After the death of his wife from cancer, Max goes on holiday in a village at the sea where he used to spent his holidays as a child. After some time his daughter takes him back home.

This is about the plot of The Sea. Not much action there, one could say, although, to be fair, I must add that a lot of the novel is written as flashbacks – to Max’s final year with his wife and, more prominently, to one particular childhood holiday on the sea. Especially the latter storyline has at least some action and tension, it also lays the foundations for an unexpected ending.

Still: The main value lies not in what happens or what Max remembers but in Banville’s detailed and empathic descriptions of how the protagonist feels, how the scenery feels, how feelings and ideas are tested and changed. This is prose that is a pleasure to read and pulls you inside – not the action, because there is none – but inside a slow-moving world in a different life and time. Max remembers and considers, he compares and tries to rediscover places and persons from childhood memories. There are implicit comparisons between different phases of his life and a whole lot of stabs at life’s general futility. You do not learn anything from this book, but it may offer some interesting food for thought.

Contemplative.