Iris Murdoch's "The Sea, the Sea": A Journey Through a Turbulent Sea of Emotions

Heidi Frericks: Auch wenn der Protagonist heute eher ein Schreckbild darstellt, gefällt die gekonnte ironische Brechung, die Vielschichtigkeit der Deutungsebenen. Ein großer Roman.

Germany on Oct 07, 2023

nicola jane reynolds: Arrived on time. Good quality.

Netherlands on Aug 10, 2023

Patricia Vaccarino: Hold on and keep yourself afloat for a stormy ride on the northwest coast of England. Shakespearean Actor and Director Charles Arrowby has left the glamorous theater world of London to retire in a damp drafty home by the sea, presumably to write his memoir. As the narrator/protagonist, Charles Arrowby rants with the tireless exasperation of a self-obsessed madman. He craves solitude, yet a surreal cast of characters from his former life in theater appears and reappears, coming and going like the ebb and flow of a churning sea. The people who inhabit Charles’ life include his loathsome cousin James, an English Military Intelligence Officer, numerous love interests from the theater crowd and their male sidekicks who play supporting roles with startling aplomb. The surreal weaving of these characters within this loose, rambling story takes emotional violence to its highest level. Every character, it seems, has, at one time or another, been very angry with Charles and has an axe to grind. Two former gal pals, Lizzie and Rosina will do anything to win over Charles and make him her husband, at last! His response is to exact bombastic revenge upon them.

The plot thickens and...

United States on Jun 05, 2022

James Hartley: Long, batshit crazy and shimmering with amazing lines and descriptions, this is an almighty slab of writing which is worth submersing yourself in. It's of its time but timeless, tedious but compelling, frightening and banal, often in the same paragraph. You have to be happy we live in a world where people publish things like this and, of course, where people write like this.
I should just add that as a satire of self-important, pompous showbiz people, it's also really, really funny and fairly harsh.

Spain on Mar 25, 2021

Customer: It's cheaper
Interesting
Thanks to our university syllabus for prescribing this book

India on Sep 01, 2018

Amazon Customer: Fast service and as described. Thank!

Canada on Jan 08, 2017

Soap Snob: Honestly, at the beginning, I kept wondering when this book was going to end. The first 80 or so pages were daunting for me to get through because there were no tangible chapters; not many characters, and no real action primarily because this section of the book was written in a memoir/journal format. The main character, Charles Arrowby, is an aging theatre person (around age 60) who has retired to a newly purchased seashore home, leaving behind his ladies and his friends to write his memoirs. Charles is larger than life and quite full of himself. While alone with his thoughts he is not only reflective about his past relationships but begins to allow his thought life to dominate and control. He reflects, ruminates and obsesses. While attempting to write, he is caught up in both the beauty and danger of the sea. He often sees things that may or may not be real. He is also sought out, without reaching out, by past loves, past friends, current loves and current friends. He laments elements of his childhood and the circumstances that precluded his moving forward with his first love, Hartley. She is the love that he remembers as his real love; so pure, spiritual and complete. Oddly,...

United States on Aug 13, 2011