Them and The Black Prince
Joyce Carol Oates and Iris Murdoch. Two prolific writers. I once listed all of Oates’ writings here and will list Murdoch’s at the end of this post. I more or less started both of these books together, but Murdoch’s style in The Black Prince , which takes on the form of a book written by the main character Bradley confused me at first (it opens with an editor’s foreword which is followed by Bradley Pearson’s foreword before entering the main narrative, Bradley’s first person account of events that took place when he was 58 years old – doesn’t that already confuse you?). It didn’t make for easy reading, and after not too many pages, I turned to Oates’ Them
In a sense it was. And yet it wasn’t. The story of Loretta and her children Jules, Maureen and Betty (set in Detroit in the 1950s and 60s) is quite despairing and at times, disturbing. Their life is a struggle, a desperate search for love and affection, a life full of regret and pain. Jules is the rebel who can’t stay out of trouble, while Maureen is the one whom everyone, especially Loretta, depends on, she’s well-behaved and does well at school, Betty doesn’t really feature all that much in the story as she’s always off with other friends but is also under some bad influences. Maureen falls into a blank state of sorts after being beaten up by her stepfather, and Jules takes on a job as a chauffeur for a rich man and falls for his niece after catching a glimpse of her and who later runs away with Jules. There’s plenty more to the story but I don’t know about revealing too much of it. So I’m going to leave it at that.
Them is quite a lengthy book and at times I wondered if it were worth continuing. But perhaps like a train wreck you can’t tear your eyes away from, the despair and desperate need for love just made me want to see how it all would end. Would everything be ok? Would they survive to see the end of the story? But somehow the ending was just very unsatisfactory for me. It was more like a ‘hmm ok’ kind of ending. But then, this is a very character-driven book, it is about the development of the characters, of this society, and perhaps a little less about the story.
This book required a tremendous load of patience. It really did. And I’m quite amazed that I persevered. Was it worth it? Which made me wonder: does every book I read have to be about the sweet life? Well, no not really, because I think I tend to read books that lean a little towards the bittersweet, or just the bitter. Them is full of hard edges, so it’s not for everyone.
I think part of my flopping back and forth about Them is that I finally finished reading The Black Prince. And while the first bit of the book also tried my patience, this was a book that required one’s reading till the very end to get that ‘oh!’ moment. Because there was such a brilliance to the ending (which wasn’t really the ending, and instead was followed by a postscript by Bradley, and four other characters and finally by the editor).
But I am getting ahead of myself here! Let’s start from the beginning. This is, as I have mentioned, Bradley Pearson’s book. He’s recently retired to devote his time to writing (he’s written 3 books already). But his plans for his writing retreat in a little cabin go awry when other people’s issues cross his path. His friend and fellow writer Arnold Baffin has hit his wife Rachel and needs help; his ex-wife Christian has returned from America a widow; Christian’s brother, the whiny Francis, comes badgering him for money and a place to stay; Bradley’s wife, Priscilla, has left her husband and needs some tea and sympathy (and a place to stay); then Julian, Arnold’s 20-year-old daughter, wants some tutoring help. Bradley’s quite overwhelmed, as any of us would be. But he reaches out and instead of retreating to write his work of art, he aids and consoles and soothes and badgers and tutors and ends up falling for Julian (the memoir is subtitled ‘A Celebration of Love’ after all) and quarreling with her parents. These are hardly extraordinary people and they’re all very flawed but they’re so compellingly written and their seemingly ordinary lives are somehow just so absorbing that after getting over my initial discomfort (and to be honest, a bit of boredom as the first bit is a little tedious), I was a little addicted to this book. It is quite a fascinating romance (a 38-year age difference!) and Julian’s youth brings such life to Bradley. And things are happy and there are walks on the beach but I was reading it, just knowing that something would happen. But I won’t really say very much more except there were some interesting twists in the end, and as such this wasn’t a ‘hmm, ok’ ending, but more like an ‘oh! genius!’ one.
An absolutely delightful read. I never thought, after my initial dislike for The Black Prince, that I would say that. I never thought I would like and yet also dislike these characters, especially Bradley. This is a book that really makes one consider the reliability of a narrator. This is Bradley’s memoir and he does hint of his unreliability in his foreword, and that makes one quite unsure about, well, everything. Which aids that ‘oh!’ moment at its conclusion. Ah, Dame Iris, you are an absolute wonder.
This book (along with the other books by Murdoch that I’ve read) just makes me want to finish everything else she’s written. But I’m going to have to pace myself. I don’t want to run out of Murdoch too soon.
Iris Murdoch – Fiction (according to Wikipedia)
* Under the Net (1954)
* The Flight from the Enchanter (1956)
* The Sandcastle (1957)
* The Bell (1958)
* A Severed Head (1961)
* An Unofficial Rose (1962)
* The Unicorn (1963)
* The Italian Girl (1964)
* The Red and the Green (1965)
* The Time of the Angels (1966)
* The Nice and the Good (1968)
* Bruno’s Dream (1969)
* A Fairly Honourable Defeat (1970)
* An Accidental Man (1971)
* The Black Prince (1973), winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
* The Sacred and Profane Love Machine (1974), winner of the Whitbread Literary Award for Fiction
* A Word Child (1975)
* Henry and Cato (1976)
* The Sea, the Sea (1978), winner of the Booker Prize
* Nuns and Soldiers (1980)
* The Philosopher’s Pupil (1983)
* The Good Apprentice (1985)
* The Book and the Brotherhood (1987)
* The Message to the Planet (1989)
* The Green Knight (1993)
* Jackson’s Dilemma (1995)
* Something Special (Short story reprint, 1999; originally published 1957)
I am a big Murdoch fan and have read many of her novels. But I think I still like Under the Net best.
Thanks Thomas, I’ll have to check that out!
“But I am getting ahead of myself here! Let’s start from the beginning.”
Heh. That’s fun. And I’m figuring that, if we can’t follow the review, we’d best look for another prince entirely. I haven’t read that one of Murdoch’s but it certainly does sound like a keeper!
I just didn’t know how I felt about Them. I was curious to know what would happen to the characters but I don’t really remember how the book ended. I feel like there was a city riot close to the end. I remember the story of Jules and that rich man’s daughter ends rather abruptly. I was more impressed by Oates’ short but strong novella, Rape: A Love Story.
Yup what you recall about the story is right, and it did kind of go on a bit too long. I do think it’ll be a while till I pick up another Oates’ book again, although I eventually will.