The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch
Another who has slipped through my net until now - never read any of her stuff before, but following a discussion elsewhere, decided I ought to rectify that... but where to start with such a prolific writer? Decided to go for the one that one the Booker... I'm enjoying it so far, though it's very much of that self-consciously literary style so loved by Booker judges, so hated by many others. Some really lovely passages though:-
I told her that the affair was temporary, that my love for her was temporary, and doubtless her love for me was temporary. I spoke of mortality and the fragile and shadowy nature of human arrangements and the jumbled unreality of human minds, while her large light brown eyes spoke to me of the eternal.
I think that quote also gives a pretty good idea of what a piece of shit the narrator is. I really don't like him - but then I get the feeling I'm not supposed to.
Some interesting points of comparison with books I've already read that were written later - eg it's similar in some ways to a more recent Booker winner, Julian Barnes's Sense Of An Ending, in that it's about an old man reflecting on his life and not being wholly honest (or self-aware) in his portrayal of himself. Likewise its near namesake, John Banville's The Sea - also a Booker winner, funnily enough. Possibly not as compelling as either of those books though.
There are also some brilliantly daft descriptions of food that remind me of American Psycho in the way they serve to highlight the narrator's pretentions.
