Brenda's review
The Bell (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Iris Murdoch
I think I have read more ABOUT Iris Murdoch than I actually have read WRITTEN BY Iris Murdoch. This is my second Murdoch novel (the other was The Sea, The Sea -- which won The Booker Prize). She's a smart writer who gets into big issues - life, death, morals, religion.
In The Bell, we follow the story of a group of people living in a lay community that is associated with an Abbey. The community sustains itself by growing and selling produce. A perfect husband. An imperfect wife. A sinning spiritual leader. A naive teenage boy. A brother (drunk and tortured) and a sister (beautiful and about to become a cloistered nun).
The Bell was first published in 1958 -- fifty years ago! I bet you would guess that the story feels really dated and different since it's that old and from that time period. But it doesn't. Did you see the movie "Good Night and Good Luck", about journalist Edward Murrow? As I watched that movie, the parallels with current times were striking. That's how...more
In The Bell, we follow the story of a group of people living in a lay community that is associated with an Abbey. The community sustains itself by growing and selling produce. A perfect husband. An imperfect wife. A sinning spiritual leader. A naive teenage boy. A brother (drunk and tortured) and a sister (beautiful and about to become a cloistered nun).
The Bell was first published in 1958 -- fifty years ago! I bet you would guess that the story feels really dated and different since it's that old and from that time period. But it doesn't. Did you see the movie "Good Night and Good Luck", about journalist Edward Murrow? As I watched that movie, the parallels with current times were striking. That's how...more
