

S'està carregant… El mar, el mar (1978)de Iris Murdoch
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Review at 74%: Astaga. I've had this book on my curiosity list for awhile and read some reviews. I've expected it to be great but I've never anticipated the madness after madness I'd be presented with. Ini salah satu, kalau bukan fiksi paling racun dan psycho yang pernah aku baca. Hampir semua tokohnya miring dan ganjil dengan caranya masing-masing (kecuali barangkali Titus). Frustrasi parah bacanya. Sebagai pembaca biasa aku cenderung mengharapkan bahwa protagonis memiliki kualitas-kualitas redeeming. Perasaan mendukung protagonis untuk meraih tujuannya biasanya adalah salah satu pendorong utama aku untuk terus mengikuti cerita sampai akhir. Jarang-jarang aku baca cerita dengan anti hero sebagai tokoh utama. Tokoh yang sintingpun sering kali masih cukup menarik simpati untuk didukung. Tapi bagaimanakah Iris Murdoch bisa menawan pembaca dengan tokoh utama Charles Arrowby yang begitu egois, narsis, kurang ajar, delusional, manipulatif, tukang bohong, jumawa, senang membendakan wanita, dan hobi memaksakan kehendak? Awalnya aku tersentuh dengan kedalaman cinta Charles untuk salah satu tokoh, tapi itupun dimanifestasikan dengan beracun. Jujur, sepanjang membaca aku senantiasa mencibiri pilihan-pilihan Charles dan terheran-heran dengan kelakuan SEmua orang, tapi aku selalu penasaran kebejatan apa dan siapa lagi yang akan terjadi. Buku ini hampir hampir alien dan jarang relatable, sekaligus sangat realistis, karena seberapapun aku ingin menyangkal, pada kenyataannya semua orang sedeng dengan cara yang berbeda-beda. Review at 100%: GILA. Satu hal, aku merasa sangat terpikat sekaligus ga nyaman sama ceritanya karena hubungan antara tiap-tiap tokoh adalah mimpi buruk aku tentang kehidupan sosial. Sering banget di tengah aku baca aku membatin 'takut banget Can't believe I'd never read an Iris Murdoch novel before this one. It was better than I could have imagined. It is very funny, the descriptions of Charles's mad meals and various farcical situations he gets into. The characters are colourful and unpredictable and the whole thing thing just plays out wonderfully. I re-read this after 5 years and it was still marvellous. Charles is such a monstrous character, so self-centred. But then all his friends are fairly awful too, but all oh so entertaining. This is a new copy after my tatty second hand one fell lost its cover and fell apart. Charles Arrowby, a retired theatre director, decides to buy a house by the sea as an idyllic, solitary retreat to write his memoir. At first, all is well. Charles happily writes about his meals (best part of the book) with painstaking detail, and swims in the sea. His happy retreat is soon thwarted after he briefly glimpses his childhood love, Hartley - and abruptly descends into comical desperation when his friends quickly appear at his house, uninvited, and stay. He soon hatches a mad plan to get Hartley away from her husband, and in doing so gradually descends into chaos, blurring the boundaries between truth and fiction, desire and madness. The general theme of Main Character (Usually Male) Trying to Lead his Own Life While Friends/Lover/Jealous Ex-Lover Continue to Pester Him (often with unexpectedly hilarious consequences) seem to feature in her books so frequently (The Black Prince has a similar theme) that I suspect that it must be some sort of running gag for her and her fans. What a fascinating read. A famous director retires to a house in an English village on the sea. The book is structured as his memoir and tells of his obsession with his first love who coincidentally lives in the same village, of his muddled relationships with other women, of his confused relationship with his male friends, and more. His narcissistic arrogance becomes his downfall. Tragedies ensue, love is thwarted, death is confronted, and life is contemplated. Ultimately, he finds peace in old age. A thread of Buddhism runs through the story, as well as the power of the ocean as friend and foe. The writing is crisp, witty, poignant, and maintains a sense of mystery throughout. Ah, we humans are such interesting fools, aren't we?
The book that finally won Iris Murdoch a Booker is at least as ludicrous as it is brilliant...The surprise isn't so much that she failed to scoop the prize three times in a row, but that a jury managed to unite behind one of her books – especially one as variously sublime, ridiculous, difficult, facile, profound and specious as The Sea, the Sea....So there it is, a book that has left me thoroughly divided. It's as flawed as it is wonderful and it took a brave jury to give it the prize. Or, at least, a very forgiving one. Contingut aTé una guia d'estudi per a estudiants
Crònica de les obsessions que habiten la ment de Charles Arrowby, un dramaturg egocèntric retirat, tal com les explica ell mateix en les memòries que comença a escriure quan fuig de Londres per buscar la tranquil·litat i la solitud en un petit poble vora el mar, lluny del món del teatre i de la seva tempestuosa vida sentimental.Tot i la reclusió a la qual es vol forçar, Arrowby topa amb qui va ser el seu primer amor, Mary Hartley Fitch, a qui no veia des que tots dos eren adolescents. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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![]() GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)823.914 — Literature English {except North American} English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:![]()
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He ends up alone, and deservedly so.
Having said all that, the writing and description is really impressive. The descriptions are vivid and she really gets inside Charles' head - it's just not a very nice place to be. He was a chore to read, the prose less so. A compromise 3 stars. (