle and bustle of city life.

I found this a most evocative book. Nothing will ever match The Body Artist—the book came at exactly the right time for me—but this is a close second.(less)

Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Loading Mercury With a Pitchfork
by Richard Brautigan

read in May, 2013

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I’ve been a fan of Richard Brautigan for a long time. I’ve read all his novels and as many of his short stories and poems that I can lay my hands on. He never disappoints. Some works are better than others but when you’re caught up reading him you’re...more

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	Living with the Truth 3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2008	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Milligan and Murphy 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2011	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Stranger than Fiction 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2009	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	This Is Not About What You Think 4.67 of 5 stars 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2010	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Whole Truth 3.0 of 5 stars 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2011	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal 2012 by Jessica Bell (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Dawn Ius (Editor), Adam Byatt (Contributor) 4.81 of 5 stars 4.81 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Poetry Pact 2011 by Angela Felsted (Goodreads Author), Richard Merrill, Alaine Benard 4.4 of 5 stars 4.40 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jim Murdoch wrote a new blog post The Silence of Gethsemane …ecce homo… – John 19:5 (Latin Vulgate) Basically there are three kinds of novels: novels where everything is made up (e.g. The Wonderful Wizard... Read more of this blog post »
23 hours, 15 min ago · like
Jim rated a book 2 of 5 stars Antwerp by Roberto Bolaño read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
From what I’ve read I can see that Bolaño is a writer worth reading, just perhaps not this novel, not until one has read most of his later work which, at this point, I have not. It’s called a novella but it’s really more a collection of loosely—and I...more
May 19, 2013 09:29am · see review
Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars Woman by Richard Matheson read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is an odd book. It starts off looking like one thing—I was reminded of, of all things, the TV play Abigail’s Party—and then seems to be heading in a completely different direction—an Outer Limits/Tales of the Unexpected-type scenario—before endi...more
May 18, 2013 09:53am · see review
Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars Without Blood by Alessandro Baricco read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As I started to read this novella I got the feeling I’d read it before but I couldn’t find the book on any of my shelves and yet I was sure this was not the first time I’d read it. The premise is a simply enough one: a young girl, Nina, in a hiding p...more
May 17, 2013 03:43am · see review
Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I’ve never read Lolita. It’s always puzzled me that the book has managed to hold its own against its detractors especially nowadays where people are far more aware of and sensitive to what’s actually going on in the world. I can see why some people w...more
May 16, 2013 07:12am · see review
Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars Being There by Jerzy Kosiński read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I saw the film first. It is a very good film and also—now that I’ve read the book I can attest to this—an excellent adaptation which it ought to be as Kosinski also wrote the screenplay; the only thing I think was missed was the encounter with the ho...more
May 12, 2013 04:10pm · see review
Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Amazingly I knew next to nothing about this book before I picked it up and deliberately didn’t seek to remedy that before I read the book which was a wise decision. I didn’t have to wait long to see where the book was going. The third paragraph on th...more
May 11, 2013 07:01am · see review
Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars Point Omega by Don DeLillo read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The politics of this story bypassed me. This, for me, was a story about waiting and watching. It’s academic that the central figure is a filmmaker because he could just as easily have been a writer. I didn’t see 24 Hour Psycho when it was in Glasgow...more
May 10, 2013 04:23am · see review
Jim rated a book 4 of 5 stars Loading Mercury With a Pitchfork by Richard Brautigan read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I’ve been a fan of Richard Brautigan for a long time. I’ve read all his novels and as many of his short stories and poems that I can lay my hands on. He never disappoints. Some works are better than others but when you’re caught up reading him you’re...more
May 07, 2013 05:45am · see review

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