Egotistical narrative

It’s clever. Almost like stepping back into the world of Katherine Mansfield.

I did enjoy the book & the telling of it, although it’s slow to get into. Perseverance however will reveal a carefully crafted story, with some sweet twists that reveal our self delusion & eagerness to stereotype.

The internal dialogue of a life navigating waypoints marked by the usual passions, guilt and grief. I liked it.

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Loved other J Banville books...

John Banville is incredible - I loved other books, this one did not work for me on Audible. And I just could not get into it. Maybe I'll give it a go in hard copy.

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1 person found this helpful

Finding me in the Sea

I found me in the Sea and realised the brokenness in all of us, the futility of self help and the glory of faith which shone through in its absense.

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2 people found this helpful

Stunning

A glorious way to spend 6.5 hrs. Everything about this audio book is perfect. The source text is rich, sad and vainglorious; the narration perfectly matched.

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Artistically beautiful.

Absolutely loved this book,read it many years ago.
Here on Audible a real and wonderful experience.
Lucky to live myself by the sea ,and close to the Author himself a real character.

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Okay but not great

I found the writing in this one incredibly over-wrought and florid, almost laughably so at some points. You are left with the impression of the narrator as being a pompous prat - which may well be the intention but it makes it a bit hard to stick with. The last hour or so is stunning, however.

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5 people found this helpful

Rather sad, but enjoyable

Very well read. A story that kept me listening and interested throughout. I could listen to it again as there is a lot of hidden meaning.

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Intervening in the Past

The unreliable and unlikeable narrator of John Banville’s novel — Max Morden resembles so many of Henry James’s self-absorbed characters and narrators and in more than his name — reveals much about memory, its vital importance (and not simply to the bereaved) but also its subtle interventions in the past. Accordingly, the sadness in the novel comes across freed from the easy sentimentality and nostalgia that can mar stories of loss, in this case the loss of the narrator’s wife and his own childhood. / It says all that needs to be said of Jim Norton’s reading that I thought I was listening to Max and of John Banville that his very foregrounded prose style becomes Max’s.

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Dull and self-indulgent

The main point of this book appears to be adolescent self-absorption and it's as tedious to listen to as it is to observe in real life. The male characters are one-dimensional, the female characters are objects. A dash of humour or irony may have lifted the narrative, but this story takes itself extremely seriously. I struggled to the end only because I hoped it would redeem itself in the finale. It didn't.

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2 people found this helpful

Awful book!

This is the first book I have aborted after hour of listening! Boring, lifeless and dull!!!

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1 person found this helpful