🔖 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

I’m happy I got through it! This was my first Murdoch read and I enjoyed hearing about her history in the introduction.

Not much can be said about it that hasn’t been said before but nonetheless, below are my thoughts which contain spoilers 🚨 👇🏼 

Thoughts:
* Arrowby - a “famous” theatre director/actor has retired and moved to a cottage on the side of the sea, the sea. He is an egotistical narcissist whom believes every person he comes across is in love with him or at the very least admired him immensely. 
* His delusions go so far as to kidnap his childhood sweetheart and attempting to force her to leave her marriage because she “belongs with him”. 
* He tries to build a family by simply assigning roles: wife, son, to someone else’s family and trying to insert himself into being part of their life permanently. 
* There were many examples of him saying something along the lines of “…but you love me”, “yes you’re afraid of how much you love me!” “You dream of me! You’re so happy to have me back!” Etc etc 
* Hartley and Ben’s fight when Arrowby is eavesdropping sounded a lot like domestic violence. In this case I can see why Arrowby had illusions of being her knight in shining armor but the way to approached it is by trying to convince Hartley she belongs to him. Less so about her deserving better.
* A handful of his former lovers show up - all talking about how much they loved him; one writing him a letter offering to give him a baby and the honor of taking her virginity; which only contributes to his delusions of grandeur.
* Finally, Murdoch is vicious when describing aging women and I wonder if she deliberately exposed mens superficiality when it comes to looks. Terms such as “wrinkled neck” “crows feet” “droopy eyes” “dry skin” were all used to describe women characters and Arrowby felt proud of himself for feeling attracted to Hartley even though her age has begun to show.

Follow me on @celestes.bookshelf for more book reviews!