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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
emotional
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:
Yes
Charles Arrowby, a theatrical personage of some repute, retires to the solitude of a rambling house on a rocky coast to pen his memoirs. The solitude doesn't last long, as he is hounded at all hours by people from his past who intrude, eat his food, drink his wine, poke around in his belongings, argue, interrupt, and torment.
Arrowby is the classic unreliable narrator, and we're off and running into a summer filled with lost and found love, sea monsters, predatory former mistresses, a kidnapping, Buddhist relatives, childhood memories, vandalism, suspicious townspeople, and copious amounts of wine.
This is a novel with a strong sense of place--the sea is certainly a main character. There is so much reward here for readers who stick with it all. The blurb on the cover says it all: "a rich, crowded, magical love story".
Arrowby is the classic unreliable narrator, and we're off and running into a summer filled with lost and found love, sea monsters, predatory former mistresses, a kidnapping, Buddhist relatives, childhood memories, vandalism, suspicious townspeople, and copious amounts of wine.
This is a novel with a strong sense of place--the sea is certainly a main character. There is so much reward here for readers who stick with it all. The blurb on the cover says it all: "a rich, crowded, magical love story".
Fantastic novel—engaging and complex point of view, with a number of powerful “wow” paragraphs. Would recommend.
I love this book and have done since I first read it as a teenager. It sparks my love of Iris Murdoch (and I've collected all her books since) but this remains my firm favourite.
It tells of an old man, an actor, who is staying by the sea when he comes across his first love from his youth, Hartley. What follows is a delusional obsession with this lady, who is now, like him, old and different from her youth. The protagonist, Charles, is an egotistical, control-freak; possessive, though not dangerous. A captivating, humourous book which I won't say anymore about it except to say I highly recommend.
It tells of an old man, an actor, who is staying by the sea when he comes across his first love from his youth, Hartley. What follows is a delusional obsession with this lady, who is now, like him, old and different from her youth. The protagonist, Charles, is an egotistical, control-freak; possessive, though not dangerous. A captivating, humourous book which I won't say anymore about it except to say I highly recommend.
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