The sea, the sea

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Iris Murdoch: The sea, the sea (1980, Triad/Panther)

501 pages

English language

Published Oct. 29, 1980 by Triad/Panther.

ISBN:
978-0-586-04976-1
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5 stars (1 review)

9 editions

reviewed The sea, the sea by Iris Murdoch (Penguin twentieth-century classics)

Review of 'The sea, the sea' on 'LibraryThing'

5 stars

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.