Winner of the Booker Prize 2005. "His prose gives continuous sensual delight" (only if you have a dictionary to hand). I understand why this won a literary fiction award. I understand why it didn't sell, and why i could buy it for 5.99.
It's verbose, and the wordiness left this reader bewildered as almost every 2nd paragraph required referring to the dictionary. I have not the greatest word power in the world, but to have to refer so often stemmed the flow of the book. There's no doubt that there's a power to the characters created by the author, but I couldn't enjoy them.
I did learn, however, that scurf is the word for the flakes of dry skin that are caused by dandruff. On that basis, I'll score it at 458 out of 1023. A Hard Read.
I did learn, however, that scurf is the word for the flakes of dry skin that are caused by dandruff. On that basis, I'll score it at 458 out of 1023. A Hard Read.
I have finished reading John Banville's 'The Sea' and thought I would let you know how I got on. I too found it a bit hard going at times and would concure that there were many words even longer than marmalade that this reader didn't understand. But I did find his discriptive writings very effective and found myself smiling in admiration at how well he described the world around him. The last 30 pages or so were amazing and were enough to make one's eyes go glassy. I remember thinking about half way through the book that the main character was just a depressing sod who I didn't really give a hoot about but I think this was a clever ploy by the author to lend more weight to the ending. While I won't read another of his books just yet (might try something a bit more light-hearted) I would be tempted by some more John Banville in the future.
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