Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Over The Top October 6, 2008
Iris Murdoch's impressive debut novel remains as fresh and funny today as when she wrote it, over fifty years ago.
Although a philospophical study of life is being carried out in the book, it remains, relatively speaking, quite plot driven and the main characters are well defined and presented.
For me, the crux of the book is the relationship between the narrator, Jake and his estranged friend, Hugo, examined through a procession of unlikely and often comic set pieces.
A welcome, if rather unexpected, happy ending seems to promise a more conventional life for our hero and this feels right for a warm hearted and optimistic novel that is a delight to read and re-read.
wonderful wonderful July 25, 2006
I loved this romp through fifties London from the very word go. It's entertaining, and a delightful escape. I think it's also rather different to Iris Murdoch's usual books, much more readable I suppose, and less about a circle of upperclass twats. The only place I found it difficult to willingly suspend my disbelief was in the rather strange section set in the Paris park. I think this is a very enjoyable book and I wish it had been my first Murdoch experience instead of the tome 'The Book and the Brotherhood,' which is very rewarding and fun but still somehow... difficult.
 Fluffy soap. May 16, 2006
This begins elegantly and is so readable. You find yourself in Mrs Tinckhams and gently drifting into the story with the first person. A casual unostentatious acquaintance in the fifties complete with radiograms, telegrams and cables. Half way in and you realise you are reading a light half hearted farce. What a carryon, Hancock's Half Hour, I thought; only these characters are slightly more sophisticated. First person Jake is a mixture of Hancock and Noel Coward, Finn could be Sid James and Dave maybe Kenneth Williams. Then it gets soapy and flirts in the fifties fascination with the cinema. As if by magic you are back in Mrs Tinckrams shop with loose ends and it's all over. A very natural writer - just an ordinary novel.
 3.5 stars out of 5 February 17, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Published in 1954, Under the Net is an entertaining novel about one season in Jake Donaghue's life. Jake is a 30-ish writer in London whose specialty is translating French novels to English to earn money, which he hasn't much of, and he hasn't written anything original for sometime. Despite being semi-dependent on friends for survival (and a strong aversion for actual work), he seems very likeable, generous, loyal, and would not compromise his ideals for easy money. He is living everyone's romantic version of poverty, where everything works out and he's never actually desperate, in fact it's a bit too fantastic how he gets out of trouble sometimes, chasing one urgency (a long lost love or friendship he has to repair) after the next. But it's a feel good book because of that, and maybe in post-World War II London all this was not impossible. In the end, this very impressionable and impetuous character is more wise, has writing and employment plans, and is just as poor.Jake's fascinating friends also add entertainment - the social climbing Madge and her friendly/devious fiancé Sammie the bookie, Jake's strangely loyal "assistant" Finn, his socialist filmmaker friend Hugo, and the attractive Quentin sisters who are two corners of a sad, 4-way unrequited love structure. Something exciting or dangerous is always happening. The novel is also filled with nuggets of wisdom from Murdoch, that you can't help but feel she's pondered a lot on love, the intellectual life (vs. accomplishing work on a daily basis), and many other things. She describes swimming and judo with such zeal you feel it is something she has done, rather than just having researched on it. Perhaps it should not have been told in the first person because at times it does not sound like the thoughts of an immature male writer who is still finding himself, but someone wiser. It takes thirty pages (out of 286) to get going and I'm not sure everyone will relate to Jake's character, but it's certainly a worthwhile read.
witty, wise, entertaining, phylosophical January 12, 2002
10 out of 19 found this review helpful
A highly entertaining while also phylosophical and thought provoking novel written in a plain, yet poetic, smooth and captivating style that is characteristic of all Iris Murdoch's writings.
No word is redundant in this novel. It is witty, clever and substantial.
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