MADreads

Who decides these things?

August 8th, 2006 Ann M.

Some of my all time favorite books have been Booker Prize winners:  Amsterdam, The English Patient, Possession, The Remains of the Day.  Somehow I missed reading the 2005 winner, The Sea by John Banville, and was only recently reminded of it by a review suggesting it as a good book discussion choice. I was delighted to find it on the shelf, and took it home with great anticipation.

When I began reading, I was not disappointed.  Banville’s use of language is incredible.  I found myself re-reading sentences sometimes out loud, because they were put together so magically. I loved his use of artistic and literary allusion. And, of course, there was the protagonist—a mid-aged, recently widowed art historian, mourning his wife by returning to scenes of his childhood—a small Irish seaside village where he was once infatuated by a wealthy and sophisticated family who vacationed there, and with whom, we come to suspect, a life changing event occurred.

The next day at work I couldn’t stop talking about this book!  The magnificent use of language, the interesting characters.  I recommended it to staff and patron alike.  I couldn’t wait to get home that night and read more.  Then it happened…the story began to drag; the characters, who at first seemed delightfully quirky, remained that way and never developed in ways that I could care for them.  Even the beautiful language, so seductive in the novel’s opening pages, became a barrier to the story’s development.  And the ending…Well, I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Where did the author go wrong?  And that erudite group of Brits who choose The Sea as the winner of one of world’s most prestigious literary prizes?  What were they thinking? Or was it just me, overwhelmed by the heat?

Entry Filed under: Literary Fiction