Reading between the lines

This was the first book of Iris Murdoch’s that I read and might be the last. For some reason, Iris Murdoch’s quotes appeared quite a few times within one week (perhaps it was her birthday some day that week) on some Facebook page on literature that I had subscribed to. The book was quite a disappointment set in London among a group of friends and family. Almost like a soap opera, everyone had slept with almost everyone else, and the ones whom they had not slept with, they were deeply in love with. As always, spoiler alert. Stop here if you don’t want to know any part of the story. Not too far into the book, a fairly interesting part does turn up. There are two brothers Lucas and Clement. Lucas was initially adopted by their parents who had given up hope on having their own child. But after several years, they do indeed have their own – Clement. Initially, Lucas was the focus of all their love and attention but once Clement was born, the parents apparently diverted