In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'm beginning John Banville's novel The Sea. It's something I've wanted to read forever, not just because it won the Man Booker, but because so many people say Banville's writing is strange and beautiful.
Also, it's a stormy day here, and I think the book will fit my mood. Maybe I'll bake some soda bread and have some tea while I read.
The first line is pretty good: "They departed, the gods, on the day of the strange tide."
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4 comments:
The Sea is on my TBR. I've heard mixed reviews of it.
I'm enjoying it so far, but it's not completely drawing me in...I'll keep you posted :)
I will always have time for a John Banville book. "The Untouchables", "The Book Of Evidence", "Shroud", etc, they're all marvelous, every single one of them. Although "The Sea" has won the Booker, it can't say it's Banville's best. Nevertheless, I still give it a five star rating for the irresistible quality of its prose and the pleasure I felt reading it.
I found it to be a moving treatise on loss, grief and the way we deal with it. At the same time, it offers a glimpse at the way memories can bend and fracture until one can't distinguish between what one remembers and what one thinks one remembers.
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