I hate it when I read a review that influences my way of thinking, my way of reading a book. This happened innocently enough. I was looking for more information about Jackson's Dilemma. Was it ever made into a movie? Adapted for the stage? A musical? As a result of my searching I discovered Jackson's Dilemma was Murdock's last book. Not only that, but she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's right around the time of publication. Inadvertently, I read two reviews that seemed to blame the disease for the demise of Murdoch's craft. In other words, Jackson's Dilemma bombed. Because of the reviews I found myself wondering about the words. I will admit, the beginning was slow and the characters, curious, but in the end I didn't think it was all that bad.

It starts off on the eve of Edward and Marian's wedding. Edward is enjoying dinner with friends when he discovers a note under the door: an "I can't marry you" letter from Marian. There is no explanation but the following day there is much hoopla about making sure people are "barred" from the church and from attending a wedding that won't happen. All of Edward's friends are absurdly devastated by this turn of events, so much so that I started to really question their sanity. Meanwhile, both Edward and Marian disappear (separately, of course). Enter Jackson (Just Jackson, no last name). Even his arrival is peculiar.

In the end the plot becomes a garbled mess. Everyone is trying to be in love with someone else, exclaiming undying devotion left and right. Even Owen (male) and Tuan (also male) have some kind of odd, unexplained relationship going on. Despite all this, I did have two favorite lines: "The moon was not present, being elsewhere" (p 22). Who actually knows where the moon was, but I thought that was funny. The other line: "After all, as Randall said, it's the sea that matters" (p 100). Too bad Randall would lose his life to the very thing that mattered. ( )

We meet the characters on the eve of a wedding. A note from the bride canceling plans leads to drama, worry, and lots of hand-wringing. The loose-knit set of friends seem to travel beween their London flats and their well-appointed country castles. All of the conflicts between characters are somehow magically mended by Jackson, a quiet man of indeterminate age and nationality. There are hints that he's not quite of-this-world. The reader doesn't have access to his thoughts nor how the problems are solved. Conversations between characters could be interchanged without difficulty since they they all seem to have the same voice. I finished the book even though it became more tedious and its flaws more obvious the longer I read. I don't recommend this book. ( )

"Preparations for the marriage of Edward Lannion and Marian Berran are under way. As the guests anticipate the festivities, a mysterious note from Marian is discovered and she disappears. From the background emerges Jackson, a servant, who seems able to change the workings of destiny. "

I tossed it after 20 pages... Now that is pretty bad, even for me. Usually I give it 50 pages or more, before I give up. Especially dissapointing, because I had it on my TBR pile so long, before I had a go at it.
But this was just not working for me. I found the writing style so distracting, that I could not develop any interest for the story. Just too quaint. Or too unrealistic for the setting. I am not sure, I am still trying to decide, why this book put me off so quickly. Trying to be Jane Austen, just without being funny and witty?
This is my first Iris Murdoch. Perhaps I should have tried an earlier one. I am wondering, if she was already affected by Alzheimer's, when she wrote this? It would go a long way in explaining, why a supposedly great writer could produce something so uninteresting? ( )