Books Left: 94

After losing my first copy on an airplane and taking my sweet time to read through the rest, I’m finally finished with Iris Murdoch’s Under the Net. I usually don’t touch on the lives of authors when I write in the blog, mainly because I don’t want to fall under the “what is the author saying here?” trap. I’m mentioning Iris briefly because I found it fascinating that she wrote so many books. There was also a “controversial” biography written about her by someone who apparently didn’t care for her much. A film was made about her life in 2002 starring Kate Winslet. I haven’t seen it, but I want to now because I like biopics and I like Kate Winslet. I fear though that the movie will get me in tears, because Murdoch dies from Alzheimer’s Disease. Nothing quite gets me sobbing like horrible dementias. (I cried for about a half hour after I watched Awakenings.)

Is the book well written?

Let me say this: it isn’t poorly written. I never found myself noticing any particularly profound language, perhaps with the exception of the short passage where Jack sends a drunken letter to his ex in the mail (which I read out-loud in the video post). I liked the description of the letters falling down once the sender has let go. It’s more physical than sending a text message, where you just type a few words, hit send, and somehow know that in seconds they are appearing on someone else’s phone perhaps miles away.

Is it groundbreaking in some way?

My gut wants to say “yes” but I’m not sure if my gut is the right organ to use to answer this question. To be completely honest, I don’t know. I think it’s impressive that Murdoch wrote the book at 25, that it’s humorous and well thought out and deals with fascinating themes, in particular assumptions: the actions someone takes when they believe things that are entirely untrue. But is that enough to call it groundbreaking? I don’t know.

Is it an enjoyable read?

I enjoyed Under the Net for the most part. It took me a while to read, although this was hindered by the fact that I left it on the airplane. I found some of the parts dull, like when Jack is running through Paris following someone who might be Anna. I loved the characters: Jack, Hugh, Madge, and most of all Mars. I felt that each character was worthy of his or her own “spin-off” tale. Mrs. Tinkham in particular, the woman who runs the newsstand and collects stories.

Does Under the Net deserve to be on the list of the top 100 books of the 20th century? Maybe. Possibly. A very tentative yes.

I found Under the Net to have quite a few similarities to The Ginger Man, partially due to Iris Murdoch’s writing style not causing me to cringe, but mainly due to Jack Donaghue. Despite his flaws, I still found myself liking Jack. Now that I’m finished with the novel, I thought I would describe some of the two protagonists’ essential differences.

1.When Sebastian gets drunk, he starts violent bar fights. When Jake gets drunk, he sends love letters.

2.Neither of them make a great deal of money, but at least Jake works. Sebastian intends to go to the park and study law, and instead he flirts with his neighbor while his daughter is present. Jake, when he realizes he needs money, gets a job that sounds to me like one of the worst available: an orderly at a hospital cleaning up after patients.

3.Jake’s friends are much better people than Sebastian’s friends, some of whom are more disgusting than Sebastian himself.

4.For Sebastian, freeloading off his friends is a regular way of life. But when Jake thinks he betrayed his friend’s trust and friendship, he feels horribly. (Also, Sebastian does not have a conscience.)

5.Sebastian probably has STDs. Jake, on the other hand, goes after one woman throughout the entire book, and at the end when he realizes she’s really not interested in picking up where they left off, he stops. Jake also has opportunities with other women, which he politely declines.

6.While I wouldn’t trust Sebastian within a 50 mile radius of his own daughter, the relationship between Jake and the dog Mars is one of my favorite parts of the book. Jake begins by kidnapping Mars to use as leverage to get back something that was taken from him. By the time Jake finds out that the person who had Mars before has no desire to get him back, he and the dog are already close friends.

Jake is by no means perfect, but with a solid balance of positive and negative qualities Jake is a much more fascinating and relate-able fictional character than Sebastian will ever be.

Since it’s been so long since I updated, I thought I needed to give a quick update of what’s been keeping me so occupied!

Crafting

Embroidery! I love it. I recently completed an embroidery project for my mom which was a lot of fun! I wish I’d taken pictures of it to show off. Maybe she’ll read this and be inspired to send me some? I used felt and embroidery thread and I was really impressed with how it turned out. I will definitely be doing more embroidery in the future! I’m just not sure what I want to make next, or who I should make something for! It’s easier for me to make things if I have a particular person in mind.

Video Games

Recently I picked up Dragon Age: Origins and I’ve been playing it to death. I’m not crazy about the combat style. I created a mage because that’s the type of class I prefer to play in RPG type games (I’d rather have my character stand back and cast spells than be up front in the action) only to find out you have to manage your entire party’s actions. I’ve gotten good enough at working with the tactics that I can get my party through most fights while just managing what my actual character is doing. What I really like about the game is the character development of the party members. This is the best character development I’ve seen in a game since The Longest Journey–which is still my favorite game ever, partly because it’s impossible to die. I find dying in video games to be really frustrating!

Visiting Family

This Memorial Day weekend I traveled to Michigan for my brother’s high school graduation! I’m really proud of him. He’s an aspiring writer who has not only written an entire novel but also won an award in the school’s fine art’s competition for an amazing poem he wrote. He’s graduating with honors and has some great scholarships for college next year!

The photo is from last year’s 4th of July. My brother is the second from the left, surrounded by relatives. At his graduation party I was able to see most of my relatives. Both my parents having 5 siblings each, and all of those siblings have children, and some of those children have children. It’s hard getting most of them in one place! This probably wont happen again until a wedding or a funeral (hopefully the former.)

Finishing Under the Net

I’m happily reaching the end of the novel, and I should have my final review up soon! I made sure not to read it on my flight to Michigan because I don’t think I could handle leaving it on a plane a second time!

Books Left: 94
Current Book: Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

Instead of writing about my progress in Under the Net, I decided to go the “vlog” route. This was inspired by Christina and Jenny who are supposed to do the same thing, and Pete who has another project, which is required.

Books Left: 94
Current Book: Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

This weekend I attempted to acquire a new copy of Under the Net. I went to Barnes and Noble, and of course they did not have a copy. Luckily, I was able to get a photo of my friend Aaron reading.

Now the book is on its way from Amazon. I’m half expecting it to not show up, as I fear the Universe does not want me to finish this book. This is unfortunate because I was talking to someone else about the plot the other day, and I realized with the odd mess of characters I’m really looking forward to finding out what happens next!

If you happen to be on Amazon, be sure and pre-order The Book of Unnecessary Quotation Marks! The author, Bethany Keeley, is the fiance of one of my best friends from high school, and an awesome person!

Admittedly, I haven’t yet myself, because a) I am a bad person, and b) I didn’t want it to mess with the shipping speed of my half-finished book. But I’m really excited about it!

Books Left: 94
Current Book: Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

Last weekend I went on a business trip to Michigan. I was there for four days, and for some reason on the very short plane ride from Grand Rapids to Detroit, I got sleepy. This plane ride is so short, it takes about as long to get to the airport, check in, wait to board, board, take off, fly, and land, as it does to drive between the two cities. (Don’t even get me started on flying from Lansing to Detroit.) I felt sleepy after I’d read a little of Under the Net by Iris Murdoch and put it in the seat pocket in front of me.

You can guess what happened. I no longer have the book.

Of course I’ve been enjoying the book so far. I would have liked an excuse to take a break from Sophie’s Choice.

I’ve filled out the form on Delta’s website for missing items, but I’m doubtful that I’ll get that copy back. Paying full price, even with my Border’s member discount, seems too crazy to do twice so I’m looking for a less expensive way to obtain it. I’ll check the library and the used bookstores near my new job which starts on Monday. If that fails, there are used copies on Amazon for $3.75 plus shipping.

In the meantime, I am working on a redesign for the blog and I’ve been thinking about opening it up to other topics I’m interested in, such as crafting, technology, and writing. (I think Drunk Literature is a good example–it’s a book blog, but she writes about other things, too.)

What do you think? Would you be interested in reading about other topics on the blog, or would you prefer The Displaced English Major to be only about books?