495 pages
English language
Published Oct. 29, 2001 by Penguin Books.
Couldn't get into it. Main, and so far almost only, character did not engage me. Yawn.
A brilliant, clever and winding book, disintegrating the freedom of the 1960s in wave after wave of intelligent criticisms. At times this is a very strange read, but the fantasy fits the narrative.
I can't usually stomach books with no likable characters in them. I think it's a testament to Iris Murdoch's skill as a writer that this one kept reeling me in.
I'm not sure quite how to summarise a book like this. The plot is fairly simple--and could be covered by a book a tenth as long--but Murdoch uses it more to develop the protagonist's character and frame her own meditations about eternal subjects like aging, how men treat women, and privilege. In the hands of a lesser writer this would make for a clumsy and tedious book, but The Sea, The Sea is a wonderful, satisfying read.
