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Itchypen Read a Book and...

Title/Author: A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch

Warnings: an incest scene, a suicide attempt, copious amounts of drinking, and abusive behavior. Would not recommend if you're triggered by these acts

This May Contain Spoilers

Summary:

Martin Lynch-Gibbon finds himself at a cross-roads. While hiding an affair with Georgie, he learns that his wife Antonia wants to leave him for his best friend and psychological confidant, Palmer. this starts a downward fall of moral direction as Palmer's sister Honor Klein, and Martin's brother and sister, Alexander and Rosemary become involved. While everyone is trying to do the best for all parties involves, more parties begin to show up and the line between what is best and what is right begin to blur. Martin's internal struggles range the choice to react with his emotions or stay the course of proprietary rules and following his desires to figuring out what his desires are. Trust me, nothing and no one are what as they seem.

Review/ IMHO:

First off, this book has the top two musts, in my opinion, to the makes of being a great read: great technical writing and character development (though, generally, I'm more of a sucker for developed characters). This book is my introduction to Iris Murdoch, and I found myself captivated by her ability to create such a believable world with interesting character interaction with their surroundings and each other in the span of 200 or so pages. Her characters were described as well-to-do English folk of the 1960s, but at the core of the characters I found myself able to associate them with people in my own life.

There's a theme of satire as the characters, on the outside, believe themselves incapable of having problems or having to deal with the triviality of morals. It would seem that if such a situation were to arise, they'd could handle it almost clinically. Yet, as their worlds collide and the issue surfaces, they practically crack under pressure, resorting to drink just to calm their thoughts and bodies while trying to figure out things. Their morals are skewed, love takes on many meanings, and genuine emotional expression is often covered by the character's false benevolence in order to keep with appearances. It seems that the story surpasses one on benevolence and moral ambiguity to one that illustrates the ambiguity of self. Besides the life Martin has made for himself, Martin struggles with everything internal, and as the story goes along, eventually it shows that pretty much every one is. No one is they calm, sophisticated persona they've developed to perfection.

In my honest opinion, the humor was so dark, I couldn't really laugh. It was more of "I can't believe he/she just did that" awkward kind of pity smirk. I felt the incest was used as an interesting plot device that helped Martin's character get on the track he needed to move past the cuckolded husband into someone who could stand on his own. My only grievance with the book was that it seemed Antonia came out relatively emotionally unscathed, perhaps because she was one of the most emotional characters already, but I felt like her character who relied so much on the other's love could do with some alone time to learn to love herself. Otherwise, it was an interesting read...Should you read it, i don't know...go find a copy, and let me know :3

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Self-Bribery,

I told myself that I couldn't listen to Welcome to Night Vale until I wrote more for my story...This could be good or I just won't ever listen to Cecil's voice ever again...

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Haven't posted in forever,

Tests and essays and more tests and homework and blah...Well, I haven't written for any of my unfinished stories yet, so I reckon I will post the conclusion to one of my papers for now...I do think I will get a chance to write this weekend though...

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To think, I look at the expanse of the stars at night, and say I want to be big, I want to matter.

Me (chatting with pen pal)

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Writing a story for Halloween...

Hopefully it goes well, I want to finish it by Monday, so I can have someone proofread it and give me time to edit it before October 31st...

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