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  • Reading The Sea

  • I admire this book a lot more than I like it. John Banville's prose is magnificent to the point that it is sometimes distracting. True, there are sentences that are so well-constructed that one stops to re-read them and ponder their beauty. At the same time, though, it is this very attention to deta ... Continue

    I admire this book a lot more than I like it. John Banville's prose is magnificent to the point that it is sometimes distracting. True, there are sentences that are so well-constructed that one stops to re-read them and ponder their beauty. At the same time, though, it is this very attention to detail and overly dense work that makes the book tiresome to read at times. I wanted Banville to get on with the story rather than spend so much time making me love his words.

    The other real problem that I had with The Sea is its constant fiddling with chronology. I completely understand the purpose behind it - stories from the distant past, near past and present all had their connections - but it was yet another interruption to the overall reading experience as far as I was concerned. Additionally, I knew almost from the beginning how the novel would end, which perhaps is just a factor of how well the character clues were placed, but I was disappointed nonetheless.

    As far as the book's themes, I believe that Banville does have something intriguing to say both about coming-of-age and aging. The narrator of the novel has been through much and has consistently been able to adapt himself to his situation (always a greater situation than he deserved, probably) but it is in the aftermath of death that he finds himself unable to move to a new phase of life.

    I'm frankly a little surprised that this novel won the Man Booker Prize for 2005 over two books that I feel are more deserving. Ali Smith's The Accidental covers very similar ground but does so in a much more engaging, intriguing fashion. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is also one that I would have preferred to see win the prize. Like The Sea, it's a story where the secrets become evident quickly, but there is a much greater reward in approaching the conclusion.

    

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• ― moogle said on Mar 27, 2007 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

まばゆい美しさの散文。見事に織りなされる人物描写。シンプルな語り。ジョン・バンヴィルの文章を形容する言葉はすべて肯定であり、中でも『The Sea』はこの作家のすばらしい資質が明白な作品だ。出版元は、この小説はブッカー賞候補にもなったこの作家の最高作と謳っている。その発言に少々の誇張があるとしても、完璧にバランスのとれた本書が彼の最も完成度の高い作品にあげられることには、否定の余地がない。

マックス・モーダンは人生の岐路に立っていて、いくつかの問題を解決しようとしている。彼は最近起きたある喪失の体験を引きずっており、過去のトラウマに向き合うことにも困難を感じている。彼は意を決して、子どものころに休暇を過ごした思い出の場所である、海辺の町に戻ってみることにする。記憶は、カリスマ的なグレース一家、特に魅惑的な双子のマイルスとクロエへと移っていく。マックスはほんの短い間に、この二人との奇妙な関係に引き込まれた。彼らとの間に起きたことが、その後の一生に影響を与えることになったのだ。果たしてマックスは、過去の記憶を払うことができるだろうか？

ジョン・バンヴィルは無類の手法で不安な夢のような世界に読者を引き込み、登場人物を見事に操りながら、複雑な人間関係の全貌を達人的な筆致で描き出していく。『Shroud』や『The Book of Evidence』などの本でもそうだったように、作者は見え透いた部分は一切排除し、微妙で控えめな表現に徹している。それだけに、物語で実際に何かが起きるとき、それは真にドラマ的で非常に力強いものとなっている。--Barry Forshaw

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Irish Literature (151)

NY Times Notable Book Club (287)

50 Book Challenge! (397)

• IrelandIrish literatureJohn BanvillelossBooker Prizeaward winninglovedeathliterary fictionfiction