Customer Reviews

The Green Knight

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A beautiful finish to this novel. It was spotty in parts, and I frequently wondered if early 90's British teens and early 20's talked and thought like that, but the finish was so well-rounded, so unexpected that I am left with a wonderful taste in my mouth.

The going is slow initially- I was reminded of D.H. Lawrence's "Women in Love" because I just *didn't like those people*. I really didn't. I couldn't stand Joan, didn't like Bellamy, thought Harvey was vapid, and the Cliftonians unreal. I stuck around long enough to get to know them, and changed my attitude about some of them. I even became so involved that I was cheered by some of the mistakes being made right- especially when it came to the dog. I wanted to help correct things, and to influence people.

At times, I wondered who the novel was about. Was it Peter? Kind of- Peter transformed people, or so we assumed. (but did he?) Maybe it was the Cliftonians because they featured prominently? No, overall, events happened to them, but they didn't cause them. I thought for awhile that it was about Lucas, and in a way it was. Lucas was quite a force for "the family", even though he was so rarely present. The novel even starts with his absence. But how could a novel be about an absent person? It doesn't matter though- it is about any of them and all of them. The marriages may have been a contrivance, but they were nice, some made sense, and others leave us with a lot to wonder about.

Iris Murdoch is a wonderful writer, and weaves a beautiful web with unexpected moments. Even when I forget the action of a novel, I remember the feeling she left me with.

While this novel is not as well constructed as "The Bell," it is still a fine novel. There is an obvious reference to the story of Gawain and his nemesis in the novel, a reference which is made explicit by a couple of the characters in the narrative. The ending, with its multiple marriages, is a little over the top in terms of contrivance; but, as Ms. Murdoch said herself in interviews -- in a passage quoted by the news wire after her death -- her novels have a beginning, middle, and end, which is more than we can say for most overtly "literary" novels these days. A great novel.

Iris Murdoch's compelling next-to-last novel does show some evidence of the Alzheimer's disease that would soon destroy her mental faculties (and would also, if what I've read is right, become considerably more evident in her final novel, "Jackson's Dilemma").

The opening pages are rather strange; she seems to have given up on introducing the characters one or two at a time. It's rather overwhelming to have so many character names and relationships thrown at you so quickly. But stick with it, even if you have to read those first few pages a couple of times. If you do, you will soon find yourself completely caught up in this fascinating and continually surprising story. Here and there are some clumsily phrased and bizarrely punctuated sentences, and there's even a rather odd inconsistency (Murdoch tells us that one character has brown eyes on one page and then he has blue eyes eyes a bit later). Perhaps Murdoch sensed that the end of her career was at hand--after all, she was in her 70s when she wrote this. I can't help but feel that Murdoch's urgent need to tell this story while she still could led her to dispense with polishing it. Despite the sloppiness that is a bit bothersome occasionally, Murdoch's ability to spin a fascinating tale is as strong as ever, perhaps even stronger, and this book very quickly becomes compulsively readable.

Overall, the story couldn't be more typical of Murdoch: A group of well-educated Londoners, most of whom are searching for love or redemption or both, suddenly have to deal with a powerful and charismatic stranger who turns their world upside down. I could go into more detail, but I don't want to spoil it for you. All I will say is that Murdoch's vision seems, in the end, a bit less dark than usual. Redemption really seems possible this time.

This might not be the place to start if you've never read Murdoch before. Better choices might include "A Fairly Honourable Defeat," "The Black Prince," "The Sacred and Profane Love Machine," or "The Book and the Brotherhood." But if you're a Murdoch fan who hasn't read this one yet, it's a must-read.

Iris Murdoch has mastered the novel form with this thorougly entertaining study of "how evil enters a life" and how we learn to live. What is revealed in the course of the twisting and exciting plot, which unfolds from numerous points of view (at one point even the dog!), is simultaneously truth and magic. The novel exalts in the human mind's malleability -- each character puzzles over and wrestles with new ideas and revelations. There are so many mysterious and exciting elements to this story, which can be read on so many different levels, that I have to say that Murdoch is at the top of the list of living writers. Even if you take away the symbolism and allegory, character doubling, intricate subtexts and fascinating parallels, most of all this is a tale of the joy of redemption. It is a reclaiming of minds and souls from the madness that tends to be considered rational thought.

Iris Murdoch's "The Green Knight" is a rather talky, long book that unfolds sputteringly. That said, the territory she covers and the characters she creates do stay with us. Despite the matrimonial ending of the book, it left me not altogether satisfied, perhaps a modern novel where we see that life has some victories and some defeats and is ultimately imperfect. The book is difficult to begin as Murdoch throws over 11 new characters at you in the first 30 pages. Not only that, but some of them have real names and nick names and place names and dog names and some are dead; so it begins quite puzzling as to who is who, and what the relationships are.

The central image is that of the green knight from King Arthur. We are introduced to glimpses of the mysterious stranger who invades the house (another name) called Clifton and social group that lives and visits there. The 3 daughters are fairly interesting young women, fairly traditional people each with a unique quirk. Moy is the artistic one; Sefton the brain; and Aleph is the beauty. Of course with beautiful young women, there are going to be a swarm of young men. Harvey is one of the most perplexing, injured early in the story, he spends the rest of the novel overcoming the injury and his virginity. Clement is also a quite interesting character, the actor who becomes so wrapped up in events that he doesn't particularly care about acting. I was amazed by his continuing dedication to his brother Lucas who apparently wanted to kill him. It didn't quite make sense to me that he was so oblivious to this bad intent. Lucas was also a puzzle. I thought he would be the villain, but instead Murdoch neutralizes him and then makes him disappear. Peter Mir who comes to have such an impact on the group as the green knight or the golden Buddah, represents justice and enlightenment. He comes into the story late and leaves early; so it is his impact on the group for which Murdoch aims. Other characters are interesting. The gay Bellemy who wants to become a priest has a long correspondence with Father Damian who we come to know only by letter. Bellemy is a character that never seems to find a center of gravity, always looking to someone else for a sense of completion. Louise is the mother who continually predicts that her youngest daughter is going crazy. Anax is a dog who has a life and intelligence all his own. The other smaller characters such as Harvey's mother Joan, Tessa, and Emil swirl about making the story complex, perhaps lifelike.

In the end, these were great characters that I enjoyed sharing time with, but in a rather untidy story with loose threads and unexplained results, somewhat like life. Enjoy!

What attracts me to a book is being able to relate to its characters, and finding the setting engaging. The Green Knight met both of these criteria easily, which is what kept me interested for about the first half of the book, which wasn't a page-turner by any means. But that changed once my investment in the characters became palpable as they faced some unusual challenges in the second half, when various issues begin to come to a head. The novel is focused around a group of about ten people whose lives connect in common ways, and as the book progresses, the connections become odder. All the characters are so well-developed that I felt I could relate to each of them, and fell in love with all of them. Even though I finished the book about six months ago, I still regularly think about the people in it, and miss them.

The Green Knight is a decent story, but that's about the most generous compliment I can give it. The beginning seems scattered as the reader is introduced to many characters, one after the other, in a disjointed sort of way. There are moments when the story becomes really interesting, and it was at these moments that I was dying to keep reading in order to find out the big mystery, but alas, there is no big mystery.

Murdoch crafted some interesting and peculiar characters that at first, I really wanted to get to know. However, it wasn't long before I realized that I didn't actually CARE about any of them. They're not particularly likeable--some come across as cold, others are whiney, and the rest are vain and empty-headed. There really wasn't one that I felt was the "main" character, and there wasn't one that I was rooting for. I was very disappointed with Peter's involvement in the story because I really wanted something great to happen with him. It seemed there was a lot of build-up and no result.

One thing that Murdoch did in this novel (and I haven't read her others so I am not sure if this is typical of her) is basically tell the reader what happens instead of let the story unfold in a natural way. At the end, it feels as though she suddenly remembered that she had wanted to include something she'd forgotten, so she wrote it in quickly, and I found this very jolting and dissatisfying. Some of the things that happened in the end made little sense to me as there had been no prior mention of them.

I liked the book for its rich atmosphere and the personality quirks of the characters. There were times while reading the book that I wished I could be in the aviary with Aleph, Sefton, and Moy, and I was very interested in Peter when his story became a focal point. But again, I didn't find any of the characters particularly compelling.

The book isn't a complete waste of time, but it's not a masterpiece.

I have read both the editorial and customer reviews of this novel and admit to being perplexed.

I agree with the reviewer that said the novel was hard to get into....in fact, after falling asleep over the first section several times, I resorted to searching local libraries until I found the audio version of the novel on 16 cassetes! That got me into the story in a flash and then I was hooked....until I got to the numerous fantastical elements of what was already a marginally plausible plot.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story of Peter Mir and his quest for justice as well as friendship with Lucas' family and friends. I held out hope of Peter's success, but the story that resulted is very far from any I had in my head. I was left shaking my head in dismay.

One of the customer reviews refers to an interview with Iris Murdoch regarding her beginning-middle-ending philosophy of literature. I too would like to have a novel tied up better than many modern novels are, but the ending of this novel is so pat that I keep wondering how she ever got it by her editors. Unlike the customer review that said the ending made him/her feel satisfied, I found the ending so unsatisfying that it altered my overall review of what, until then, had been a delightful, if marginally believable, book to listen to.

It was very helpful to listen to the audio version with a wonderful British reader....just fabulous how the narrator did the voices and conveyed the story as though she knew the characters intimately.

I read the novel for a book club that is yet to meet. It will be interesting to see what this most critical group thinks of it. For my part, although I survived the experience, I would not recommend it except as an audio and, even then, only to a person who can accept a saccharin ending.

This book ranks right up there with my Top Ten All Time Terrible books! I love good writing technique especially coupled with a good story and memorable characters. This book had none of the above. The language was wordy, wandering, and sometimes just plain inane. The story was totally idiotic. The religious, mythological and political references were so obscure and/or muddled they just didn't make any sense or impact. Combine that with the fact that once a symbolic point was started it just died out as in the swan attack. What was the point of bringing it up at all if not to make some juicy story out of it? The characters were equally inane and idiotic. There wasn't one person in this book I even gave a fig about! OK, I DID like the dog, the only one with any sense at all! The names of these people were even annoying! Talk about being lost in a London fog. I had a terrible time getting through this book and only did so because a good friend wanted someone to discuss this book with. That hasn't happened yet. Maybe our discussion will spark some "like". There surely isn't any "like" at this point in time. I consider it just plain weird.

I was excited to read this book for a number of reasons. Murdoch's reputation as a wonderful writer and the brief but interesting synopsis among them. This book was definitely among the worst I have read in a long time. I kept waiting for it to get better, no such luck. It seemed as if Murdoch tried to go to great lengths to develop her characters, to give them depth, but most felt (with maybe the exception of Peter) so self absorbed and shallow that you couldn't really "feel" for them. Save yourself the disappointment.