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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
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
Interesting, but just feels too dense right now & the library copy is in awful shape. Going to read another Iris Murdoch and try this one again if I like that one!
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have discovered my new favourite author! I almost wish all of the stories in all of the libraries could be written by Iris Murdoch, so that they all might be so insightful and vivid. Reading this was like escaping into someone else’s life and all of the woes and wonder within it, with the charm of taking place in a rocky seaside village. I imagine this story will stay with me.
emotional
reflective
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
Gorgeously written, with one of the very best unreliable narrators I have ever read. Charles is entirely reprehensible and yet his faults and delusions give him strange insight that is completely relatable.
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
"If even a dog's tooth is truly worshipped it glows with light. The venerated object is endowed with power, that is the simple sense of ontological proof. And if there is art enough a lie can enlighten us as well as the truth"
I really loved this book! It was my first Murdoch I have ever read, and I was pleasantly surprised. 'The Sea, the Sea' is both philosophical and hilarious, tackling ideas around love, marriage and individualism while feeling completely absurd and humorous. The story follows a retired actor, Charles Arrowby, who retreats to the sea in order to find peace, and who is quite honestly detestable. He is impressively self-absorbed, and the memoir-like structure only exacerbates this. The plot of the novel is quite ludicrous at times, as Charles meets a string of ex-lovers who show up at the sea one by one, each cleverly crafted by Murdoch to not only be hilarious characters, but to represent different stages and aspects of love and marriage. Entrapment, obsession and marriage are some key scenes in the novel, pondered philosophically through witty humour and unbelievable circumstances and events. How far can love take you? Is romantic obsession simply worship? Is all marriage a trap? These and more are asked by Murdoch to her readers.
I really loved this book! It was my first Murdoch I have ever read, and I was pleasantly surprised. 'The Sea, the Sea' is both philosophical and hilarious, tackling ideas around love, marriage and individualism while feeling completely absurd and humorous. The story follows a retired actor, Charles Arrowby, who retreats to the sea in order to find peace, and who is quite honestly detestable. He is impressively self-absorbed, and the memoir-like structure only exacerbates this. The plot of the novel is quite ludicrous at times, as Charles meets a string of ex-lovers who show up at the sea one by one, each cleverly crafted by Murdoch to not only be hilarious characters, but to represent different stages and aspects of love and marriage. Entrapment, obsession and marriage are some key scenes in the novel, pondered philosophically through witty humour and unbelievable circumstances and events. How far can love take you? Is romantic obsession simply worship? Is all marriage a trap? These and more are asked by Murdoch to her readers.
This year, instead of trying to get through as many books as I can, I decided I'd read the 10 or 12 longer books (over 550 pages) that over time have accumulated on my to-read pile but which never get read when I want to finish as many books in the year as I can manage.
The first is The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch. I can't recall where I came across this recommendation, but something about the set up did intrigue me. Charles Arrowby, a powerful and famous theatre director in the London scene, decides to retire and spend the rest of his days in a sort of ascetic isolation beside the sea. There he reflects on life, the people he's known, and his past relationships— mostly with women.
A couple of things need to be said about Arrowby. He's an incredible narcissist, and it would appear this is aided by the fawning (and frankly confusing) adoration of those he's surrounded by. I suppose this speaks to the way people are charmed by power, even when it manifests in such ugly ways as it does with Arrowby. The other thing to know about him is he's a terrible misogynist. In all his reflections of past relationships and in what unfolds in the novel he proves himself to be possessive, delusional, manipulative, jealous, cruel and vile. His is not an easy point of view to put up with for 580-odd pages. At times I wanted to slap him and you probably will too.
I was disappointed by this novel, and yet strangely I was also at times moved by it. The only thing that kept me in it was an appreciation for Murdoch's reflective prose. The novel is long—probably much too long and certainly longer than it needed to be. The first one or two hundred pages tell practically no story, and we just watch as Arrowby lives his mundane life preparing odd little meals, swimming in the ocean, and crafting little vignettes to describe the characters in his life, most of them past girlfriends.
If you can't appreciate a novel just for its own sake, its use of language and at its own pace, you'll drop this book quickly. Usually, if there's no whiff of plot in the first 50 pages, I'll drop the book around then. It just so happened that I was in a mood to read a more contemplative book.
Eventually a plot does emerge, and it twists and turns in some unexpected ways. It's still slow, revelling in details. The same thought cycles move through Arrowby's head over and over, so no detail is ever missed and it's often examined again and again from new angles.
So why disappointing? Many of the characters are irritating, including Arrowby, and their relationships with each other feel false. None of the women in this novel are anything but objects of desire and control for Arrowby; they're either passive or submissive, or wild 'bitches'. This is both Arrowby's view of them but also how they act throughout the novel. I expected Murdoch would layer in more depth, make Arrowby an unreliable narrator but when it came to his view on the women they performed exactly as he described them.
Overall the novel is about love, obsession, jealousy, memory and regret. I'd say it explores these themes in a nuanced and complex way. But I'm not sure the payoff will come through for a novel that is so self-indulgent. If this book is haunting me in a week or a month, maybe I'll reconsider. But having just finished it, I feel more a sense of relief to be done than any real insights.
The first is The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch. I can't recall where I came across this recommendation, but something about the set up did intrigue me. Charles Arrowby, a powerful and famous theatre director in the London scene, decides to retire and spend the rest of his days in a sort of ascetic isolation beside the sea. There he reflects on life, the people he's known, and his past relationships— mostly with women.
A couple of things need to be said about Arrowby. He's an incredible narcissist, and it would appear this is aided by the fawning (and frankly confusing) adoration of those he's surrounded by. I suppose this speaks to the way people are charmed by power, even when it manifests in such ugly ways as it does with Arrowby. The other thing to know about him is he's a terrible misogynist. In all his reflections of past relationships and in what unfolds in the novel he proves himself to be possessive, delusional, manipulative, jealous, cruel and vile. His is not an easy point of view to put up with for 580-odd pages. At times I wanted to slap him and you probably will too.
I was disappointed by this novel, and yet strangely I was also at times moved by it. The only thing that kept me in it was an appreciation for Murdoch's reflective prose. The novel is long—probably much too long and certainly longer than it needed to be. The first one or two hundred pages tell practically no story, and we just watch as Arrowby lives his mundane life preparing odd little meals, swimming in the ocean, and crafting little vignettes to describe the characters in his life, most of them past girlfriends.
If you can't appreciate a novel just for its own sake, its use of language and at its own pace, you'll drop this book quickly. Usually, if there's no whiff of plot in the first 50 pages, I'll drop the book around then. It just so happened that I was in a mood to read a more contemplative book.
Eventually a plot does emerge, and it twists and turns in some unexpected ways. It's still slow, revelling in details. The same thought cycles move through Arrowby's head over and over, so no detail is ever missed and it's often examined again and again from new angles.
So why disappointing? Many of the characters are irritating, including Arrowby, and their relationships with each other feel false. None of the women in this novel are anything but objects of desire and control for Arrowby; they're either passive or submissive, or wild 'bitches'. This is both Arrowby's view of them but also how they act throughout the novel. I expected Murdoch would layer in more depth, make Arrowby an unreliable narrator but when it came to his view on the women they performed exactly as he described them.
Overall the novel is about love, obsession, jealousy, memory and regret. I'd say it explores these themes in a nuanced and complex way. But I'm not sure the payoff will come through for a novel that is so self-indulgent. If this book is haunting me in a week or a month, maybe I'll reconsider. But having just finished it, I feel more a sense of relief to be done than any real insights.