The Sea by John Banville

This is a novel about loss and memories, but throughout it seems strangely detached, as though the narrator is attempting to feel the appropriate emotions but his lifetime habits of deception prevent him from honestly confronting his tragedies. He seems to be equated with the vast indifference of the sea. At least that is my interpretation, but the meaning here is very nebulous, and alternate interpretations would probably be just as valid.

The plot finds the narrator returning, following the death of his wife, to a seaside town where he spent summers as a child. He remembers most his interaction with the Grace family and the role they played in his first experiences of love and death. Interspersed with these are his memories of his wife's year-long illness and death.

The writing is oh-so-elegant and beautiful that that often seems to be the whole purpose of the novel--to display the author's prodigious talent. The book is a delight to read, but in the end I felt cheated somehow. The ending is somewhat predictable and more than a little sensationalistic.

This book won Britain's Man Booker Prize in 2005. I would recommend it with reservations.