Review by makegood - The Sea, the Sea

makegood 's review for:

The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch

5.0

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

An unreliable, troublesome and obsessive narrator somehow delivers an artfully observed, deeply moving meditation on what it means to age well, love selflessly and face death. Charles Arrowby retires to a ramshackle seaside home in the north of London after a career which has allowed him to sleep with married women, maintain a community of long-suffering friends and garner the praise of an unknowing public. While in his new home he encounters his first love, Hartley, who disappeared from his life prior to beginning his theatre career. He becomes obsessed with winning her back from her husband, who may or may not be an abusive presence. Hartley’s adoptive son, Titus, who has been lost to his parents, also shows up during this time and takes up residence in Arrowby’s house, along with a varying cast of friends who have descended from London.

The moral center of the book is Arrowby’s first cousin James, who both helps him navigate out of very bad decisions and provides a clearer vision for what a meaningful life might entail.

Throughout, Murdoch’s deeply moving descriptions of the landscape told through a man of questionable motives and appetites grounds the action in eternity.

Content Warnings