The Good Apprentice

Rating:
Summary: A bit contrived and melodramatic
Review: I enjoy and admire Iris Murdoch, but this was a tough one to finish. The characters are appealing, but are constantly undergoing bizarre emotional transformations. One minute she loves Harry, the next minute she loves Stuart, now she loves Thomas with a newfound maturity. Now he's consumed by incurable black despair - whoops, now he's shaken it off and is facing the future with cautious optimism. It wouldn't be so tedious except that each transient mental state is described with the same passionate conviction and detail.

Secondly, the relationships here are even more incestuous and coincidental than usual. Everybody knows everybody else and it seems like there are only a dozen people in the world. Edward loves Brownie who loves Giles who is the son of Edward's tutor and until recently loved Edward's brother Stuart. Harry loves Midge who is the sister of his deceased wife and Edward's mother Chloe. Sarah seduces Edward which figures in the death of Brownie's brother Mark; Sarah, Brownie and their mothers are all friends whom Edward accidentally discovers living near his father's country home. Edward's stepmother May writes her memoirs, which are critically reviewed by Sarah's mother Elspeth; you get the idea.

Of course there were some fine moments, and I won't give up on reading Murdoch, but I doubt this was one of her best efforts.

Rating:
Summary: murdoch's genius
Review: This is one of the three superb long novels Murdoch published in the second half of the 80s. The characters are brilliantly drawn, especially the psychiatrist Thomas, his friend the ambitious, talented but frustrated Harry Cuno, and Harry's son Stuart, the good apprentice of the title. Underneath the typical Murdochian plot twists, the novel tackles profound themes, including depression and mental illness, guilt and forgiveness, and the impact of technology on human relations. The parts of the novel set in London are stronger than those set in the country. Her genius is fully on display here.

Rating:
Summary: the jury is still out
Review: What happens when loving intentions result in disastrous outcomes? Iris Murdoch's, The Good Apprentice, features gothic ancestral dwellings, a trio of eccentric women, peculiar, seedy London séances, modern psychiatry, upper-class contemporary love affairs and infidelity, intense family relationships and questing for worthy missions in order to justify individual lives. I didn't easily breeze through this book neither could I put it down. Murdoch's heavy philosophical background is excruciatingly evident. However, I knew I was in the hands of a great artist when I laughed out loud with delight in passages. I look forward to reading more of her writing.

Rating:
Summary: Good intentions & the pursuit of happiness
Review: What happens when loving intentions result in disastrous outcomes? Iris Murdoch's, The Good Apprentice, features gothic ancestral dwellings, a trio of eccentric women, peculiar, seedy London séances, modern psychiatry, upper-class contemporary love affairs and infidelity, intense family relationships and questing for worthy missions in order to justify individual lives. I didn't easily breeze through this book neither could I put it down. Murdoch's heavy philosophical background is excruciatingly evident. However, I knew I was in the hands of a great artist when I laughed out loud with delight in passages. I look forward to reading more of her writing.

Rating:
Summary: Good intentions & the pursuit of happiness
Review: What happens when loving intentions result in disastrous outcomes? Iris Murdoch's, The Good Apprentice, features gothic ancestral dwellings, a trio of eccentric women, peculiar, seedy London séances, modern psychiatry, upper-class contemporary love affairs and infidelity, intense family relationships and questing for worthy missions in order to justify individual lives. I didn't easily breeze through this book neither could I put it down. Murdoch's heavy philosophical background is excruciatingly evident. However, I knew I was in the hands of a great artist when I laughed out loud with delight in passages. I look forward to reading more of her writing.

Rating:
Summary: the jury is still out
Review: With all the attention given to the life of Iris Murdoch over the last few years, and having become familiar with some of her philosophy, I looked forward to reading my first Murdoch novel. The Good Apprentice kept my attention well enough for me to finish it, hence the three stars. The author's craftsmanship is quite evident but beyond that, I don't know that I could recommend it, particularly as the place for someone to begin reading Murdoch's fiction. My primary reason may seem trite, but I just can't help it. These characters are annoying. Typically, I can find atleast one sympathetic character in a work of fiction. These people basically just got on my nerves. From popmpous and obnoxious to neurotic and self-indulgent, a full spectrum of negative personality traits are portrayed. The multiple plot lines all resolve, but in far too tidy a fashion, and the various resolutions are both annoying and dissapointing, because it's it questionable to me as to to whether anyone experiences any growth. As a reader, you leave the book knowing that Thomas will remain aloof, Midge will remain neurotic, Harry will remain obnoxious, Edward will remain self-indulgent, and Stuart will continue to drift through life trying to figure out how to do some "good". As I said, I will probably give Murdoch another go, and hopefully, I'll find someone among her characters along the way that I might actually relate to or care about.