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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Gosh. What to say. Preposterous, funny, crackpot, abusive, misogynistic Charles Arrowby is a narcissist who keeps a woman locked up in his house. The book is in turns crazy, amusing, dark, and ridiculously melodramatic. Far be it for me to say, it needed a good editor to get to work on it, but that was my preoccupying thought as I read it. Or rather, listened to Richard E Grant’s magnificent audio recording of it.
John Crace’s digest of the plot of the book in the Guardian says it all, really.
In spite of its obvious flaws, I did enjoy it, even if it horrified me utterly at times, and I would place it in the ‘unforgettable reads’ box in my mind, if not in my top ten novels.
John Crace’s digest of the plot of the book in the Guardian says it all, really.
In spite of its obvious flaws, I did enjoy it, even if it horrified me utterly at times, and I would place it in the ‘unforgettable reads’ box in my mind, if not in my top ten novels.
https://booknation.ro/recenzie-marea-marea-de-iris-murdoch/
The world is a strange and beautiful and frightening and tragic and painful and unknown and banal and crowded place. There are old friends and enemies, unfamiliar new places, angry scenes and everyday meals. There is the weather. And also seals and sea monsters (maybe), and deaths, kidnapping and attempted murders (maybe). And love and desire too, of course, but often mixed with misunderstanding, jealousy, obsession and dependency in complicated combinations.
All of that is to say that 'The Sea, The Sea' represents all of the above in a story bordering on the quixotic and surreal in places, but is shot through with enough of the quotidian to keep it from slipping entirely into magical realism.
The writing seems effortless, the pages practically turn themselves, even in the first quarter or so of the book when nothing much seems to happen - as you would expect in a tiny coastal village - where the protagonist and narrator, a newly retired theatre director, tries to escape from his previous life. A revolving door cast of characters from that life then intrude, and the tone eventually becomes more frenetic, chaotic and eventually darker - even 'mad' - as our unreliable narrator falls into a whirlpool of his own fantasies and the unclear motives of others. Tragedy, reconciliations and betrayals bring the curtain down eventually, and the end peters out ambiguously.
Just like life. Brilliant.
All of that is to say that 'The Sea, The Sea' represents all of the above in a story bordering on the quixotic and surreal in places, but is shot through with enough of the quotidian to keep it from slipping entirely into magical realism.
The writing seems effortless, the pages practically turn themselves, even in the first quarter or so of the book when nothing much seems to happen - as you would expect in a tiny coastal village - where the protagonist and narrator, a newly retired theatre director, tries to escape from his previous life. A revolving door cast of characters from that life then intrude, and the tone eventually becomes more frenetic, chaotic and eventually darker - even 'mad' - as our unreliable narrator falls into a whirlpool of his own fantasies and the unclear motives of others. Tragedy, reconciliations and betrayals bring the curtain down eventually, and the end peters out ambiguously.
Just like life. Brilliant.
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
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
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The problem with this book is that Iris Murdoch writes an unsympathetic, dull, egotistical mysogynist rather too well, in too much detail. I am not one to need sympathetic characters, but I do need interesting ones, especially in a first person novel of over five hundred pages. I made it to page two hundred and, well, it's not terrible, but I couldn't find reasons to continue.