About this title: Charles, a retired theatre director, retires to a small village where he encounters Hartley, the woman he loved years ago when they were both children, and who is now happily married to a man Charles despises.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780140051995ISBN:0140051996
Description: Acceptable. MAY HAVE COVER WEAR, SPINE CREASES, HIGHLIGHTING, UNDERLINING & PAGES YELLOWED FROM AGE. FASTER SERVICE FROM US! ! ! read more
Description: Good. 0670626511 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Fair. 0670626511 Condition: ACCEPTABLE. (Book has a combination of the following characteristics: former library book, heavy cover wear, name written inside cover, considerable underlining/highlighting, remainder mark, pages tanning / curling, etc. Overall, the book is in rough shape and should only be purchased as a reading copy. This is a blanket description. Please email us if you require a specific, detailed description of the book condition. We will typically respond within one week of ... read more
Description: Good. 1999-Paperback---Used-Good. Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Acceptable. 1980-Paperback---Used-Acceptable. Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780140051995ISBN:0140051996
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. price sticker residue on rear cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 512 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking, N. Y.
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780670626519ISBN:0670626511
Description: Cover Art. Very Good in Good jacket. Hard Back. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. X-Library with normal flaws.....Rebound Library.....The hard cover and the jacket has light shelf wear...Light yellowing pages...............We are very careful when we list our books, but sometimes something minor may get by.... read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780141186160ISBN:014118616X
Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Wraps; 495 pages; Introduction by Mary Kinzie; Textblock is tight with no internal markings save for a gift inscription to previous owner at the bottom of the half-title page; Bright pictorial cover with no tears, no creasing to the spine and modest shelf and edge wear; ....(In exposing the jumble of motivations of the main character, Charles Arrowby and others in the story, the author lays bare the truth of untruth, human vanity, jealousy and lack of ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 2/27/2001
ISBN-13:9780141186160ISBN:014118616X
Description: Very Good. 014118616X May show signs of shelf wear. Choose EXPEDITED shipping, receive in 2-5 business days. Please email with questions. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 2001-03-01
ISBN-13:9780141186160ISBN:014118616X
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Classics
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780099284093ISBN:009928409X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. Very good copy, clean and tight; spine is creades read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Classics
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780099284093ISBN:009928409X
Description: Good. No Jacket. Visible wear-cover has visible wear, price sticker, marks, scratches, creases, bumping, chipping (especially at edge of back cover heavy chipping)-marks on edge of book, cocked, light water damage to edge of book, yellowed, bumping or dogearing to corners of book pages. read more
"This book exemplifies (for me) the main flaw with Murdoch's novels. Things are so often over dramatized. Big personalities become huge personalities. Small personalities become epic in their smallness. People swing wildly from love to hate and back again. This book made me realize this fact (something has been irking me as I re-read her novels). The main character, and many of the other characters, are theater people. So add characters with a flair for the dramatic to a novel written by a writer who likes to over dramatize....6/09"
"While reading this book I constantly went back and forth between really liking it and really not knowing what I thought about it. The narrator is a fascinating man (Charles). He is a retired actor, and quite full of himself, who retires and moves to an old castle-like home on the sea. The description of his day to day life is simple and very interesting (I love his discussions of food and swimming).
But then things become increasingly outrageous as he runs into a past love and is joined at his house by many old friends. After reading a few hundred pages I was more than willing to go along with it all, but it still felt very unnecessary.
I think the most thought provoking sections came when Charles was speaking with his cousin James (a mysterious character interested in Eastern Religion and philosophy (like Murdoch herself) and some kind of government agent). And when Charles is living in James' house in the last part of the book I loved Murdoch's examination of being alone v. being social, what we do with our lives, what matters, etc. etc. I found myself wishing she took out the whole section with Hartley and just had the beginning and the end. Although, the section with Hartely involved lots of examination of relationships, changes, and expectations, and I did like most of those, too."
"Sigrid Undset, Marguerite Duras, Marguerite Yourcenar, Pearl S. Buck, Elsa Morante, Grazia Deledda, Nadine Gordimer, Doris Lessing, Toni Morrison, Banana Yoshimoto, Elfriede Jelinek. It's time to confess that I've never read anything by all of them.
(Saying nothing about poetry. May Emily Dickinson, Wislawa Szymborska and Anna Akhmatova forgive me!)
These omissions lead me to a question: do I have a problem with well known, critical acclaimed female novelists? Either, I am -strictly literary speaking- a mysoginist or it's just a coincidence. To justify me I can barely name Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath and a couple of Bronte sisters. Plus Iris Murdoch, from now on.
In fact, pretty conscious of my desire and need to bridge the above mentioned gap, I bought a second hand edition of what is considered one of the most significative books of Iris Murdoch in such a nice a British bookshop embellished by a smooth black cat with long whiskers.
The novel turned out to be an engaging, satisfying reading. Actually, I expected something harder to get into. I expected more an essay than a story. Well, I was wrong. On the one hand "The Sea, The Sea" reminded me a feuilleton because of Iris Murdoch adding on purpose some quite characteristic elements of that genre in the plot. On the other hand, I found masterful the way in which a female author puts herself in the shoes of a man. On the contrary, whenever a male author pretended to talk as a woman in most of the books I read so far, the result was particularly unrealistic.
Whereas Murdoch is less brilliant it's in drawing the English and Londonese "theatrical background" of her fictional male voice, the retired playwright Charles Arrowby. Come on! I can understand he's very much into Shakespeare considering him as the zenith of theatre, but apart from a few references to Chechov and Ibsen there's nothing else as Mr Arrowby only source of inspiration were the most obvious one ever.
Anyway, I consider this as a very interesting and sometimes surprising book, being able to portray a fauna of formerly successful actors and nymphomaniac actresses in a great way. To make the novel even better there's the phantom of a childhood love that haunts Mr Arrowby retirement plans and house, mesmerizing his peaceful post-theatre life ."
"This very 'deep', beautifully written book must be a English Literature student's dream. The novel opens with Charles Arrowby, a retired theare director and minor celebrity, taking a house by the sea, somewhere on the North England coast. Much of the beginning of the book is filled with vivid descriptions of the scenery, the house and Charles' activities, with tantalising glimpses of his past life, building up a gothic atmosphere with the fading glitter of showbusiness.
After Charles discovers his childhood love, who he believes is the 'one', living in the village a story of complex relationships occurs. This book skillful captures realism and nostalgia for a lost youth with a sense of mysticism and leaves the reader to question what is real and whose point of view to trust.
Crammed into the novel are many symbols of Greek and Roman history and mythology, Shakespean tales and folklore alongside references to the war, Tibet, Buddhism and Northern Ireland, making this an extremely rich and fascinating book. However, it is possible for the story to be enjoyed as it is and even though it does feel 'academic' it is easily read and not as patronising as novels by many other 'academic' authors.
I would recommend this novel as a work that deals with the harsh realities of life, including loss, age and jealously, with undertones of mysticism and the constant lapping of the sea, which asks the reader to question what in life is actually fixed and real and does it really matter when everything gets washed away."
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