One of the greatest books I've ever read. Beautiful, lyrical, sad. ( )

beautiful language and such detailed vivid descriptions of the sea. i could picture each character perfectly. i did find the main characater, charles arrowby, annoying and at times out of his mind. the book is mostly about his obsession with his first love, hartley, and how it has affected his whole life. a lot of the book is unbelievable but the sea lurking in the background and murdoch's writing make the book worthwhile. i can see that the book won the booker for being such an artistic and beautiful piece of writing. ( )

Contrived, but by a novelist at the height of her powers. The protagonist/narrator is an egoistical twerp, and his self-delusions wear a bit in the middle, but the book is packed with enough ideas and events to take the reader through to the end. ( )

a very interesting novel. ms. murdoch explores the dark side of love(?) and relationships. the main character in the name of saving his first love, from what he believes is a terrrible marriage is very emotionally abusive. this book remains be of loltia, in that we see the main character in both novels as human even though their behavior is abusive ( )

The protagonist of The Sea, The Sea is Charles Arrowby, a famous director now living alone by the sea, trying to escape the drama of life in the theatre. Drama follows him to his seaside retreat, partially due to unbelievable coincidences and partly through his own meddling. He is a completely unreliable narrator. He's inconsistent, delusional, and deceitful. This is where the fun comes in for the reader! Rather then simply being led along by the narrator, the reader must work to infer what's really happening and reinterpret the events that Charles himself misinterprets. Since the novel is in his voice throughout, the truth is not revealed at the end like in a detective novel. The reader has to live with the same uncertainty that Charles himself deals with.

I found The Sea, the Sea to be extremely similar to another of Murdoch's works, The Black Prince. Neither Charles nor Bradley, the narrator of The Black Prince, are particularly endearing, but I had far more trouble relating to Charles. Bradley, at least, was distinguished by his normality. Charles, on the other hand, is not only rich and famous, but completely over the top. He thinks to himself, "This would be the reasonable thing to do," then just as the reader is nodding her head in agreement, he does the complete opposite. While amusing at first, it soon becomes rather aggravating. If this sounds like it would drive you nuts, as it did me, try giving The Black Prince a read instead. ( )