- Hardcover: 505 pages
- Publisher: Chatto & Windus; New edition edition (8 Aug 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0701138653
- ISBN-13: 978-0701138653
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 13.7 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,442,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Nuns And Soldiers (Vintage classics)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"A power of intellect quite exceptional in a novelist." -"Sunday Times"
"She is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour." -"The Times" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
"She is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour." -"The Times" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Description
First published in 1980, a story of honour and innocence and about the vicissitudes of a deep friendship between two women.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I had never read any Iris Murdoch and on a whim I decided to read this novel.
What an amazing book.
I read a great deal and the most noticeable feature in Murdoch's writing is that she does not use overly flowery metaphors.
Good well rounded characters, an interesting and gripping plot (more about that later) and a world inhabited by these characters which is both well described and easy to visualise. Indeed you sense that you could smell, feel and taste that world.
The plot; I do not know if this is a regular feature of Murdochs books but it would be hard to desribe the plot to anyone. You could just as easily say that it is about nothing as that it is about everything. Because it is about life; the lives of the characters, the moment of time in their lives in which you are allowed to view them.
And they are fascinating. Fascinatingly flawed, annoying, frustrating, lovable and intriguing.
Nuns and Soldiers will make you laugh, smile, startle and occasionally frustrate you but most of all amaze you.
When you have finished you will be in awe of Murdoch's ability to write with such eloquence and ease in a way which is so obviously brilliant but not so obvious that it interferes with your entering the world of this book.
I really do dare you to put it down.
What an amazing book.
I read a great deal and the most noticeable feature in Murdoch's writing is that she does not use overly flowery metaphors.
Good well rounded characters, an interesting and gripping plot (more about that later) and a world inhabited by these characters which is both well described and easy to visualise. Indeed you sense that you could smell, feel and taste that world.
The plot; I do not know if this is a regular feature of Murdochs books but it would be hard to desribe the plot to anyone. You could just as easily say that it is about nothing as that it is about everything. Because it is about life; the lives of the characters, the moment of time in their lives in which you are allowed to view them.
And they are fascinating. Fascinatingly flawed, annoying, frustrating, lovable and intriguing.
Nuns and Soldiers will make you laugh, smile, startle and occasionally frustrate you but most of all amaze you.
When you have finished you will be in awe of Murdoch's ability to write with such eloquence and ease in a way which is so obviously brilliant but not so obvious that it interferes with your entering the world of this book.
I really do dare you to put it down.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Memorable characters, masterful plotting
16 Jun 1999
Format:Paperback
"Nuns and Soldiers" was the first Iris Murdoch novel I read. I've since read many others, but it remains one of the most memorable, from the very first scene when an important character is on his deathbed. (A visitor considers whether to mention to the dying man that it's raining, but then reflects on how irrelevant that would be . . . "There would be no more weather for Gerald.") In addition to the side trips into philosphy that are typical in Murdoch's novels, you have memorable characters for whom she's created detailed and interesting pasts -- this really draws you into their lives as they veer from one life-changing crisis to the next. Murdoch's plotting is amazing, as well: masterfully done. She'd be worthy of a college course in writing, for sure. I "held back" a star because the ending was a bit "happily ever after" for my taste, but it's an excellent book.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Reading pleasure
9 April 2002
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Whenever I read an Iris Murdoch novel, I am reminded how much I enjoy and appreciate her work. Her books are always a pleasure to read, and a pleasure that I would be sincerely sorry to miss.
At the moment of the death of her husband, Gertrude is reunited with her best friend from University-- Anne. Anne and Gertrude had been separated when Anne had joined the nunnery, and it is this occasion of great loss for both of them (Anne has lost the solace of the nunnery) that brings them together. Nuns and Soldiers questions both the notion of great love and the morality of the expression of love.
My book club was not overly fond of Nuns and Soldiers because they found the character of Gertrude so utterly unsympathetic. I must admit that she is truly atypical for Murdoch-- her feminine passivity and self-centeredness are not normal characteristics for Murdoch characters. However, her traits make her a good fit for the novel, even if she would make a grating person to know in real life.
Like most Murdoch novels, this is one that I would recommend.
At the moment of the death of her husband, Gertrude is reunited with her best friend from University-- Anne. Anne and Gertrude had been separated when Anne had joined the nunnery, and it is this occasion of great loss for both of them (Anne has lost the solace of the nunnery) that brings them together. Nuns and Soldiers questions both the notion of great love and the morality of the expression of love.
My book club was not overly fond of Nuns and Soldiers because they found the character of Gertrude so utterly unsympathetic. I must admit that she is truly atypical for Murdoch-- her feminine passivity and self-centeredness are not normal characteristics for Murdoch characters. However, her traits make her a good fit for the novel, even if she would make a grating person to know in real life.
Like most Murdoch novels, this is one that I would recommend.
11 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Lengthy and irritating
4 Jan 2000
Format:Paperback
This is one of three Iris Murdoch books I have read, as a good friend of mine is a big fan. I have yet to see why. I found Nuns and Soldiers silly and overwrought, an extended but inexplicable love story filled with improbable and self conscious conversations. Do people experiencing a coup de foudre really sit around and dissect their feelings? I don't find the philosophical or moral underpinnings of the story to be compelling, either. Social requirements versus individual desire, I guess.
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