An Accidental Man

This is one of Murdoch's titles that I found infuriating but couldn't put down. Her characters behave outrageously but her stories are absolutely compelling. The accidental man is an absolute selfish bastard, surrounded by people who will do anything for him - as are many of her male protagonists - wonder who she could have been basing her characters on??

While the story of An Accidental Man opens with American Ludwig Leferrier and his British girlfriend, Gracie Tisbourne, getting engaged, the "accidental man" is actually middle aged Austin Gibson Grey. He is a hapless man followed by trouble with a mentally unstable wife.
As an FYI, the thing about Murdoch's writing is that there are a lot of other characters to keep track of and the plot is dark and convoluted, but after a while the characters become old friends which makes the plot easier to follow. Kind of like when you are stuck in an elevator and everyone becomes familiar by the time the doors open and you are freed.
There are a lot of tragic moments in An Accidental Man so it's surprising to think of it as a comedy. Take, for show more example, the scene of Gracie's wealthy grandmother dying. Her children are desperate for the doctor to speed up the process because they just want it to be over or do they want her money? the sooner the better. The doctor tries and tries to leave but the family keeps finding excuses to make him stay.
Or, when Austin, driving Matthew's car while drunk, hits and kills a child. Matthew helps cover up the crime because it was his automobile that struck the child. How they avoid detection from the police, I don't know.
Or when Mitzi and Charlotte attempt suicide...see what I mean? Dark, dark, dark! However, one of the best things about Murdoch's writing was how descriptive she could be with her characters. Grace Tisbourne is described as small calm radiant unsmiling. Just like that. It's the "radiant unsmiling" that grabs you.
One of the worst things about Murdoch's writing is how disjointed the story line could be. Because of the multitude of characters the plot jumps around a lot.
The message of the story is we all have to determine our moral obligation towards one another. show less

A complex book with many characters, not one of whom is both sane and likeable, and many who are neither! There is no single main character or even a main plot, yet lots happens (which makes you keep reading), but in some ways, nothing does (which makes it frustrating).

An odd mixture of conventional narrative, sections of correspondence and quickfire unattributed and disjointed dialog at parties. The latter two styles felt like a shortcut to move the story along. I also found the repeated use of "someone and me" was annoyingly distracting.

Overall, it feels quite experimental, but on the other hand, like many Murdoch books, there is a significant Svengaliesque figure. In this case, there is arguably more than one, but as a reader, I show more found it hard to be caught in their web or really understand why others did.

I enjoyed it, but find it hard to pinpoint why. show less

This is one of Murdoch's odder novels, and is not an easy one to love, though for the most part it is easy enough to read. It has a large cast of characters, none of whom is entirely likeable, and mixes farce and tragedy.

At its centre is Austin Gibson Grey, the Accidental Man of the title. Austin is the archetypal useless middle aged man. At the start of the book we see him losing his office job. His second wife Dorina has already taken refuge with her sister, and he decides to save money by letting his flat and moving in with Mitzi, a lonely alcoholic, one of several women in the book who can't help loving him and mothering him. Austin has a complicated relationship with his brother Matthew, who has just returned to London from a show more lucrative career in the Far East.

Another strand concerns Ludwig Leferrier, a young American philosopher who is avoiding the Vietnam draft by remaining in England, where he was born. Ludwig is offered a job at an Oxford college, and is engaged to Gracie, a young girl he has little in common with. Gracie's aunt Charlotte has been looking after her ailing mother, but when she dies she leaves her considerable fortune to Gracie, bypassing Charlotte and Grace's mother Clara.

The book is full of bizarre accidents and characters who fail various moral tests, and the ending is not really a resolution.

There are a couple of stylistic quirks that distinguish the book from Murdoch's other works. Although it is mostly related by an omniscient narrator, there are several sections in which a number of letters between different members of the cast move the plot on and provide entertainment, and there are two set piece party scenes in which conversations are reported without any attribution of comments to characters, which works surprisingly well.

Overall, an interesting book, but probably not one of Murdoch's best. show less

This, Iris Murdoch's fourteenth published novel, is one of her very best, arguably her best. It's artfully orchestrated, formally fascinating, a great union of chance and plot, philosophical suggestion, comedy, and character revelation. And, besides, it's a fine evocation of its time, the 1960s. Of the quintessentially "Sixties Novels," this, I think, is the best.

A lot of the usual Murdoch tropes here, a cast of bizarre characters having strange interactions, partner swapping, relationship breakdown, family disagreements. Its quite dark but funny, with quite the trail of death and destruction following the 'main' character, Austin. There is also broken pottery and owl attacks. Its a good one.

No idea what whoever designed the cover was thinking.

There's a large cast of players in this novel. Gradually the reader sorts out who is who. The most important characters are given a deeper treatment than those on the periphery.
The novel is comic given the regular about-facing behaviour of the cast; it is also a merciless exposition of the troubles we get into through believing our illusions about ourselves and others.
There is nothing quite so absorbing, entertaining and thought provoking than an Iris Murdoch novel.