andamu

The Nice and The GoodThere are many elements in The Nice and the Good that might appear unrealistic; too idyllic, too fantastic, too melodramatic, too far-fetched to be true. In other words, at the start the book conveys the feeling that it is a typical Summer read; interesting, amusing but not demanding.

It might take a couple of beats before events start to sink in, and the realization that this is very real indeed, with situations ripped from real life. Take the relationship between Jessica and Ducane which had fizzled out some time ago, whereafter they had remained "friends," seeing one another on a non-physical basis.

"He became gradually and sadly aware that she did not share his newfound liberty. He had not set her free. She was still in love with him ... Her time consisted of seeing him, waiting, and seeing him again, of presence, absence, presence. She watched him anxiously, muting her love, instinctively afraid of making him feel trapped or guilty."

The novel continues in this curious fashion, where elements of idyll are intermingled with reality, and where the reader ends up being exasperated with Uncle Theo and Willy Kost, and Casie, wishing the twins were theirs, wanting to shake Barbara and Pierce, and shouting at Ducane about Jessica and McGrath, sneering at Biranne, and shouting at Paula about Eric.

Of course these are trivial observations about the book; the themes are broad and important, and Iris Murdoch's background teaching philosophy at Oxford is evident throughout this novel which at its core tries to establish what is good, and who is good.