Bruno's Dream

This is one of Iris Murdoch's formalized entertainments shifting between Bruno's dream and the reality he finds too difficult; also between the present (when, dying, he is hanging on to life along with his stamp collection) and the past which is of course more alluring. In fact almost all of the characters who move across this crowded stage with all its symbolic props are chained to memories while Miss Murdoch explores the metaphysics of life before the final cut-off when Death contradicts ownership and self. And there are many others who like Bruno have no firmer foothold: his son Miles, with a dead wife who is just as dominant as his live Diana whose attentions now waver; a cavalier and charming son-in-law, Danby, who also alternates between Adelaide the Maid and Diana and Diana's sister Lisa; the twins, Nigel and Will (Adelaide's cousins), a rather nasty pair, etc., etc. The book is a processional like Going to Jerusalem and the characters go through endless emotional permutations. You never know which chair will be vacant since Love knows no conventions although it will be asserted as the life force after a flood washes away the past as well as Bruno's stamps. . . . Miss Murdoch is technically a fine enough tale and web spinner (spiders are also part of her bag) to sinuously engage your curiosity even where it may never extend to any real involvement. The reader, like Bruno, plays a waiting game. (Kirkus Reviews)