A review by celestesbookshelf
A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch

funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
đź”– 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list
🚨 this books got it all: abortion, suicide, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, infidelity, incest
▪️this books been around a long time and there’s much online about it. Nonetheless, here are my thoughts with spoilers 👇🏼 
▫️a few chapters in I had to do some background research to figure out what in the world I was reading, so some relevant info: Britain’s sexual revolution took place in the 60s and 70s, this book was published 1961. Coincidence? I think not.
▪️Despite the dense issues mentioned in the trigger warning the book is first and foremost a satirical farce, yes I took that phrase from literary critics. At first I wasn’t sure what they meant but the further into the novel the more I realized there wasn’t another word to describe the plot!
▫️I’m convinced Murdoch held some deep, repulsed feelings toward a man or maybe all men. My theory is she then used her literature to turn them into fictional characters with their primary traits being egotistical, having many delusions of grandeur, adulterous, incapable of monogamy, and obsession with women much younger than themselves. After reading The Sea, the Sea and now A Severed Head, Murdoch had to have had a certain type of man around whom she detested and felt was ridiculous and foolish!
▪️I’ll finish off with the best review I read on the novel: Of all the lots-of-people-screwing-lots-of-other-people novels this is probably the best, and certainly the weirdest. With less philosophising and more shagging than Murdoch's other books, it is a joy to see this wonderful writer let her hair (and her knickers) down." - William Sutcliffe

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