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A review by bartendm
An Unofficial Rose by Iris Murdoch
4.0
So far any Iris Murdoch book is an excellent book, well written and full of interesting characters and shifting relationships. This is my 3rd of her books, and although it is not may favorite of the 3, it cannot help but get 4 stars because it is so well written and really gets you to think. In this story, most of the major characters are in love with someone other than who they are supposed to be in love with. There are some characters that actively work to manipulate other characters' lives and others who are oblivious to those types of machinations. There is farce in this story and it is set in a time when divorce was scandalous and everyone was supposed to be straight, or at least keep up appearances. The title is taken from a line of a poem by Rupert Brooke- "Unkept about those hedges blows, an English unofficial rose." Here is what Wikipedia says about the title:
The novel's title and epigraph are taken from Rupert Brooke's poem The Old Vicarage, Grantchester.[2] In the poem, which was written in Berlin in 1912, Brooke contrasts his beloved English countryside with the German city around him. The disciplined German tulips, he says, "bloom in rows", unlike the "unkempt" wild roses in England. Along with its obvious relevance to the rose nursery setting of the book, the title refers to the formlessness of Ann Peronett's character.[3]:74 The lack of self-assertiveness that Randall criticizes as making her "as messy and flabby and open as a bloody dogrose", is also part of what makes her a virtuous but, to some readers, a dull character.
I wonder if the title may also refer to love sprouting up in the hedges, where it is unexpected and socially unwanted, but there it blooms anyway.
The novel's title and epigraph are taken from Rupert Brooke's poem The Old Vicarage, Grantchester.[2] In the poem, which was written in Berlin in 1912, Brooke contrasts his beloved English countryside with the German city around him. The disciplined German tulips, he says, "bloom in rows", unlike the "unkempt" wild roses in England. Along with its obvious relevance to the rose nursery setting of the book, the title refers to the formlessness of Ann Peronett's character.[3]:74 The lack of self-assertiveness that Randall criticizes as making her "as messy and flabby and open as a bloody dogrose", is also part of what makes her a virtuous but, to some readers, a dull character.
I wonder if the title may also refer to love sprouting up in the hedges, where it is unexpected and socially unwanted, but there it blooms anyway.