There is no need to read Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea

Yup, Iris Murdoch's interminable The Sea, The Sea is as bad as I feared; I continued reading for a 3rd day, hoping this novel would get off the ground, and as I moved into the 2nd section - History One - it just was more of the same: Desultory reminiscence by the tedious narrator, Charles, about the many love affairs in his life, a completely arbitrary and inexplicable plot development - the first great love of his life who as a teenager completely disappeared and was long presumed dead shows up outside his window, and a story line that's going nowhere. IM makes clear that Charles is telling his life story in the form of a diary, with observations about his past and present life as they occur to him, but without an obvious shape or story arc - and one has to wonder if IM was composing this novel in the same aimless manner. On top of this, Charles is a complete egoist and nasty guy, though famous for his career in theater, and women just keep throwing themselves abjectly before him. No man could get away with creating such a misogynist and morally obtuse character, nor should a woman for that matter. This book was obviously lauded in its time (1978) because of IM's long career, her failure up to that point to win a Booker Prize, and the fact that it was long and therefore seemingly grand and ambitious. There is no need to read this novel.