A Word Child by Iris Murdoch

The narrator of this novel, Hilary Burde, might be one of the least likeable narrators in literature, subjecting all his acquaintances to his inexhaustible bitterness, rudeness and obsessive structure as he suffers from guilt (which seems to weak a word) for something that happened many years previously between him and Gunnar Jopling, a man who abruptly reappears in his life and throws it into disarray. Despite Hilary's horrible behaviour, I couldn't help sympathising with him more and more as the novel went on, as he gets entangled in Iris Murdoch usual unusual and bizarre situations and relationships. This book has a wonderfully satisfying mix of humour and seriousness; many of the events are truly awful and the reflections of the characters deep and earnest, yet many of the situations are truly hilarious, such as women rapidly approaching middle age chasing after Hilary, begging him to impregnate them from variously ridiculous and convoluted motives. The novel unfolds around Christmastime, with the office where Hilary works putting on a pantomime of Peter Pan, and there are multiple themes and images from Peter Pan interwoven with the story, which I loved, since I adore Peter Pan. The characters often debate the meaning of the play and who will take what role and try to find similarities between themselves and various characters (one of my favourite bits was when one person is insisting that Nana is the true hero of the story, while another is insisting that it is Smee). I loved the aliveness of the characters in this novel, they were particularly vivid, and the various relationships are wonderfully bizarre, yet wonderfully understandable. It was really satisfying and delightful.