The Sea, the Sea

by Iris Murdoch | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 9780099284093 Global Overview for this book
Registered by StoryChaser of Waterlooville, Hampshire United Kingdom on 10/12/2005
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6 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by StoryChaser from Waterlooville, Hampshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Have not yet read, but it has been gathering dust for ages so am offering as a bookring. Then I can read it when it gets back.

The list so far:


concertina8 Austria
nice-cup-of-tea Switzerland
WormyOne UK
benacre UK
scotsbookie UK

Thanks everyone for taking part.

Journal Entry 2 by concertina8 on Saturday, March 11, 2006
received in the mail. should be able to start with this by Monday (I hope).

Journal Entry 3 by concertina8 on Thursday, March 23, 2006
I'm stuck. I read about 130 pages of this book and somehow I feel that it is asking too much of me. Don't get me wrong...it's interesting and all. But I need to concentrate too hard and I can't stay with the story. Maybe we just got off on the wrong foot or maybe it's because I haven't been feeling to well lately (runny nose, occasional headaches, sore throat...you know, the usual) but right now I need to read something *lighter*.

I will send this on so as not to hold up the ring.

Sorry, but thanks for letting me try. Who knows, one day I might get back to it, yet.

Journal Entry 4 by nice-cup-of-tea from Zürich, Zürich Switzerland on Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Thanks to Concertina8 for sending and to StoryChaser (great name by the way!) for organising. Will read and review asap :-)

Journal Entry 5 by nice-cup-of-tea from Zürich, Zürich Switzerland on Saturday, April 15, 2006
A wonderful book, really glad I read it adn the first book I've read by Iris Murdoch. The book is part journal / part diary / part autobiography, written from the perspective of Charles Arrowby. He retires from the world of theatre and London, and moves to the sea. Whilst I enjoyed the book, the character Charles frustrated me no end, but during the book he does achieve some self realization. A very wise and thought-provoking novel.

p.482
"This diary has trailed on, it is company for me, an illusion of occupation. I now feel unasily that before I end it I ought to offer some sort of reflective summing up - of what? I shrink from this. There is so much pain. I have not recorded the pain.
What an egoist I must seem in the preceding pages. But am I so exceptional? We must live by the light of our own self-satisfaction, through that secret vital busy inwardness which is even more remarkable than our reason."

I would recommend reading the introduction after you've read the book.
p.xi "To practise detachment one must be in the world, in the chaos of emotions and needs and conflicts that make up ordinary life. If that world is sometimes disappointing, so be it: a just lifeis one that must be lived in the midst of disappointment."

p.xi "To accept imperfection - that is the key. To engage, with compassion, in the serious game of being, is the only acceptable choice."

p.xvii "We cannot change ourselves utterly; we can only change how we are in the world: how we see, how we act, how we tell our stories."

Journal Entry 6 by nice-cup-of-tea from Zürich, Zürich Switzerland on Saturday, April 15, 2006
Oops, sorry, Site is playing up and it saved my entry three times :-(

Journal Entry 7 by nice-cup-of-tea from Zürich, Zürich Switzerland on Saturday, April 15, 2006
Posted (B post) to WormyOne on Mon 17th April

Journal Entry 8 by WormyOne from Brighton & Hove, East Sussex United Kingdom on Monday, April 24, 2006
Arrived safely along with a little chocolate praline egg - mmm - and a teabag so I can make a nice cup of tea to enjoy with the book :-) I've crossed it off my wish list. Thanks Nice-Cup-of-Tea. Thanks for the ring too StoryChaser.

I'm nearly at the end of my current book and then I've got another ring book to read and then I'll get onto this one.

The blurb reads:

"The sea: turbulent and leaden; transparent and opaque; magician and mother.

When Charles Arrowby, over sixty, a demi-god of the theatre - director, playwright and actor - retires from his glittering London world in order to 'abjure magic and become a hermit', it is to the sea that he turns. He hopes at least to escape from 'the women' - but unexpectedly meets one whom he loved long ago. His Buddhist cousin, James, also arrives. He is menaced by a monster from the deep. Charles finds his 'solitude' peopled by the drama of his own fantasies and obsessions".

Journal Entry 9 by WormyOne from Brighton & Hove, East Sussex United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 10, 2006
I was captivated by this book. The main character, Charles, is selfish, misogynistic, amoral, machiavellian, self-important and opinionated. He is convinced he is right in everything he does and says even when it is clearly a matter of personal taste (such as food), immoral or even illegal. Yet he is extremely charismatic and able to get his friends, ex-lovers, cousin and acquaintances to go along with crazy plans and accept him despite his infuriating behaviours and beliefs. To some extent, he is aware of his foibles and weaknesses and this makes him forgivable and more likeable. At times I felt sorry for him. His paranoia, jealousy and insecurities prevent him from benefiting from the kindness, friendship and love that people (surprisingly!) want to show him.

The plot is implausible yet very compelling and there were times when I couldn’t put it down, particularly during frustratingly long but passionate dialogues where neither interlocutor gets to the point and I was dying to know what they were going to say.

I sometimes wondered whether the book was meant to be a black comedy although I only occasionally found it funny.

The sense of the location by the sea is pervading and atmospheric.

Journal Entry 10 by benacre from Beccles, Suffolk United Kingdom on Monday, May 22, 2006
As with all her novels looking forward to reading this in seclusion on the beach at Southwold Suffolk. Book released by Storychaser to be which arrived today

Journal Entry 11 by benacre from Beccles, Suffolk United Kingdom on Saturday, October 21, 2006
Ready to go off to next reader. Sorry for the delay. Have been out of the country. a very good read.


Journal Entry 12 by scotsbookie from Peebles, Scotland United Kingdom on Saturday, November 25, 2006
Arrived with me this morning, thank you benacre & StoryChaser. I'm reading another book at the moment & then I'll start this one.

Journal Entry 13 by scotsbookie from Peebles, Scotland United Kingdom on Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Finally I have finished the book! This was not because I wasn't enjoying it but rather because I was savouring it, I felt I had to concetrate on each word rather than just getthe general sense (if that makes sense).

Charles had me fizzing & frustrated at times with his arrogance, selfish & lack of insight to his own character. Although he did slightly make up for this at the end. This is the first book I have read by Iris Murdoch & enjoyed very much the way she writes, I felt I was inside Charles's mind as I read, which was often an uncomfortable experience.

Thank you StoryChaser for sending the book on its travels, it's now ready to come home to you.

Journal Entry 14 by scotsbookie from Peebles, Scotland United Kingdom on Saturday, January 6, 2007
On it's way back to Storychaser this morning 06/01/2007.

Journal Entry 15 by StoryChaser from Waterlooville, Hampshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Returned home safe and sound. Thanks everyone for taking part. Now it's my turn to read it.

Journal Entry 16 by StoryChaser at St George's OBCZ in Waterlooville, Hampshire United Kingdom on Friday, January 4, 2008

Released 16 yrs ago (1/4/2008 UTC) at St George's OBCZ in Waterlooville, Hampshire United Kingdom

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Left on the shelf.

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