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The Sea
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
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Publisher's summary
The author of The Untouchable (“contemporary fiction gets no better than this”—Patrick McGrath, The New York Times Book Review) now gives us a luminous novel about love, loss, and the unpredictable power of memory.
The narrator is Max Morden, a middle-aged Irishman who, soon after his wife’s death, has gone back to the seaside town where he spent his summer holidays as a child—a retreat from the grief, anger, and numbness of his life without her. But it is also a return to the place where he met the Graces, the well-heeled vacationing family with whom he experienced the strange suddenness of both love and death for the first time. The seductive mother; the imperious father; the twins—Chloe, fiery and forthright, and Myles, silent and expressionless—in whose mysterious connection Max became profoundly entangled, each of them a part of the “barely bearable raw immediacy” of his childhood memories. Interwoven with this story are Morden’s memories of his wife, Anna—of their life together, of her death—and the moments, both significant and mundane, that make up his life now: his relationship with his grown daughter, Claire, desperate to pull him from his grief; and with the other boarders at the house where he is staying, where the past beats inside him “like a second heart.”
What Max comes to understand about the past, and about its indelible effects on him, is at the center of this elegiac, vividly dramatic, beautifully written novel—among the finest we have had from this extraordinary writer.
Critic reviews
“Remarkable. . . . The power and strangeness and piercing beauty of [The Sea is] a wonder.” —The Washington Post Book World
“With his fastidious wit and exquisite style, John Banville is the heir to Nabokov. . . . The Sea [is] his best novel so far.” —The Sunday Telegraph
“A gem. . . . [The sea] is a presence on every page, its ceaseless undulations echoing constantly in the cadences of the prose. This novel shouldn't simply be read. It needs to be heard, for its sound is intoxicating. . . . A winning work of art.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Karen
- 07-20-07
OVERWHELMINGLY FINE
The book itself deserves the Booker prize it received and anything else possible in the way of awards. The contrast between the deeply sad story and the intensely gorgeous language evokes that paradox of despair expressed in beauty. I heard about the book in a round-about way and at first took it for a far older work, the author's willingness to lavish language, description, simile, so fooled me.
What makes THIS version so outstanding, however, is the reading by John Lee. His voice, phrasing, and emphasis are so perfect, his timing especially so apt, that I have trouble imagining the book without it.
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44 people found this helpful
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- Darwin8u
- 07-24-15
The past beats inside me like a second heart.
Over the years, I've collected about 2 or 3 Banville books. The first was given to me by a girl I liked in HS, but never got around to reading it or dating her. I was finally inspired (or moved?) to read 'the Sea' (and a couple other Ireland-themed novels) because I was going to spend a week with the wife in Ireland and there is nothing better to read about on vacation than sex*, death, loss and sand. It was beautiful. It was poetry. It was nearly perfect.
It is easy to borrow images and allusions from other critics. It is easy to park Banville next to Beckett or Joyce (yes, fine, they all dropped from their mother's wombs onto the same emerald island). It is easy to play the literary cousin game and compare Banville to Proust or Nabokov or Henry James. These things are all true. They are also all fictions and obvious short cuts.
I haven't read enough of Banville to say he measures up to Proust or Nabokov, but damn this book was fine. There really must be something in the water because I'm reading Enright's The Gathering right now and my first thought was 'da feck'? Two Man Bookers by Irish novelists about drowning, death and memory. I'm sure there is more than water and whiskey to this island.
Anyway, I loved and adored 'The Sea'. I used those slick little page-markers everytime I came across a line of Banville's that seemed especially quoteable. I gave up when I ran out of markers. The edge of the book looked like a colorful Stegosaurus with markers dancing up and down the pages.
John Lee, as alwasys, was amazing in this narration. He truely is one of the noble and great narration gods.
* On a side note. It is VERY rare that a writer can actually write about sex without making me want to run from the room. They either make it too clinical (like a doctor popping zits) or too silly (like the cover of a romance novel) or too ethereal (like clouds copulating). Joyce could do it. Nabokov could do it. And I'm proud to say Banville can do it too.
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35 people found this helpful
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Overall
- dianamoore
- 09-04-06
the sea
I've been inside the heads of alot of old men lately; Mr Sammler's Planet,Gilead,The History of Love. I thought it was as good as these other novels. Without much real action or suspense, I was glad to journey with this old man to the end.
It was so beautifully written, insightful, humorous at times and just so human.
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31 people found this helpful
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Overall
- David
- 11-03-10
Let it flow over you
I had not heard of Banville before this. What is it about the Irish? The command of the language, the humour, pathos, gentility, insight was astounding. At the end I felt I had lost a friend! Beautifully read, this was a true pleasure. It was a gentle journey that could have gone on and on! I recommend this anyone with an interest in the human condition!
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Lydia
- 02-22-11
Dark, depressing, realistic but so poetic!
Having a love of Ireland lead me to listen to this book, one of my first audible downloads. While this book has to be described as dark and somewhat depressing, the upside is that the writing is the work of an absolute poet and perfectionist of the English language. Sublime! Regarding the narrator, he is superb. He sounds as if he truly loves the book and each and every character.
I felt tentative about this book at first; the language complex, the story dark. But I encourage readers to stick with it because the past and present are subtely inter-woven, the characters mysterious and interesting, and every question falls neatly into place at the end without the need for any purfunctory happy endings or elevation of character. The story is essentially about life and death and the emotions surrounding them, told by a "man"!
So...if you are interested in literature but written recently, give this awesome book a read. I was very impressed!
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17 people found this helpful
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- HIYBRID
- 02-21-13
A muddy stream.. of consciousness
OK first John Lee can read a phone book and it would be worth listeng to. This tale is about a person who spends time at THE SEASHORE, not at sea. He has a troubled tragic life and time and remembers it all with you as he writes this. He does not however remember it in any logical form but rather changes time and characters extensively. This left me as the reader lost to figure out what was what and when it all happened. This detracted from whatever story he was trying to tell. In movie form you might have visual cues as to where the pieces of his life fit together but I didn't like it here. Now you may say that I have no appreciation for his artfull stream of consciousness and rich descriptive language. The former no the latter yes.
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Catherine
- 02-24-10
Listening to this leaves a bad taste in my mouth
Being a national best seller is nothing to sneeze at, and winning a Man Booker prize is a fairly substantial feat. With both these things in mind I purchased "The Sea". After the purchase, I still am of the opinion that the book has very noteworthy accomplishments, particularly so considering the fact that this book is really just so BAD. I could never find the motivation to care about what the main character experienced, expressed, or suffered; my only concern was that remaining in the company of this intolerable piece of work was causing more suffering on MY part. As far as the audio experience, let me estalish that anyone using this website knows the value of the audio media. "The Sea", then, stands as an excellent example it's failure. (Can I get an "OMG"?) I appreciate the attempt at colloquialisms and accents on the part of the narrator, but I heard enough "pitrs" and "figrs" to call a speech therapist. My advise is to pass this one by. Ignore the fancy packaging. You can't judge this book by its cover.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Steph
- 05-12-07
Difficult to follow
Maybe it's just me, as I had read such positive reviews about this book. But I have had to restart this audio book countless times, as I found the story line difficult to follow.. At times you are not immediately aware that the author had jumped back several decades to the subject's childhood, or to his marriage or to the present day. It was well read however, enjoyed the narrator's Irish accent.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kristin
- 04-19-09
Great book, horrible narration
I loved this book, but found the audio version difficult to listen to. The narrator had an overbearing style that interferred with the flow of the beautifully crafted sentences. He seemed to think that his own performance was more important to the text.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Rhonda Morrison
- 07-30-12
I was bored
What did you like best about The Sea? What did you like least?
The book has beautiful writing, but the story, for me, was just dull. The main character just didn't interest me.
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- Melissa
- 05-10-23
Brilliant writing, beautifully told
An absolute standout. John Banville’s writing is masterful, the narration captures the voice perfectly. One of the best Audible books in my library.
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- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The incomparable Booker Prize winner’s next great crime novel - the story of a family whose secrets resurface when a parish priest is found murdered in their ancestral home. Detective Inspector St. John Strafford has been summoned to County Wexford to investigate a murder. A parish priest has been found dead in Ballyglass House, the family seat of the aristocratic, secretive Osborne family.
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Don't read this is you have been sexually abused
- By Babs on 10-26-20
By: John Banville
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The Singularities
- A Novel
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A man with a borrowed name steps from a flashy red sports car—also borrowed—onto the estate of his youth. But all is not as it seems. There is a new family living in the drafty old house: the Godleys, descendants of the late, world-famous scientist Adam Godley, whose theory of existence threw the universe into chaos. And this mystery man, who has just completed a prison sentence, feels as if time has stopped, or was torn, or was opened in new and strange ways. He must now vie with the idiosyncratic Godley family, and with a woman from his past who comes bearing an unusual request.
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Impossible
- By Anonymous User on 10-28-22
By: John Banville
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April in Spain
- A Novel
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On the idyllic coast of San Sebastian, Spain, Dublin pathologist Quirke is struggling to relax, despite the beaches, cafés, and the company of his disarmingly lovely wife. When he glimpses a familiar face in the twilight at Las Acadas bar, it's hard at first to tell whether his imagination is just running away with him.
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Brilliantly constructed; vintage Banville
- By EveryContinent on 10-22-21
By: John Banville
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Time Pieces
- A Dublin Memoir
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
As much about the life of the city as it is about a life lived, sometimes, in the city, John Banville's "quasi-memoir" is as layered, emotionally rich, witty, and unexpected as any of his novels. Born and bred in a small town a train ride away from Dublin, Banville saw the city as a place of enchantment when he was a child, a birthday treat, the place where his beloved, eccentric aunt lived.
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My first Banville Book
- By Kate Ryan on 08-21-23
By: John Banville
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The Infinities
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On a languid midsummer's day in the countryside, old Adam Godley, a renowned theoretical mathematician, is dying. His family gathers at his bedside: his son, young Adam, struggling to maintain his marriage to a radiantly beautiful actress; his 19-year-old daughter, Petra, filled with voices and visions as she waits for the inevitable; their mother, Ursula, whose relations with the Godley children are strained at best; and Petra's "young man" - very likely more interested in the father than the daughter - who has arrived for a superbly ill-timed visit.
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family. even the gods seem to know about it.
- By Annette on 03-21-10
By: John Banville
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The Untouchable
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Bill Wallis
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Victor Maskell has been betrayed. After the announcement in the Commons, the hasty revelation of his double life of wartime espionage, his photograph is all over the papers. His disgrace is public, his position as curator of the Queen’s pictures terminated… Maskell writes his own testament, in an act not unlike the restoration of one of his beloved pictures, in order for the process of verification and attribution to begin.
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Brilliant writer writes the most boring spy story
- By David on 05-15-12
By: John Banville
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Snow
- A Novel
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
The incomparable Booker Prize winner’s next great crime novel - the story of a family whose secrets resurface when a parish priest is found murdered in their ancestral home. Detective Inspector St. John Strafford has been summoned to County Wexford to investigate a murder. A parish priest has been found dead in Ballyglass House, the family seat of the aristocratic, secretive Osborne family.
-
-
Don't read this is you have been sexually abused
- By Babs on 10-26-20
By: John Banville
-
The Singularities
- A Novel
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A man with a borrowed name steps from a flashy red sports car—also borrowed—onto the estate of his youth. But all is not as it seems. There is a new family living in the drafty old house: the Godleys, descendants of the late, world-famous scientist Adam Godley, whose theory of existence threw the universe into chaos. And this mystery man, who has just completed a prison sentence, feels as if time has stopped, or was torn, or was opened in new and strange ways. He must now vie with the idiosyncratic Godley family, and with a woman from his past who comes bearing an unusual request.
-
-
Impossible
- By Anonymous User on 10-28-22
By: John Banville
-
April in Spain
- A Novel
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the idyllic coast of San Sebastian, Spain, Dublin pathologist Quirke is struggling to relax, despite the beaches, cafés, and the company of his disarmingly lovely wife. When he glimpses a familiar face in the twilight at Las Acadas bar, it's hard at first to tell whether his imagination is just running away with him.
-
-
Brilliantly constructed; vintage Banville
- By EveryContinent on 10-22-21
By: John Banville
-
Time Pieces
- A Dublin Memoir
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As much about the life of the city as it is about a life lived, sometimes, in the city, John Banville's "quasi-memoir" is as layered, emotionally rich, witty, and unexpected as any of his novels. Born and bred in a small town a train ride away from Dublin, Banville saw the city as a place of enchantment when he was a child, a birthday treat, the place where his beloved, eccentric aunt lived.
-
-
My first Banville Book
- By Kate Ryan on 08-21-23
By: John Banville
-
The Infinities
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a languid midsummer's day in the countryside, old Adam Godley, a renowned theoretical mathematician, is dying. His family gathers at his bedside: his son, young Adam, struggling to maintain his marriage to a radiantly beautiful actress; his 19-year-old daughter, Petra, filled with voices and visions as she waits for the inevitable; their mother, Ursula, whose relations with the Godley children are strained at best; and Petra's "young man" - very likely more interested in the father than the daughter - who has arrived for a superbly ill-timed visit.
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family. even the gods seem to know about it.
- By Annette on 03-21-10
By: John Banville
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The Lock-Up
- A Novel
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1950s Dublin, Rosa Jacobs, a young history scholar, is found dead in her car. Renowned pathologist Dr. Quirke and DI St. John Strafford begin to investigate the death as a murder, but it’s the victim’s older sister Molly, an established journalist, who discovers a lead that could crack open the case. One of Rosa’s friends, it turns out, is from a powerful German family that arrived in Ireland under mysterious circumstances shortly after World War II. But as Quirke and Strafford close in, their personal lives may put the case—and everyone involved—in peril, including Quirke’s own daughter.
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Another brilliant banville mystery
- By D. on 06-21-23
By: John Banville
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Eclipse
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Bill Wallis
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Alexander Cleave, actor, has left his career and his family behind and banished himself to his childhood home. He wants to retire from life, but finds this impossible in a house brimming with presences, some ghostly, some undeniably human. Memories, anxiety for the future, and more particularly, for his beloved but troubled daughter, conspire to distract him from his dreaming retirement.
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Well cast narrator and lush writing
- By Jeff Lacy on 04-12-18
By: John Banville
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Ancient Light
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Is there any difference between memory and invention? That is the question that fuels this stunning novel, written with the depth of character, the clarifying lyricism, and the heart-wrenching humor that have marked all of John Banville's extraordinary works. And it is the question that haunts Alexander Cleave as he plumbs the memories of his first - and perhaps only - love (he, just 15, the woman more than twice his age, the mother of his best friend; the situation impossible, thrilling, devouring, and finally devastating).
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Gorgeous!
- By victoria on 03-27-13
By: John Banville
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Mrs. Osmond
- A Novel
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Amy Finegan
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Isabel Archer is a young American woman swept off to Europe in the late 19th century by an aunt who hopes to round out the impetuous but naïve girl's experience of the world. When Isabel comes into a large, unexpected inheritance, she is finagled into a marriage with the charming, penniless, and - as Isabel finds out too late - cruel and deceitful Gilbert Osmond, whose connection to a certain Madame Merle is suspiciously intimate.
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Clever Continuation of Henry James
- By Fate_D on 03-18-18
By: John Banville
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The Gathering
- By: Anne Enright
- Narrated by: Terry Donnelly
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Regarded as one of her country's foremost voices, Irish author Anne Enright makes a fresh mark on a rich literary tradition. The Gathering is a deeply insightful family saga, steeped in secrets and intrigue, unfolding over three generations.
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Not For Everyone
- By Lori on 11-07-08
By: Anne Enright
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The Blue Guitar
- A Novel
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea and Ancient Light, a new novel - at once trenchant, witty, and shattering - about the intricacies of artistic creation and theft, and about the ways in which we learn to possess one another and to hold on to ourselves. Equally self-aggrandizing and self-deprecating, our narrator, Oliver Otway Orme, is a painter of some renown and a petty thief who does not steal for profit and has never before been caught.
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Masterful
- By Amazon customer on 11-25-15
By: John Banville
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Offshore
- By: Penelope Fitzgerald, Alan Hollinghurst - introduction
- Narrated by: Jot Davies, Alan Hollinghurst, Stephanie Racine
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance