Iris Murdoch

The Unicorn

heleen de boever

About 3/4rd through this book, I would've written a raving review bursting with exclamation marks and superlatives. However, the tragic occurrences and incidents just kept piling up and started to flood the pages, spilling across the paper, nearly drowning the reader in their (melo)drama. Although I appreciate the death of one of your characters as a dramatic tool, it can also be quite exhausting (and even tedious!) for the reader to have nearly each chapter introduce a new death. Nevertheless, some of my previous -positive- thoughts still hold true even after about, what, half of the cast was either mentally broken, gone insane or plain dead. 
First of all I really admired Murdoch's talent for sheer story-telling. Her prose functions as a camera lens and describes to you not only the plot development but also the scenery and setting, which contribute greatly to the strength and persuasiveness of the story. At times I would feel the eerie desolateness of the landscape crawling into my bones, I would shiver beneath the rough winds that tortured Gaze Castle and pull my blanket closer around me. It had been a long time since I responded in such a physical way to a book. It seized me, there's no other word for it. 
Furthermore, the book appeals to every aspect of your being: Murdoch's references to religion and existentialism offer food for thought, while the plot itself arouses emotions of empathy, fear and pity. I think it's a challenge for a writer to combine the intellectual and emotional so effortlessly -- and Murdoch succeeded brilliantly. There's just one thing I thought to be lacking throughout the book: humour. My body would sometimes ache for a laugh to release some of the ever-building tension the book provided. But, well, what do I know – maybe humour would've weakened the horror of the plot. Overall: Despite the few side-comments, The Unicorn is a very, very good book which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The Unicorn

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