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Under the Net

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Under the Net

By: Iris Murdoch
Narrated by: Samuel West
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Vintage Classics Murdoch: Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the 20th century. To celebrate her centenary, Vintage Classics presents special editions of her greatest and most timeless novels.

‘This is real life, Jake,’ she said. ‘You’d better wake up.’

Jake is clever, lazy and scraping by in London as a hack translator. Jake loves Anna. Anna is an elusive and lovely singer. Anna loves Hugo. Hugo is a fireworks manufacturer turned movie producer and majestic philosopher. Hugo loves Sadie. Sadie is a glossy and dazzling film starlet. Of course, Sadie loves Jake. Then there's Marvellous Mister Mars, the famous hound, who might or might not be Jake's ticket up and out of this mess.

©1954 Iris Murdoch (P)2011 Penguin Audio Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction

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It this is read quite fast in places. Still trying to work out Iris Murdoch but this made it work better than reading it myself would have done - a funnier book than I was expecting.

Sam West is the best

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A bit to much gazing at ones own navel for me. Not the best book I have ever read.

A book of it's time.

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I would happily listen to more Murdoch - and this is one of her best, least typical novels, full of charm and thought and easy invention, lucidly read with intelligence and just the right amount of charm.

More Murdoch

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Beautifully read and oh! What a perfectly observed and described and felt story!!! Extraordinary and deeply touching

Marvellous!

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Under the Net, Iris Murdoch's entertaining first novel,presents a difficult task for any narrator . The story is told in the first person by a complex contradictory character Jake Donaghue -likeable but flawed, perceptive but often obtuse - and the narrative ranges from knockabout comedy to philosophical discussion.All these challenges are successfully met by Samuel West in this excellent reading. He judges the tone of each episode with great discernment and besides giving a convincing voice to the principal character West also succeeds in bringing to life all the characters Jake encounters. His intelligent interpretation will greatly add to the understanding and enjoyment of most readers -as with Timothy West's reading of Trollope, such an excellent performance gives listening to the audio book a distinct advantage over reading for oneself.
I hope that Samuel West will read more novels by Iris Murdoch.

Over the net

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I enjoyed getting to know the characters and found the story absorbing. Very well read.

Interesting story, well read

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Revisiting this novel having read it as a youngster.

The events in the story are very much of the period in which it was written. Having said that, if you enjoy Murdoch’s flamboyant prose, philosophical and existential allusions and tales of edgy, dilettante characters then you’ll enjoy this. It’s a good, early example of greatness to come.

Samuel West is undoubtedly a great actor but I’m afraid his performance on this reading is not one of his best. He reads the story and the dialogue at such a galloping speed I found it not only distractingly monotonous but, in places, almost incomprehensible and had to repeatedly run it back. It’s rich language that needs to be savoured!

A story of its time - read too quickly.

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Struggled to read this book for book club but Samuel West brought it life. would not recommend

Unsure what this story was for

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The writing was excellent but unfortunate there was not much plot. The main character does develop but not enough in my view to save the story. The minor characters come in, appear interesting then disappear again without any real progression.
Sam West read it beautifully though.

Did it have a plot?

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Perhaps in the title the hint of what this novel is about. The net being in this case captivity by the past. Past relations and associations leading to eventual overhaul and freedom told by a narrator Jake hack translator and writer.

Under the Net.

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