The Sea
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The Sea
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Narrated by:
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Jim Norton
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By:
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John Banville
About this listen
Man Booker Prize, Fiction, 2005
When art historian Max Morden returns to the seaside village where he once spent a childhood holiday, he is both escaping from a recent loss and confronting a distant trauma.The Grace family had appeared that long-ago summer as if from another world. Mr. and Mrs. Grace, with their worldly ease and candour, were unlike any adults he had met before. But it was his contemporaries, the Grace twins Myles and Chloe, who most fascinated Max. He grew to know them intricately, even intimately, and what ensued would haunt him for the rest of his years and shape everything that was to follow.
© John Banville; (P) Macmillan Publishers LtdListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Sea
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 11-09-17
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
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Richard
- 02-04-12
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
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Paula Fitzgibbon
- 06-11-24
Everything stood out
This is my third time to enjoy this book.
I will indeed savour it again & again.
Every word is soothing to my ear
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 25-08-23
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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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gerard Frith
- 26-12-18
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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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Deep purple
- 05-10-24
A lot of words
A lot of words, but not a lot of story, I enjoyed bits of it, but was really glad when it finished, it was a book club read otherwise I would not have persevered, not enjoyable, felt more like work, I often find if a book has won a Man Booker prize, its a no no for me. Found bits of it rather distasteful, when he was talking about his daughter, not for me.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- E. A. Spencer-Goodier
- 29-09-19
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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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 02-04-22
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
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- DT
- 13-08-23
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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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cheesetaster
- 22-02-22
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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