Reviews

LOVED this book. I'd heard that Iris Murdoch was amazing and now I am a true believer. This was fascinating, entertaining, funny, deep, thought-provoking.

irisdg's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

phantomemx's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

cattytrona's review against another edition

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4.0

Everything I read about this book before reading it went hard on the word 'empathetic', and correctly so. But the thing that's really great about it is that as well as understanding, Murdoch's also conscious of her characters’ flaws, and starts out a little cruel in her precise way of describing their failures and stupidity, which makes the emergence of who they are really sing (chime? like a bell?). I found it astounding, although this probably isn’t fair of me, that characters like Dora and Michael were written as they are when they were.
An explosion of themes and avenues for thoughtfulness. Yes, desire and religion and guilt, but also stuff more specific than that. The failings of hetrosexual marriage, the crumbling of country houses, youth and knowledge, community and enclosure. Wish I had a better context for the book: I know bits of the history and the literature it’s engaged with, but I'd like to have read it delibrately in conversation with those things. After all this time, I still crave the English course. What I'm really saying is that, although it's enjoyable as a story, I think it has things to say, and would benefit from deeper consideration, which is lovely. One of those books which makes you wonder why you've spent any time at all reading stupid things. Murdoch writes with incredible precision, and puts into words such specific feelings. There’s art to it, is what I mean.
My edition's cover has such a scary nun on it. Misleading, but fun!

quatikiwi's review against another edition

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lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Em The Bell, a Iris Murdoch usa uma variedade de tópicos inusitados para a época – homossexualidade, feminismo, religião – para falar sobre o tema mais universal possível: o amor. Não especificamente o amor romântico, já que as distinções entre ele e o amor platônico ou o amor religioso são intencionalmente pouco definidas no livro, mas o amor como sentimento fundamental para a experiência humana, como base e combustível da vida.

Com um ponto de vista que alterna entre os protagonistas Dora, Michael e Toby, o livro é de uma sensibilidade e franqueza inacreditáveis.

Na jornada de Dora, a autora explora a ideia de uma emancipação imperfeita, uma quebra das expectativas para uma mulher dos anos 50 que não só permite, como requer, que ela destrua o status quo. Michael, um homem homossexual "no armário", e Toby, um jovem de certa forma forçado a definir e afirmar a sua própria sexualidade, foram personagens que apelaram mais pessoalmente a mim, como homem queer. A forma com que Murdoch descreve os sentimentos e ações destes personagens é surpreendentemente realista e progressista até para os dias de hoje, e ainda mais para 1958, quando a homossexualidade ainda era ilegal na Inglaterra e em grande parte do mundo.

Para além da história cativante e da filosofia fascinante do livro, a prosa é constantemente um ponto alto que me manteve grudado às páginas, em especial durante a segunda metade da história. Estou ansioso para ler outros livros da Iris Murdoch, que por enquanto me parece ter sido uma das autoras mais interessantes do século passado.

I know how much you grieve over those who are under your care: those you try to help and fail, those you cannot help. Often we do not achieve for others the good that we intend; but we achieve something, something that goes on from our effort. Good is an overflow. Where we generously and sincerely intend it, we are engaged in a work of creation which may be mysterious even to ourselves. But this should not make us draw back. We can only learn to love by loving. Imperfect love must not be condemned and rejected, but made perfect. The way is always forward, never back.

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