Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Penguin Books (1984), 368 pages
Description
Swinging between his wife and his mistress in the sacred and profane love machine and between the charms of morality and the excitements of sin, the psychotherapist, Blaise Gavender, sometimes wishes he could divide himself in two. Instead, he lets loose misery and confusion and--for the spectators at any rate--a morality play, rich in reflections upon the paradoxes of human life and the nature of the battle between sacred and profane love.
User reviews
LibraryThing member lostcheerio
Gripping and gruesome, but not as funny as I thought it might be.
LibraryThing member metamariposa
Murdoch is a terrific writer--this was the smoothest, most elegant writing I've encountered in a while now that I'm not in English anymore and I'm slumming in most of my pleasure reading. The first few pages drew me into this tangled mess of a machine right away and I was happy to have this volume
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in my purse on a cross-country flight. But Harriet's fate and the near-complete disregard of so many people for her nauseated me. I feel like there might be really brilliant connections and hidden meanings here, but by the time I got to the end I was too perturbed to want to dig them out. The "love machine" made several leitmotif appearances, as it maneuvered its victims, but still not any too clear or necessary to the story. Show Less
LibraryThing member Snukes
I found this book to be depressing. It glorified the affair and the destruction of the family, using a deux ex machina to create resolution that allowed the protagonist to escape any accountability. Gross.
LibraryThing member ivanfranko
The mot enjoyable of Murdoch's books I have read to date, perhaps because there is a limited number of characters to deal with.
LibraryThing member ffortsa
A fairly schematic look inside the heads of a set of characters with their own idealized fantasies about themselves. Blaise is married to a paragon, but having a long-term affair with someone else. Monte is mourning his wife and their difficult marriage. There are two lovers, two sons, two
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advisors, etc. I found the cranial view very interesting. book circle didn't love this one. But you can't rate a book by how much you like the characters, right? Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Costa Book Awards (Shortlist — Novel — 1974)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1974
Physical description
368 p.; 5.05 inches
ISBN
0140041117 / 9780140041118