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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
When I told my mom that I was reading this book (as I know she has it), she said that she liked and disliked it at the same time. The writing, she said, was very good, but the actions and motives of the characters were so very wrong you want to reject it. And while I didn't feel like that reading, I can see why it might feel so.
The book is, in my opinion, very deceptive and when you think you have figured out what it is all about, it just proves you wrong. It goes from peaceful self-reflection to eccentric love stories to thriller to horror to mystery to something else. The plot also uses some tricks to build suspense or increase the tension that I was almost tempted to call cheap but then I realized they were more theatrical – which is suitable for a book about a theater personality, after all.
In a nutshell, it is a book about obsession and about the great lengths that it can go in disturbed minds. But through a very limited setting, it reveals a very rich picture of many different characters in all their complexity.
All in all, it is one of the best books I've read in a while. I also found at least one more new favorite book character in it and that is a great joy and a discovery on its own – almost like meeting a nice person.
The book is, in my opinion, very deceptive and when you think you have figured out what it is all about, it just proves you wrong. It goes from peaceful self-reflection to eccentric love stories to thriller to horror to mystery to something else. The plot also uses some tricks to build suspense or increase the tension that I was almost tempted to call cheap but then I realized they were more theatrical – which is suitable for a book about a theater personality, after all.
In a nutshell, it is a book about obsession and about the great lengths that it can go in disturbed minds. But through a very limited setting, it reveals a very rich picture of many different characters in all their complexity.
All in all, it is one of the best books I've read in a while. I also found at least one more new favorite book character in it and that is a great joy and a discovery on its own – almost like meeting a nice person.
this book is very very very good and it makes me sad that i really have no memory/impression of the other murdoch book i read two years ago (the bell) because i read this and thought it was stellar. i'm a sucker for a good unreliable narrator/narcissist/asshole protag. it reminded me of mrs dalloway in the way that it moved - slowly, luxuriously, working over certain moments. of course this has the added dimension of being charles's memoir/diary rather than a third person account of a day.
for the last 50 or so pages i was really hungry but i wanted to finish the book before i cooked dinner so i basically read them in a weird daze but i kind of feel like that's also how they were written. so it's ok.
"My God, that bloody casket has fallen on the floor! Some people were hammering in the next flat and it fell off its bracket. The lid has come off and whatever was inside it has certainly got out. Upon the demon-ridden pilgrimage of human life, what next I wonder?"
for the last 50 or so pages i was really hungry but i wanted to finish the book before i cooked dinner so i basically read them in a weird daze but i kind of feel like that's also how they were written. so it's ok.
Spoiler
noteworthy: james as doppelganger, rosina = the best boss bitch, the way murdoch sets up the hartley captivity in such a way that i also felt trapped because there was no good solution, the ending lines, which read:"My God, that bloody casket has fallen on the floor! Some people were hammering in the next flat and it fell off its bracket. The lid has come off and whatever was inside it has certainly got out. Upon the demon-ridden pilgrimage of human life, what next I wonder?"
What a beautifully written book! Murdoch's handle on prose is utterly exquisite. From the first few pages, Murdoch had me intrigued by this cynical and pedantic narrator, the retired theatre director Charles Arrowby. As the novel continues, the reader begins to doubt Charles' behaviour more and more, realising he is unreliable in the way he discusses his past loves and his current actions, until he becomes utterly unhinged in his obsession with his first love. It's a fascinating character study, exploring the stories and 'truths' we construct about our own lives.
Even as Charles' actions become more disturbing, there is hilarious dialogue throughout, particularly with Peregrine, Rosina and James. The supporting cast of characters give a richness to the book, where jealousy, desperation, love and anger overlap in interesting ways.
Murdoch is at her best when describing how an individual perceives the world. Whether that is Charles' self-conscious reflections when describing the complexity of his cousin James; a sky so full of stars that it is like the universe turning itself inside out; or James' trying to pull Charles back from his obsession with Hartley. I feel that a lot of the novel comes back to Charles' relationship with James and his feelings of unworthiness since childhood. This kind of relationship is something I haven't seen much before.
The novel was a bit slow in the middle portion with Hartley, but I was so delighted to be reading Murdoch's writing that I didn't really mind.
I also enjoyed the gothic elements of the novel, with supernatural suspicion, the house/sea as its own character, and unexpected characters appearing constantly in path-altering ways.
Some of my favourite quotes:
"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats."
"How can one describe real people? James looks, in my description of him, so complete, so hard. I have omitted to say that he has little square teeth and an inane childish grin."
"The sky had changed again and was no longer dark but bright, golden, gold-dust golden, as if curtain after curtain had been removed behind the stars I had seen before, and now I was looking into the vast interior of the universe, as if the universe were quietly turning itself inside out. Stars behind stars and stars behind stars behind stars until there was nothing between them, nothing beyond them, but dusty dim gold of stars and no space and no light but stars."
"Time can divorce us from the reality of people. it can separate us from people and turn them into ghosts or demons. Some kinds of fruitless pre-occupations with the past can create such simulacra, and they can exercise power."
"It was the strangest waiting I ever remember for it was and it was not waiting. There was a sort of intense timelessness in the way in which we kept each other company. Our fear divided us, her fear, my fear, of the event: two different sharp fears which we had to overcome by a constant force of mutual attention, laying our hands upon each others' hearts."
Even as Charles' actions become more disturbing, there is hilarious dialogue throughout, particularly with Peregrine, Rosina and James. The supporting cast of characters give a richness to the book, where jealousy, desperation, love and anger overlap in interesting ways.
Murdoch is at her best when describing how an individual perceives the world. Whether that is Charles' self-conscious reflections when describing the complexity of his cousin James; a sky so full of stars that it is like the universe turning itself inside out; or James' trying to pull Charles back from his obsession with Hartley. I feel that a lot of the novel comes back to Charles' relationship with James and his feelings of unworthiness since childhood. This kind of relationship is something I haven't seen much before.
The novel was a bit slow in the middle portion with Hartley, but I was so delighted to be reading Murdoch's writing that I didn't really mind.
I also enjoyed the gothic elements of the novel, with supernatural suspicion, the house/sea as its own character, and unexpected characters appearing constantly in path-altering ways.
Some of my favourite quotes:
"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats."
"How can one describe real people? James looks, in my description of him, so complete, so hard. I have omitted to say that he has little square teeth and an inane childish grin."
"The sky had changed again and was no longer dark but bright, golden, gold-dust golden, as if curtain after curtain had been removed behind the stars I had seen before, and now I was looking into the vast interior of the universe, as if the universe were quietly turning itself inside out. Stars behind stars and stars behind stars behind stars until there was nothing between them, nothing beyond them, but dusty dim gold of stars and no space and no light but stars."
"Time can divorce us from the reality of people. it can separate us from people and turn them into ghosts or demons. Some kinds of fruitless pre-occupations with the past can create such simulacra, and they can exercise power."
"It was the strangest waiting I ever remember for it was and it was not waiting. There was a sort of intense timelessness in the way in which we kept each other company. Our fear divided us, her fear, my fear, of the event: two different sharp fears which we had to overcome by a constant force of mutual attention, laying our hands upon each others' hearts."
reflective
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slogged my way through. Didn't like the guy this was about; I think his first or last name started with an A. That is all.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Forget an unreliable narrator, I don’t think there was a single reliable character in the entire book and I loved every minute of it.
I've had The Sea, The Sea on my radar for a looong time, years and years, mainly because the title stuck in my head and wouldn't budge. Somehow I ended up with a lot of preconceptions about this book but other than really beautiful descriptions of water, none of them were accurate. I think I was expecting something vaguely dreamy and ethereal, but The Sea, The Sea is grounded firmly in reality.
Murdoch does character studies wonderfully. She records almost every detail of the minutiae of life until it feels like we're following along in real time, but whilst in unskilled hands this would be a huge slog, Murdoch turns the mundane ins and outs of everyday living into something fascinating.
These are the notes I jotted down as I was reading:
egotist
misogynist
fantasist
bully
unreliable
weirdly focused on food
rose coloured glasses of first love
Hartley clearly has mental issues
justification of others' actions in his favour
obsessive
writing a memoir/autobiography
self declared Prospero
self absorbed
manipulative
ignorant of his own motivations
Despite all that, Murdoch managed to make me empathise with and feel sorry for this character by the end of the book. Her writing is addictive and I did not want to stop reading, though I found myself often questioning exactly why that was. I am head over heels, and really looking forward to reading more.
Murdoch does character studies wonderfully. She records almost every detail of the minutiae of life until it feels like we're following along in real time, but whilst in unskilled hands this would be a huge slog, Murdoch turns the mundane ins and outs of everyday living into something fascinating.
These are the notes I jotted down as I was reading:
egotist
misogynist
fantasist
bully
unreliable
weirdly focused on food
rose coloured glasses of first love
Hartley clearly has mental issues
justification of others' actions in his favour
obsessive
writing a memoir/autobiography
self declared Prospero
self absorbed
manipulative
ignorant of his own motivations
Despite all that, Murdoch managed to make me empathise with and feel sorry for this character by the end of the book. Her writing is addictive and I did not want to stop reading, though I found myself often questioning exactly why that was. I am head over heels, and really looking forward to reading more.