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Title details for The Message to the Planet by Iris Murdoch - Available

The Message to the Planet

by Iris Murdoch
Carrington MacDune
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

An enthralling story of love and betrayal, faith and doubt, and the bewildered striving of men and women confronted with the mystery of being human "Full of the rough-and-tumble, the real life, the spirit. . . I was at all times firmly in its grip. " —Anatole Broyard, The New York Times Book Review "Murdoch works with an intellectual daring most writers only dream of. " —The Philadelphia Inquirer Charismatic thinker and healer Marcus Vallar is missing. Everyone agrees he must be found, especially his ardent but uncertain young disciple, Alfred Ludens, who believes Vallar has discovered a secret of vital importance to mankind. Vallar is also needed to rescue Patrick Fenman, a penniless Irish poet who is dying of a disease that he believes is the result of a curse Vallar has put on him. When Vallar miraculously cures Patrick with a laying on of hands, he sets in motion the tide of events that touches an ever-widening circle of men and women, including his own daughter. Is Marcus Vallar a genius? A saint? Or just a madman? Whatever he is, he might just hold the key to the meaning of life.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 17, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • File size: 699043 KB
      • Duration: 24:16:20

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 30, 1990
      Murdoch ( The Book and the Brotherhood ) begins her 24th novel with a crisis. Three friends--Jack Shearwater, Alfred Ludens, Gildas Hearne--gather to grapple with the problem of Patrick Fenman, who is dying of an unknown disease. and Marcus Vallar, the one-time mathematical prodigy whose curse purportedly brought on the illness is tracked down and brought to Patrick's bedside, where he performs a laying-on of hands to amazing effect and becomes the center of a quiet religious movement. In this beautifully patterned work, Vallar is situated as well at the crux of a kaleidoscopic network of relationships; at the chic resort/asylum to which Vallar retreats, Ludens, Gildas, Jack, Jack's wife, Franca, his mistress, Alison, and Vallar's elusive daughter Irina are all drawn together in a whirl of emotions. They come to joy as well as grief when forced to confront the extremes of love and spiritual experience in the mystery Vallar's presence poses. Murdoch fans will be well pleased: as do her previous epistemological novels, the newest shows the transforming power of love while capturing life's small yet significant details, wherein a convenient parking space may come to mean nearly as much as an ostensible miracle. 35,000 first printing.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      When friends rally around a dying Patrick Fenman, they decide that the only way to save him is to call upon mentor, philosopher, and healer Marcus Vallar to lift the curse he placed on the man. To everyone's amazement, Vallar raises Fenman from the dead and throws everyone in Fenman's life on a spiraling path of faith-healing and metaphysics. Carrington MacDuffie gives a fantastic performance, carrying the book through cumbersome philosophical discussions and straightforward drama with equal ease. Each character has a distinct and appropriate voice, making the profuse dialogue a pleasure to hear. As the drama unfolds, along with the loves, betrayals, and intricate triangles, MacDuffie rises to the occasion, taking the listener along for the ride through Murdoch's strange world. H.L.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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