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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I do not understand the love this book gets - I hung in there, hoping it would get better but not for me. Not even Simon Vance, a favorite Audible narrator, could redeem this book for me.
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Iris Murdoch's "The Sea, The Sea" is the tale of Charles Arrowby, a narcissistic actor/director who retires to Shruff End, a gloomy seaside home to write his memoirs. His peace and quiet is quickly interrupted by a bevy of girlfriends past, including a chance encounter with Mary Hartley Smith, his first love.
Arrowby is at once smitten and obsessed with Hartley and the book becomes a complicated tangle of jealousy, obsession and possibly even madness. The line between reality and fiction (in Arrowby's world) is so blurred that the book really plunges along moving from the ridiculous to the absurd in an entertaining way.
I liked the book a lot, though I won't say that I loved it. (Reading the first 100 or so pages, I thought this might be a five star book for me... but as the story evolved I saw that it wouldn't be.) I adore Murdoch's writing style. However, as the absurdity and egotism of the narrator builds to a crescendo, the overall story lost a little steam as it stretched the bounds of credibility farther and farther. I still give the book a good, solid thumbs up... just not as enthusiastically as I initially thought it would be.
Arrowby is at once smitten and obsessed with Hartley and the book becomes a complicated tangle of jealousy, obsession and possibly even madness. The line between reality and fiction (in Arrowby's world) is so blurred that the book really plunges along moving from the ridiculous to the absurd in an entertaining way.
I liked the book a lot, though I won't say that I loved it. (Reading the first 100 or so pages, I thought this might be a five star book for me... but as the story evolved I saw that it wouldn't be.) I adore Murdoch's writing style. However, as the absurdity and egotism of the narrator builds to a crescendo, the overall story lost a little steam as it stretched the bounds of credibility farther and farther. I still give the book a good, solid thumbs up... just not as enthusiastically as I initially thought it would be.
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Murdoch is a fabulous writer to read. Passages of deep poetic insight merge with humour, keenly observed personality profiles, intense writing, evocative descriptions of food and the star of the show, the sea. The book is a kind of psychological drama/holiday caper featuring the retired fantasist/theatre director, Charles Arrowby and the host of ardent friends and ex-loves who come to visit his new home by the sea at Shruff End. Charles is an arrogant egoist equally uncomfortable with the complicit male world of bawdy and the 'awful eternal presence of marriage', preferring to live in the never-never land of art. Despite many close ethical and mortal shaves, he neglects to change a thing.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes