555. A Severed Head

A Severed Head
Iris Murdoch
1961
Around 205 pages

The big 555, the beginning of all my favorite characters' phone numbers. We don't always get to celebrate these milestones with a masterpiece (it's a milestone because I say it is), so I am going to cherish this occasion.

Martin Lynch-Gibbon is a wine merchant in his forties, who is cheating on his older wife Antonia with Georgie, a student in her twenties. Martin doesn't really consider his philandering immoral, but he's shocked to discover that his wife has been cheating on him with her psychoanalyst Palmer. Martin is one of those characters who only wants what he can't have, so throughout the novel he cycles through feelings for Antonia, Georgie, and Honor (Palmer's half-sister) depending on who they are sleeping with at the time.

This novel is like a game of musical mattresses, everybody is sleeping with everybody else. Murdoch is a very funny writer, and I was genuinely surprised by some of the twists and turns she came up with. She has a way of writing like a story like it's a mystery, even when it's a farce. 

I'm so predictable, but another five stars for Iris.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into a 1970 film with Ian Holm.

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