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lovosii's review against another edition
Was not vibing with it. Will try again another time!
prairiedog's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderful, beautiful study of identity and memory, the transitory and elusive nature of both, and how relationships--and the death of those relationships--influence them. Banville uses the surface narrative of a man dealing (or not dealing) with his wife's death to explore deeper philosophical themes.
brunogcarr's review against another edition
3.0
Muito bem escrito, mas deixa a sensação de andar à deriva por mais páginas do que seria desejável. Merece mais meia estrela, ainda assim.
sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
3.0
Old Devils, The Sea, The Sense of an Ending, The Remains of the Day and Last Orders - is it me or Booker judges love books about old people?
The Sea is written by a narrator who like that of 'The Sense of an Ending' and 'The remains of the Day' suffers from partial Amnesia. May be, our past gets more vague as it increases in quantity - vague yet far more difficult to ignore.
Other than that there are are themes of remembering the past and silences. Much of 'The Sea' is Proust beaten down to a commercial retail unit and so we have beautiful description in sentences with lots of comas but less beautiful and fewer comas than in Proust, a lot of remembering but again far less than in Proust. I don't think Banville is bad or that comparison is fair but it is difficult not to. Banville's protagonist Max is on the perverse side of things whereas Proust's was on sensitive side. Whereas Proust longed for goodnight kiss from his mother, Max hungered for bare skin.
Proust is also more likeable because his remembering is an active one - he was developing a whole art of remembering but Max, who seeks refuge in past, also seems to be afraid of it at same time and so remembering was a passive one. That is biggest problem with Banville that while he is frequently quotable as regards remembering, that isn't so for the past he did remember; we couldd relate to Swann far more easily than all the Graces combined. May be it is because Max is so self-centered and so only wants to tell about things that held his very vulgar curiosities but the other characters never come to life, there is no telling about their motivations. For all I know Max's wife only talked in single-quotable-sentence dialogues all her life.
In the end, I couldn't help feeling that I should have gone for 'Within a Budding Grove' instead.
The Sea is written by a narrator who like that of 'The Sense of an Ending' and 'The remains of the Day' suffers from partial Amnesia. May be, our past gets more vague as it increases in quantity - vague yet far more difficult to ignore.
“The past beats inside me like a second heart.”
Other than that there are are themes of remembering the past and silences. Much of 'The Sea' is Proust beaten down to a commercial retail unit and so we have beautiful description in sentences with lots of comas but less beautiful and fewer comas than in Proust, a lot of remembering but again far less than in Proust. I don't think Banville is bad or that comparison is fair but it is difficult not to. Banville's protagonist Max is on the perverse side of things whereas Proust's was on sensitive side. Whereas Proust longed for goodnight kiss from his mother, Max hungered for bare skin.
Proust is also more likeable because his remembering is an active one - he was developing a whole art of remembering but Max, who seeks refuge in past, also seems to be afraid of it at same time and so remembering was a passive one. That is biggest problem with Banville that while he is frequently quotable as regards remembering, that isn't so for the past he did remember; we couldd relate to Swann far more easily than all the Graces combined. May be it is because Max is so self-centered and so only wants to tell about things that held his very vulgar curiosities but the other characters never come to life, there is no telling about their motivations. For all I know Max's wife only talked in single-quotable-sentence dialogues all her life.
In the end, I couldn't help feeling that I should have gone for 'Within a Budding Grove' instead.
josh_oleary's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
lottie1803's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 out of 5 stars. I may bump this up as I think some more about the book. It was beautifully written.
Follows a middle-aged Irishman as he visits the seaside town where he spent summer vacations as a child. His visit dredges up old memories from his childhood and the summer days he spent with a brother and sister from a more well-to-do family.
This novel won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. I've read many Booker prize winners/nominees and this definitely has the same feel as those.
Follows a middle-aged Irishman as he visits the seaside town where he spent summer vacations as a child. His visit dredges up old memories from his childhood and the summer days he spent with a brother and sister from a more well-to-do family.
This novel won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. I've read many Booker prize winners/nominees and this definitely has the same feel as those.
dre_'s review against another edition
5.0
A very high water mark was left with this book (sorry, I know that's a little on the nose). After losing my Mom in October, I want nothing less than this from a book, whatever 'this' is. I can't decide if I want to mark this book up within an inch of its life and put it on my mantle or leave it in a roadway library.