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The Sea, the Sea
  
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The Sea, the Sea (Paperback)

by Iris Murdoch (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)

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3 used from £3.48
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Paperback (New edition) £7.99 £5.03 55 used & new from £0.01
Audio Cassette (Audiobook) £13.99 £12.60 13 used & new from £4.88

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Product details

  • Paperback: 512 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; Open market ed edition (29 Nov 1990)
  • ISBN-10: 0140152164
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140152166
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,628,806 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'One of the best and most important writers writing in English...dazzlingly entertaining and inventive' The Times --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Vogue

'A fantastic feat of imagination as well as a marvellous sustained piece of writing' --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
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92% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

33 Reviews
5 star:
 (19)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, camp, beautifully written and a great story, 16 Mar 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Sea, the Sea (Paperback)
...and you can't ask for more than that..Okay, so it takes a while to get into, but that said, I am a very impatient reader, frequently prone to discarding my latest purchases before I hit Chapter Two, yet the lyrical style and spooky hallucinations were enough to get me hooked. Agreed, the Rosinas and the Peregrines and the Gilberts are pretentious and theatrical, but that's the very point - they are ironically observed. Moreover, it takes a truly talented writer to create characters full of vanity and self absorption and still make them likeable - and Charles Arrowby (the novel's 'I') is the worst - yet most entertaining - egotist of them all. This was the first Iris Murdoch I have read, and I am as quick to dismiss overly literary novels as the next person, but I thought this had what many of the genre lack - a great, page-turning story. And above all, it's very, very funny. Give it a go!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A lyrical masterpiece, 13 Feb 2002
This review is from: The Sea, the Sea (Paperback)
I was gripped after reading the first few pages of Murdoch's book, and immediately fell in love with her vivid descriptive style. The book cleverly shifts its shape as it develops and the characters are not who you think they are. Like the sea it has many layers. A haunting and lyrical masterpiece.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Magical, 10 Nov 2003
This review is from: The Sea, the Sea (Paperback)
The Sea The Sea is a portrait of a man who, Prospero like, retires to live in solitude by the sea and declares himself to have abjured the magic and illusion which have been woven into his career in the theatre. Becoming obsessed with a childhood sweetheart who by coincidence is living in the village, he sets in motion a chain of events which throw a spotlight onto his own psyche and its attitudes towards love, jealousy and the nature of the world.
This complex novel is in turn an intelligent study of a man towards the end of his life, a nostaligic story of love, and a gripping tale of madness. Set against the alluring menace of the sea, it will charm and entrance you throughout.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars a novel of oceanic proportions
Never judge a book by its cover goes the old saying, and one I usually agree with, but exceptions can always be made, and The Sea, The Sea ended up on my reading pile thanks... Read more
Published 3 months ago by LittleMoon

1.0 out of 5 stars What is the point?
I went to "Oxbridge". I read like mad: fiction easy and difficult, British and foreign; non-fiction ditto - some in other languages. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Philadelphus

4.0 out of 5 stars 1970's Gothic Farce anyone?
In writing The Sea The Sea it seems that Iris Murdoch has invented a brand new genre - 1970's gothic farce. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Annie M

2.0 out of 5 stars The tedium, the tedium
I have always avoided Iris Murdoch on the grounds that:

A) She is called Iris
B) She looks grumpy in her photos
C) Her work is supposed to be Literary... Read more
Published 22 months ago by M. R. Cox

4.0 out of 5 stars Dive into The Sea, the water is lovely
When Charles Arrowby retreats to the sea to live the life of a hermit in a dilapidated stone cottage he is in search of peace and tranquillity. Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2007 by Sam J. Ruddock

4.0 out of 5 stars From the insipid to the inspired
Never before has a book started so dull, and turned out to be so eventful. The first 20 pages are insipid, as 60-something theatre star Charles Arrowby tries to begin his memoirs... Read more
Published on 2 July 2007 by Mr. Paul J. Bradshaw

5.0 out of 5 stars Overall, a wonderfully entertaining book, stunning use of the language and deeply insightful in places.
Considering that I count reading as my main hobby, or pastime, and considering that I would, at least privately, count myself as having been a reader of mainly quality books for... Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2007 by Philip Mayo

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you Iris Murdoch
The Sea, the Sea introduces the reader to one of the most exquisite central characters to have emerged from the fertile imagination of Iris Murdoch. Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2006 by Room For A View

4.0 out of 5 stars A Tale of Irrationality and Obsession.
Iris Murdoch wrote her Booker Prize-winning novel, The Sea, The Sea, in 1978 and it is hailed as her best novel. Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2006 by Ms. N. C. Turnill

3.0 out of 5 stars A gastronomic individual
At the time of choosing 'The Sea, The Sea' it was the earliest written book chosen so far for the bookclub (though still in its infancy at 26 years). Read more
Published on 13 Jan 2004 by www.bibliofemme.com

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