The narrator of this novel relives and re-imagines scenes from his childhood and his life with his recently-deceased wife. He has returned to the seaside in an attempt to make sense of what has happened to him.
Banville writes with exquisite prose. There's not much else to propel the reader though, since we get vignettes, imperfectly remembered and confused. Essentially plotless, we don't learn some essential details until almost the end of the novel - so don't give up on it!
I almost Banville hadn't been so stingy with his plot points. The novel would have benefited from an earlier clue about who the landlady really was, for instance. I know it would have kept me reading with more interest to know that something was coming up later that would be more interesting. But the novel won the Booker prize, and has gotten rave reviews, so who am I to criticize?
Highly recommended.
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