Well, it’s the last day of my 26-month Iris Murdoch Readalong and time to summarise our discussion of Jackson’s Dilemma and indeed the whole re-read. Which feels impossible right now.
We had a good discussion of Jackson and his dilemma over on my review of the book, and I think it’s so lovely that Peter, Jo and Maria were there to talk about the book, as they have for EVERY SINGLE ONE all the way through. Jo was even reading them for the first time, and that’s amazing, to do the whole lot like that, isn’t it? Even I didn’t read all the ones that were available immediately upon discovering IM!
Jo has done her usual excellent Goodreads review and as ever, if you are coming to this outside the original project in 2017-2019, please do add comments or links to your reviews, I always love seeing them!
Peter has been amazing at sharing cover images of his copies of the book – mainly US first editions but also some excellent paperbacks. Here’s his first edition of Jackson, very like my paperback but with a nice filigree effect on the background to the title.
Project round-up
What have I learned this time around – which was at least my fourth read of each novel apart from Jackson’s Dilemma, which was my third?
There is more feminism than I ever thought was in there
I am now older than most of the main characters in the book. As I’ve read them again and again, I’ve become more understanding of the older characters, more impatient with the younger ones
Some books have slightly dropped in my estimation – I was rather horrified at the violence in “A Word Child”, for example. I was more reconciled than ever to “An Unofficial Rose”, which I have always thought one of my less favourites, and got a lot more out of “The Message to the Planet” than on other occasions, so that I won’t actively dread reading it another time.
I think that “The Philosopher’s Pupil”, “A Severed Head”, “The Book and The Brotherhood” and “The Green Knight” remain my favourites. The others have evened out more, though. Jenkin Riderhood is probably still my favourite character, along with N from “Philosopher’s Pupil” (still).
Having read them all the way through in my 20s, 30s and 40s, I can’t wait to read them all again in my next decade – so in 2022 at the earliest. IM is still my favourite author and I will still press her upon people – and now I have this great wellspring of discussion to point people towards.
I have loved doing the project “live” on my blog this time around and thank everyone who has contributed in whatever way, but especially my three stalwarts. If you have found this blog via IM, I hope you stay around to talk about other books here.
What’s your favourite so far? Your least favourite? Do you have a photo to share of you reading one of the books, or where you read it?
You will find a page listing all of these blog posts here.
Adventures in reading, running and working from home 
Jan 01, 2020 @ 13:35:49
Well done Liz – what an achievement! And I was so interested in what you said about how your reactions have changed, and how you’re less sympathetic to the younger characters now. I tend to be much the same, and I think that crystallised for me when I read Anna Karenina – I was much less sympathetic to the lovers than I think I would have been if I’d read it in my teens! ;D
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Jan 01, 2020 @ 17:41:49
Thank you! I’m always interested in how people’s perceptions change with re-reading. And I’m hoping I can do more re-reading in 2021 once I’ve spent the year clearing and controlling my TBR …
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Dec 16, 2021 @ 16:37:36
I’d love to do more re-reading. My Jane Austen group is going to do a slow re-read of Sense and sensibility next year. It’s a few years since we completed our slow re-reads so it’s time we decided. I certainly see more each time I re-read her.
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Dec 16, 2021 @ 16:45:07
Ha – funny to see myself thinking I would clear and control my TBR in 2020 – it’s now giant though I did re-read Anne Tyler till the end of that project! I re-read Jane Austen a few years ago and got a lot out of it, including liking Persuasion and Emma a lot more!
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Dec 17, 2021 @ 03:14:15
I’ve lived persuasion from the start but I’ve come to love Emma more on recent rereads. It is so beautifully written and plotted for a start. Don’t get me started on Austen … love her to bits and have since I was 14.
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Dec 17, 2021 @ 07:43:08
Yes, she and Hardy prevailed for me, even through being studied at school!
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Jan 18, 2020 @ 19:18:21
I feel like it’s taken this long after my Iris Murdoch hangover to be able to reflect back on the project. After leaping in on the spur of the moment, I never thought Iris Murdoch would end up as one of my favorite writers. Looking back it seems my favorites were A Severed Head, The Sea, The Sea and The Book and the Brotherhood while my least favorite was The Unicorn. I’m surprised that I didn’t rate The Bell as highly as that seems to be a favorite and I suspect it was the religious aspect that was the reason. Religious discussion is something I struggled with every time it came up in a novel, that and the philosophy and I wonder if that would be easier on rereading. The Bell will be probably be one of the first I reread followed by A Severed Head but I think I need just a few months more before I jump back in.
Thank you again Liz for introducing me to Murdoch and let me know when you begin your fifth run through!
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Jan 18, 2020 @ 19:29:48
I’m still so impressed you went all the way through and pleased that you enjoyed them so much. I can understand your reasons for your feelings about the novels as a whole and enjoyed reading about which your favourites were.
Not sure when I’ll be doing the next read-through but do subscribe to the blog (email link above or add it to your feedly) then you’ll know – I do have some other IM related books to read, too. Oh and how about joining in with my current Paul Magrs read?!
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Jan 25, 2021 @ 20:45:26
I skipped when the religious bits got a bit too heavy. I don’t think I missed anything. The nuns were a laugh.
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Jan 25, 2021 @ 21:33:07
Iris Murdoch always said she wanted people to get whatever they could out of her books, so skipping heavy bits is all fine as far as I’m concerned. I think you might be talking about “The Bell” here, though (big house across the lake from the convent, drowned bell, etc.)?
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Jan 19, 2020 @ 02:17:26
My three favorites remain The Book and the Brotherhood, because it encompasses so much and feels personal to Murdoch;The Sea,The Sea, because it is so beautifully written and includes James, my second favorite character; and A Fairly Honorable Defeat, because I’ve read it more than any other and I keep finding more in it, it never grows stale, plus it contains Simon, my favorite character.
Vying for fourth would be A Severed Head, my first Murdoch, and The Green Knight. There may be some greater achievements but these resonate with me.
The two novels that I found must surprising on rereading were The Time of the Angels, which I had not liked much before but now admire for the courage of its bleak vision; and The Message to the Planet, which was much more unified and compelling than I’d remembered.
The novel I feel I would soonest like to return to is The Philosopher’s Pupil. I find I’m drawn more to the later novels at this point though I love the succinct brilliance of some of her earlier works.
But really as I have reread these novels over the last two years, it sometimes has felt to me that whichever one I last read was my favorite. Thanks so much, Liz, for leading us through this two-year journey. I’ve loved every hour of it.
Best, Peter
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Jan 20, 2020 @ 06:06:45
Thank you for sharing your favourites, Peter. I think we were both surprised by Message to the Planet this time round, weren’t we! Simon is a favourite of mine, too, though Jenkin is still top (thank goodness; that changing would be a surprise!). I’ve loved doing the project, too – the first time I’ve done it in this way after two solo attempts and one with a group of real-life friends but run through a Yahoo group, and I’m missing our discussions now. As I said above, I have the odd book on Murdoch to go so I hope you’ll stay around following the blog, too.
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Dec 16, 2021 @ 16:32:51
I will try to work though these posts Liz when I get the opportunity (I am out of town now). But The unofficial rose was my first Murdoch attempt, and I couldn’t get into it at all. But I have since read The green knight, The Bell, and The sea, the sea and engaged with each of them.
My reading group mixes it up a little but it’s mostly books published in the last 10 years. Next year though we are starting with one written in the 1990s. Does that count? And our next “classic” was written in the 1920s!
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Dec 16, 2021 @ 16:43:58
Yes, I didn’t really get into Unofficial Rose until about my fourth read! You’ve read some good ones there, I have to say! And that’s typical of book groups, but a 1990s one is good going (was it a prize-winner? or a modern classic?).
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Dec 17, 2021 @ 03:07:28
Yes it won one prize and was shortlisted for Australia’s most prestigious literary prize.
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Dec 17, 2021 @ 03:08:09
PS I have to try Unofficial rose three more times!!!
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Dec 17, 2021 @ 07:42:38
Well there’s no actual requirement to do that! I’m unusual even in the IM Soc for reading them all so many times!
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