Name: The Sacred and Profane Love Machine
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)
ISBN: 9781101494257

Iris Murdoch

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.

The Sacred and Profane Love Machine

A writer of detective fiction who has not recovered from the loss of his wife becomes involved in the life of a neighbor's family

Emmett

I loved how Murdoch probes into the thoughts and emotions of each character, her astounding clarity of writing be it in dealing with their emotions or mapping out the escalation of situations. Her analyses of relationships are sharp and incisive -- sometimes too much so, I feel, but it never feels contrived, rather as if these characters of hers had spent far too much time thinking about themselves and the state they are in than seems possible for such ordinary people. She writes sentiment and emotion so beautifully that in this tragicomedy at times I find myself on the verge of tears, sharing in Harriet's anguish, Blaise's, well, blase attitudes and his desperation, sometimes despising Emily myself for throwing a spanner in the works of Harriet's blissful marriage. Murdoch explores the states of not just the central character but gives a part to the trio's friends and children, and through this realises a fuller, more descriptive and complete picture of the chaos and its effects on everyone involved. I daresay I would never forget the gradual tender closeness of Harriet and Luca: so heartwarming and sweet and special, and yet so tragic.

Sometimes I think I can write, and then I read works like this one and I give up that thought entirely.

The Sacred and Profane Love Machine

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