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A review by cheekylaydee
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch
4.0
“I struggled to get into this book at first andafter wondering why I realised I didn't like the narrating character, Charles Arrowby. He's an actor who has only ever made the small time but he has a much higher opinion of himself than he necessarily deserves. Some aspects of his personality are things that I don't like in people in my own life. I found him arrogant, self centred and very presumptuous about the people around him.
When he retires to his house by the sea, he bumps into his childhood sweetheart, Hartley. At this point she has already been married to another man for many years. Because he has been carrying this torch for her all these years he assumes that she must feel the same way, and that she has the same feelings for him that she had when a girl. Wht comes across to me as a reader is that she seems postively frightened of him and he just doesn't see it. The violence of his "affections" comes across as agressive and it's almost like he bullies the words out of her.
It's only towards the end, after an unsuccessful attempt at breaking up Hartley's marriage, losing the friends that have been with him throughout this ordeal, and the death of his cousin that he starts to appear more human.
He realises that the supposed love he has felt for Hartley all these years is more of a memory of what used to be. A ghost feeling if you like, that no longer exists. The friends that have held him in adulation and the ex lovers that have been held in his thrall are no longer under his spell.You start to admire his growing humility.
A very interesting and quite intense character analysise and a voyage of self discovery. Just make sure if you attempt this book that you're in the right mind set for some heavy duty literature!”
When he retires to his house by the sea, he bumps into his childhood sweetheart, Hartley. At this point she has already been married to another man for many years. Because he has been carrying this torch for her all these years he assumes that she must feel the same way, and that she has the same feelings for him that she had when a girl. Wht comes across to me as a reader is that she seems postively frightened of him and he just doesn't see it. The violence of his "affections" comes across as agressive and it's almost like he bullies the words out of her.
It's only towards the end, after an unsuccessful attempt at breaking up Hartley's marriage, losing the friends that have been with him throughout this ordeal, and the death of his cousin that he starts to appear more human.
He realises that the supposed love he has felt for Hartley all these years is more of a memory of what used to be. A ghost feeling if you like, that no longer exists. The friends that have held him in adulation and the ex lovers that have been held in his thrall are no longer under his spell.You start to admire his growing humility.
A very interesting and quite intense character analysise and a voyage of self discovery. Just make sure if you attempt this book that you're in the right mind set for some heavy duty literature!”