The Bell by Iris Murdoch

I’ve read two of Murdoch’s later books and, although well worth reading, I think her writing was still developing when she wrote The Bell. This is the story of a lay community attached to an Anglo-Catholic abbey for sequestered nuns. There are a number of people in the community but the author gives us a look into the heads of only two. Michael owns the abbey, his decaying family home, and is the acknowledged leader. Dora Greenfield is the unfaithful wife of a man working there analyzing old manuscripts. Both are faced with ethical choices. Michael struggles with romantic and sexual feelings for two young male students and Dora struggles with her disintegrating marriage. The book is an exploration of the ethics of sexuality and power, and the religious or philosophical ideas that the characters use to justify their actions. Murdoch writes with lush descriptions of the sights and sounds that is very sensuous. This is somewhat ironic because the intent of the persons there was to strip their surroundings down to bare necessities, no personal possessions in their rooms, no flowers brought into the house, simple clothing and tasks. The problem with the book was that I didn’t like any of the characters. Michael seems deluded and pathetic , I had an urge to slap Dora most of the time, her husband, Paul, was a bullying brute and the others not much better. But Murdoch really excels at exploring religious and philosophical ideas. I read this as a book group read and I’m glad I did.

New York by Edward Rutherford

Epic, sweeping, panoramic are words that come to mind after reading this novel. Rutherford tells the story of New York City from the early Dutch settlers to the Revolutionary War to the Civil War and the waves of immigrants, right up to 9/11. The story begins with the van Dyck family in 1664 and the plot follows their descendents and other families that are connected through business and personal relationships . It is an engrossing book, very well written. The stories of these individuals really provide a clear picture of how each historical event affected the people living there. Rutherford did an excellent job of allowing the reader to clearly follow the story as it moved from generation to generation and I had a good sense of the history of each family.