Morality Play (original 1995; edition 1996)

This is an excellent book written about a 14th century troupe of actors who happen upon a town where the murder of a young boy has just taken place. A local woman has been arrested, but there is question whether she was really the murderer. The actors become obsessed with the murder and find out as many details as possible to act out the events of the murder for the town. Through this exercise they arrive at the truth of the mystery.

That short plot synopsis, intriguing as it may sound, does not do the book justice. Unsworth does a fantastic job of comparing the experience of acting to life itself. In fact, the book is layered with metaphors. He also uses subtle but chilling foreshadowing throughout the novel. The book combines the best of both worlds by being both highly readable and thought-provoking. I'll be looking for more of Unsworth's works. ( )

A brief novel that packs in a lot of character and period detail. The murder mystery is almost second to the rest of the story. ( )

Almost nothing disappointed about this book. The language, the characters, the plot, the pacing -- it all worked. There are moments of sweet humor, and a brilliant kind of dawning of self-awareness driven by discovery. It's been labeled a "murder mystery," and in some respects perhaps it is, but it's equally an exploration of personal and group ethics. The was one element that to me was a bit weak, having to do with an certain aspect of the perpetrator, but to reveal it here would be a spoiler. ( )

Another winner from Barry Unsworth. Late Fourteenth Century England and Nicholas Barber, a young cleric, falls in with a group of travelling players. They move on to a small town where there has recently been a murder and choose to create a play of the events.

This a short but fascinating story, one step follows another in a logical fashion as the characters learn more about the death. Unsworth has created a vivid picture of these actors and the situation they find themselves in. A great feel for the time and history made this a book I am very pleased to have read. I will definitely be reading more Barry Unsworth. ( )

In the late 14th century, a young, errant cleric comes across a troupe of traveling players. One of their party has recently died, and the cleric, Nicholas Barber, steps in to play parts. Their travels take them to a town where a woman of the town has recently murdered a young boy, apparently. Although players in the middle ages only focused on religious subjects, this troupe decides to stage a theatrical version of the murder as a Morality Play. But as they perform it, they discover that the truth is far from what they thought it was.

I thought it was a great idea—and I love everything related to the middle ages, so I thought I would love this book. But I didn’t really. It’s a short book, but it drags in places due to the author’s laborious attempt to sound like a medieval person. There’s a heavy-handed amount of foreshadowing; I stopped counting how many times the narrator repeated the words “if we had only know…” or something to that effect.

But in other aspects, the author recreates the late 14th century very well—this was just after the plague had hit Europe again and as a result everything changed. The sense of confusion that people felt at that time is perfectly reflected in the characters and the setting of this novel. At the same time, though, the book seemed suspended; only references to the recent plague give the reader a general idea of the time. Still, though, I didn’t feel myself getting invested enough in the characters or what happened to them; as a result, I found myself skimming the book. ( )