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The Sea, The Sea

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The Sea, The Sea

By: Daisy Johnson, Iris Murdoch, John Burnside
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About this listen

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 Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural World Literature Funny
All stars
Most relevant
Amazing book : emotions described intricately & in detail, following the twists that minds can take.. set in an interesting narrative of a famous (& fairly conceited) actor retiring to a small English village and the many bizarre occurrences there. The sea is ever present, it’s various moods a backdrop & echo to the unfolding drama. The various characters are well drawn, and the story & their conversations are sometimes hilarious.
Best of all, Richard E Grant IS Charles, the central character. His narration, and various accents, are brilliant, and help in bringing the book to life.
Recommended for anyone who enjoys good literature.
A must . I was sad to reach the end.

Wonderfully emotive story about love & perception

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I have read this book several times over the years, I list it as one of my all time favourite books. It was a treat to hear Richard Grant read it so beautifully. I especially loved his brilliant accents and his interpretation of Gilbert.

A favourite book

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The Sea The Sea deserves the Booker Prize. I read it earnestly after reading Iris by John Bayley so was able to discern parts of her life and her contentments. It is rich, darkly funny, annoying at times and stupendously concluded. Richard E Grant’s narration is a joy. Don’t miss this clever and astonishing story.

What a beautiful crazy story of a wonderfully complex man

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This was wrought, not brought to life, By Richard E Grant, who plays everyone but notably Charles Araby, an arrogant erstwhile actor and somewhat legendary director who retires to a house by the sea, ‘Shruff End’ to ostensibly live a quiet life. But can Charles let his past life go? And, might what had been left unexamined within his own past rise like a monster from the sea and threaten to consume him, now he has the time for contemplation?

This book is stellar, probably one of my favourite audiobooks. Do yourself a favour and listen.

Mesmerising

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A tour de force. Prepare yourself to be squeezed through the emotional wrangle.. A Wikipedia of relationships, dysfunctions, frailties, vulnerabilities, needs and desires.
Mr Grant's stunning, virtuosic performance of a character utterly suited to his narrative style brings this story off the page and into your home, car and dog walks. After decades of audiobook listening this is now my new favourite. A masterpiece of literature and a masterpiece of storytelling performance. If you become irritated when friends talk about their marriages, this is not the book for you. Iris Murdoch's laser insight and razor prose dissects human desire at the level of forensic autopsy. I was engulfed, riveted, nailed and rode the emotional runaway train of this story, handcuffed to my seat by Mr Grant's luscious narration/performance. I sat with my headphones still on listening to silence when it finished thinking of the dual life I had just led over the past week...my real life and my audiobook life at Shruff's End. Wow.

Sheer brilliance

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This is the second time I’ve read this the first Tim 20 years ago as a real book. This time I loved it just as much. Richard E Grant is a fantastic narrator. So funny at times I laughed out loud. It’s a wonderful book at times frustrating but other times really poinent and quite make one think about life. It goes off onto tangents and can be really annoying but I loved it.

Superb

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I didn't want this to end. Such a wonderful narration of a novel rich is timeless quotes. Listening to Richard E Grant's narration, I found myself thinking that this would have been the story Withnail would have told had he got his act together.

Beautiful

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Written by a woman so I suppose this book was meant to excite women’s equality in its time but unfortunately it feels dated. Some of the female characters are so pathetic, I wasn’t convinced. In fact I disliked most of the characters, but there were a few good surprises too. Undeniably a very well written and narrated story.

The ramblings of an old misogynist

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.