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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
Iris Murdoch does odious characters so well. Started out a little slow but soon got going with the usual cast of insufferable characters doing and saying silly things and reflecting on life. I do love Murdoch’s books.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
The rich, uncontained prose of The Sea, The Sea was such a delight to read - it was a shame that it dragged near the end. But as Charles himself said, "life, unlike art, has an irritating way of bumping and limping on" which explains that sluggish end. After all, I was reading a diary, or a memoir of sorts, so to expect such a clean finish, so unlike life, was unfair of me.
When people talk about liking "unlikeable" characters they likely mean: bad boys, jerks, people who don't care about the world. it's shocking to me too, when i say Charles Arrowby is unlikeable (he's narcissistic, vain, pretentious) and i like him. to an extent, of course. Because i see myself in him. The near-unerring Romanticism. The touch of the dramatic. But, I suppose, he takes it too far as characters in fiction are wont.
the way he talks about women (calls them 'girls') repulses me. how he manipulates Lizzie and casts aside Rosina is disgusting. and when the time came when he sees Hartley again, is it any surprise that he acts like a fool? he rhapsodized so much about this lost first love to the point of obscene elevation. it was almost to be expected that he acts unreasonably. Charles drives me nuts because he imposes his will so much but at the same time Lizzie seems so weak the way she carries on. the idea of Charles’ love for Hartley as some kind of innocent heaven, and Arcadia, prelapsarian. he seems really obsessed with this idea as a means of validating the illusion of his love.
also something about how the way the prose is punctuated. it’s not wrong by any means. it uses commas in a minimalistic manner where i tend to use it any chance i get. this makes me hesitate as i read to make sure i understand the meaning. this isn’t a complaint. it means i read more mindfully because i notice the hiccups. it’s as if the prose demands to be tasted rather than simply swallowed.
So much wisdom in such a lengthy book. I'm glad to have read it at this point in my life.
When people talk about liking "unlikeable" characters they likely mean: bad boys, jerks, people who don't care about the world. it's shocking to me too, when i say Charles Arrowby is unlikeable (he's narcissistic, vain, pretentious) and i like him. to an extent, of course. Because i see myself in him. The near-unerring Romanticism. The touch of the dramatic. But, I suppose, he takes it too far as characters in fiction are wont.
the way he talks about women (calls them 'girls') repulses me. how he manipulates Lizzie and casts aside Rosina is disgusting. and when the time came when he sees Hartley again, is it any surprise that he acts like a fool? he rhapsodized so much about this lost first love to the point of obscene elevation. it was almost to be expected that he acts unreasonably. Charles drives me nuts because he imposes his will so much but at the same time Lizzie seems so weak the way she carries on. the idea of Charles’ love for Hartley as some kind of innocent heaven, and Arcadia, prelapsarian. he seems really obsessed with this idea as a means of validating the illusion of his love.
also something about how the way the prose is punctuated. it’s not wrong by any means. it uses commas in a minimalistic manner where i tend to use it any chance i get. this makes me hesitate as i read to make sure i understand the meaning. this isn’t a complaint. it means i read more mindfully because i notice the hiccups. it’s as if the prose demands to be tasted rather than simply swallowed.
So much wisdom in such a lengthy book. I'm glad to have read it at this point in my life.
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.