Iris

by Jean Marsh

Iris has been living dangerously, courting favour with the seedy underworld of 1950s and early 1960s London. Protected for a time, her whole world begins to crumble when she is plunged, with repugnant violence, into a time where innocence is lost and ignorance is no defence.

344 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh was an English actress and writer. She co-created and starred in the ITV series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–1975), for which she won the 1975 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Rose Buck. She reprised the role in the BBC's revival of the series (2010–2012).
Marsh co-created the television series The House of Eliott in 1991. Her film appearances include Cleopatra (1963), Frenzy (1972), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), The Changeling (1980), Return to Oz (1985), Willow (1988), Fatherland (1994) and Monarch (2000). She is also known for three roles in Doctor Who: as Joan of England in The Crusade; Sara Kingdom, a companion of the First Doctor; and a villain opposite the Seventh Doctor. She was briefly married to Jon Pertwee, who played the Third Doctor in the series, from 1955 to 1960.

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very muddled, required much reading between lines and filling in the gaps. Several characters were very interchangeable, so why were they all included? Finished it just to see where it was taking me, not really worth it.

[Johanna Marshall · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s been a while since it’s taken me this long to get through a book but honestly this one gave me no reason to get to reading it. There seems to be no story whatsoever and I kept hoping for something till the last 4 pages of the book but nothing. Even after reading it I still don’t get the point of this book and it’s a shame as I’ve read other books by Jean Marsh and they were great

[Haley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is actually a DNF for me. Couldn't even make it through the first chapter. Dialogue is stilted, and it is difficult to tell what is even happening in each scene. I was expecting so much more based on the description I read on the inside of the book jacket.

[Christine Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poorly edited. It was quite a good story but could have been much better written.

[Sie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too all over the place and hard to follow. But a survival story of a used teen who becomes strong and independent.

[Sara Habein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, it's more of a 4.5, but screw it, I'll round up. My quibbles are more of the editorial sort. She could use more dialogue tags, and somehow a few typos slipped through, but otherwise this is a great, interesting book. Marsh’s writing examines the competition between the internal and external — the performances we give others, and how it feels to be in one’s own body. The body, the occasional crudeness of physicality, and how that affects a woman’s inner monologue is constantly at play throughout the story. Iris is strong all throughout her learning about herself, but while she may not show it to others, she’s quite in touch with her insecurity. She resents her initial lack of educational opportunity, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to stop learning to spite herself. When it comes to sex and men’s desires, she learns what is within her control.

Full review can be found at Glorified Love Letters, and it's also one of my Top 10 Favorites read in 2015.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met Jean Marsh a few weeks ago and after that I decided I really should read some of her novels. I borrowed this one from the library as it's set in a period of British history I know very little about. I found this book very sad. Here was a young girl who was totally restricted by her class, she had little ambition, but wanted the good life she'd seen on screen. She was treated terribly, including a horrendous gang rape. It was so shocking how few options she had and what terrible secrets she had to live with. One of the things I enjoyed about this however was how many gay characters there were. It seemed like in the 50s and 60s the London club scene was filled with homosexual men. It was an interesting dichotomy to see how out they were in their social scene and accepted while at the same time having to face jail because their sexuality was against the law. I also liked how Iris, despite her trauma, was able to build up a successful business for herself and didn't need to rely on her husband. It definitely made me want to read other books by Jean.

[Don Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I expected this book to be about Iris Murdoch but the first page dispelled that. Then I thought it was a silly teen book or up from the dumps triviality, but finally I felt a deeper thread. This is an empowerment book. Empowerment through travail and self-discovery. Conquest over expectations, yes, but mostly conquest over self-expectations, and conquest with messy outcomes and collateral damage.

The book is set in mid-20th century London. The heroine is a working class teenage girl who's seduced into being arm candy for the fashionable set.

There is some poor editing (misspellings, missing quotation marks, etc), but these were only a handful or two.

A good quick read.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iris is a young, naive girl in London that becomes wrapped up in a life of (sort-of) prostitution and other such things right after World War two. A times she makes decisions that are very stupid and drove me nuts, but she was still very likable as a character. She wasn't constantly whining, though her life wasn't exactly great, and she grows into a much more intelligent woman.

[Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some people may be put off by the lewdness in this story, and might be offended by the language.

The tall thin one with a funny R in his voice muttered, 'Little Venus, suck my p****,' but she pretended not to hear. - Iris by Jean Marsh

[Eugenia Andino · Rating 3 out of 5]

En un estilo bastante fragmentario, se describe muy bien una época (los años 50 en el Reino Unido) y un ambiente (a medio camino entre la criminalidad y el incipiente mundo del espectáculo que culmunó en el Swinging London) a través de una chica que es casi una Holly Golightly londinense.

[Doti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me couple of chapters to get the rhythm, structure and style of this book. But it's a good read and left me wondering about Ms. Marsh's other books.

[Nour · Rating 1 out of 5]

let me put this simply. this was so bad that the only part that actually got me interested was when there was this transgender human being.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing! Thought the story was scattered and rather boring.

[Lizzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit hard to follow at times and not a very engaging story.

[Wendy]

Disjointed would be hard to follow if there was a story to it to follow