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| AUTHOR: | Iris Murdoch |
| CATEGORY: | Book |
| MANUFACTURER: | Chatto and Windus |
| ISBN: | 0701120924 |
| MEDIA: | Unknown Binding |
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Customer Reviews of A word child
One of Iris's best I've read a fair number of Ms.Murdoch's books and enjoyed them all. This book focuses on Hilary, a low level English civil servant who has been his own worst enemy since a brutal childhood. His own personal history repeats itself here and we wonder if he will ever learn.
Iris Murdoch wrote about goodness
Hilary Burde is the word child. He is not a writer, but just likes words. We accompany a very low level civil servant, Hilary, for a number of weeks prior to Christmas Day. The book is funny in parts. How little the bottomless misery of children is understood. Our hero is an orphan. He was saved for civil society by a teacher, Mr. Osmand, who taught him Latin and to value learning. Hilary Burde describes himself as a brilliant plodder, with an aptitude for grammar and an adoration for words.
Hilary went to Oxford. He found that it was very hard to change. Hilary worked in an office with two people, Edith Witcher and Reginald Fairbottom. He rode the entire circle of the underground on Fridays trying to decide which bar to frequent. His mistress Tommy had long perfect legs. Friends he visited Thursday evenings were snobs. Wittgenstein would have loved dinner at Arthur's. Arthur was the friend of Hilary's sister, Crystal. Dinner at Arthur's was always the same.
Hilary knew Gunnar Jopling at Oxford. Hilary had been elected to a fellowship at Gunnar's college after he had gotten his first. Hilary fell madly in love with Gunnar's wife Anne. Anne's face changed. It lost its joy. Gunnar found out and Anne was pregnant with Gunnar's child. Then Hilary and Anne were in a car accident and Anne died.
Both Hilary and Gunnar resigned their fellowships. Hilary had lost his moral self-respect. Hilary became engaged to be married and Gunnar's second wife sent him a letter. He was asked to take the initiative and speak to Gunnar after all the years that had gone by. Hilary resigned his job so that Gunnar would not have to see him. He was prepared to teach grammar to little children.
An astonishingly fantastic read
This is one of those books that you simply cannot put down once you begin. Murdoch does such an excellent job of creating a most complex and entertaining character (Hilary) -- I laughed while reading it so much I think my husband will be reading it next. An amazingly developed character, a plot that will keep you turning the page, and sorrow so palpable you will want to weep on poor Hilary's behalf.