The Sea, The Sea

By: Daisy Johnson, Iris Murdoch, John Burnside

Brought to you by Penguin.

Vintage Classics Murdoch: Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the 20th century. To celebrate her centenary, Vintage Classics presents special editions of her greatest and most timeless novels.

I saw a monster rising from the waves.

Charles Arrowby has determined to spend the rest of his days in hermit-like contemplation. He buys a mysteriously damp house on the coast, far from the heady world of the theatre where he made his name, and there he swims in the sea, eats revolting meals and writes his memoirs. But then he meets his childhood sweetheart Hartley, and memories of her lovely, younger self crowd in - along with more recent lovers and friends - to disrupt his self-imposed exile. So instead of 'learning to be good', Charles proceeds to demonstrate how very bad he can be.

Winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, 1978.

©1978 Iris Murdoch (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Amazing book

I didn’t expect it to be so interesting and vivid. It’s my first book of Iris Murdoch but I want to continue. Narrator did a great job, too.

Good writing. Weak story

Iris is a good writer. The book reads nicely. The story starts well. Builds up even better. But it fizzles at end. The end doesn't follow the narrative ark. It consists of tacky wisodom. A bit disappointing.

Demons at play?

Most literary novels do not qualify as page-turners but there are exceptions. The Sea, The Sea is one such.

In the form of a first person journal, it tells of the travails of a London theatre luminary, now jaded and tired of the world, who has retired to a ramshackle cottage by the sea. Having sought a life of tranquility and reflection, Charles discovers that fate has something very different in store.

Superbly performed by Richard E Grant, this is a book that is both hard to put down and soon plunged into again. Ultimately it asks us to reflect on the source of our obsessions and it does it without ever loosening its grip on our attention.

A worthy Booker Prize winner in the 1980s.

Brilliant narration of a wonderful book!

The book was magical, and the narration did it every justice.I could never read it after listening to Richard E Grants narration!
Loved it!

Superb!

I purchased this audiobook because I realised I had had a hard copy on my shelf for years, and had never read it. I had not read any of Murdoch’s works but knew that this novel had won the Booker Prize in 1978, the year I left school. What a wonderful audiobook this is! Although the protagonist, Charles Arrowby, is a vain and egotistical misogynist, his character is superbly drawn. In some ways, although this story is set in the 1970s, the narrative feels more evocative of the 1950s. This may be because the protagonist, and most of the characters, are in their 60s (and the author herself was aged 59 when it was published). Their views, tastes, foibles and behaviours seem to come from a slightly earlier era, which I enjoyed. I found the story itself gripping, and Richard E. Grant’s narration/performance superb.

Two intellects of the highest order

The intellect of Murdoch finds its perfect exponent in Richard E. Grant. An endless proliferation of tulpas: Murdoch's, which are Charles', and all of which are brought to life with vigour and grace by Grant. What a novel! What an audiobook!