I'd like to begin by saying a) I liked this book and b) I have no idea why it's on this list. Under the Net is the story of Jake Donaghue in London, who's a 30-ish, unmotivated, kinda lazy, fun to have around kind of guy. I actually think Jake would be my friend if I knew him. He drinks a lot, gets himself mixed up in all kinds of crazy schemes and caught up in ridiculous situations, and he's just not really all that interested in doing his actual job, which is to translate French novels into English, something he does instead of writing his own novels as he should.
The plot revolves mostly around Jake and his complicated love life. Basically, he finds himself in something worse than a love triangle, it's a love quadrangle. You practically need a fancy diagram to figure it out. Jake loves singer Anna Quentin (she's six years older than him, which makes me think Jake is pretty awesome). Anna, however, loves Jake's really good friend turned mortal enemy, Hugo Belfounder (millionaire and fireworks company owner/movie producer). Hugo, meanwhile, is head over heels for Anna's younger sister and famous movie actress Sadie. Of course, to round out the quadrangle, Sadie loves Jake.
When Iris Murdoch wasn't busy making this book too philosophical and serious, which happens on (boring) occasion, I actually really liked it. Some of the messes Jakes gets into and the wild drunken ideas he has are laugh-out-loud funny, and it's fairly lighthearted. Until the end. I don't even want to talk about the end because I really don't know what happened there. For the most part, this was an enjoyable read. However, I have absolutely no idea why it's considered the 90th best book ever written. It may have something to do with all that philosophy I skimmed past. But, either way, I liked this book and I'd recommend to anyone.
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