Reviews

The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch

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fantasynovel's review against another edition

3.0

This book wants to be psychological so badly but the psychology is all so artificial and the plot is sooo annoying. I liked it until halfway through and then the plot got too ridiculous for me. It did creep me out at points, to the extent where I was unhappy I was home alone at night. But for the most part I just couldn't believe how ridiculous everything that was happening was.

harrahdf's review against another edition

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3.0

Does it count as reading if I switched to the audiobook at 2x speed halfway through to lessen the amount of time I had to spend with an intolerable misogynist narrator? Murdoch did a phenomenal job of creating a fully rounded, horrible human being, and I think we’re beyond needing to understand the interior life of a selfish, pretentious pedant. I have exes I can call up for a much shorter version of the same level of insufferability and condescension.

_meganwatts's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

rosh's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.5

sxrxhtonin_'s review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“But of course the pain remains and will remain. We are conditioned beings who salivate when the bell rings.”

Such a beautifully written book. I loved the themes of nature and its sublimity throughout. While the characters were often infuriating or simply disgusting, there was an ineffable charm about this book and its protagonists which grabbed me from the beginning. It was hard to tell where it was going at parts and I lost momentum in the middle but the book is about so much more than I anticipated to begin with and there is always something (though at times this was tenuous) driving the story forward. I would love to reread and go back on the, undoubtedly, many things I missed which were foreshadowing what was to come, though the ones I picked up on I thought were subtle enough that I only noticed them in retrospect but added a nice structure and cohesiveness to the story.