A review by readerstephen86
Bruno's Dream by Iris Murdoch

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Another chilling and clinical look at human emotions through the eyes of novelist-philosopher Iris Murdoch. It is replete with details on the material world, with an extended arachnid-themed metaphor on entrapment (of others, of the self), and a book I can best imagine I'd enjoy as a dissection piece for a literary essay. As fiction it's too glassy-chilled to be entirely enjoyable, nor are the characters entirely believeable. All too often they feel like the red and white chess pieces mentioned in the book, as pawns for Murdoch's dark experimental imaginings. But Murdoch always hits back with some precisely evocative motifs, and does set the mind thinking about the place of love in the world, and if in our self-interested and animal-like relations with one another, there is really anything more.

3/5 as unlike the other 3 Murdoch's I've so far read ('The Nice and the Good'; 'The Black Prince'; and 'The Sea, The Sea'), I can't imagine reading this one again. But I will be reading more Murdoch, even if it means spacing it out with warmer-hearted reads in between.