The Sea (2005) is the Man Booker Prize winning novel by John Banville. Its fragmented narrative follows the return of art historian Max Morden to the seaside house where he used to spent his childhood holidays. The different fragments are mostly made up by his memories of different periods of his life: his wife's cancer diagnosis and death; his relationship with his daughter, Claire; his tragic childhood memories. This novel is concerned with grief but also with memory that, unreliable as it sometimes is, still has a profound effect on the present.
Some readers might consider this book difficult to read as it is not really plot driven. What seduced me was its poetic language, its essayistic qualities and how the fragmented narrative is really at the service of the story.
Other books I have read by the same author: The Book of Evidence.
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