Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Sea
John Banville
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Sea
John Banville
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Sea, by John Banville, is the story of the Grace family who move into The Cedars, a resort by the sea. Max is the narrator. He sees the father in his black sedan parked outside and hears a girl laugh, Colonel Blunden across the hall on his wireless, and a boy his age swinging on a creaky gate. The boy’s parents leave in the black car. Did they leave him alone? Where is the girl who laughed.? Author Banville builds suspense from the beginning.
Later Max and his wife Anna are in Dr. Todd’s office. Todd tells Anna there are new treatments and drugs to be used these days. Anna says thank you. She’s not really listening.
The next time Max, as a boy, sees the Grace family they are on the beach. He pretends to read a book but watches Chloe. Rose is also there under a beach towel, getting dressed. Max thinks he has fallen in love with Mrs. Grace. Miss Vavasour plays piano downstairs.
In the autumn, years later, Max’s daughter Claire comes to see him. She is twenty something. In the car, he points out The Cedars. Claire does not stop, but he tells her the Graces stayed there. He shows her the old dairy where he bought milk for their household. At the farm door he talks with Avril, an old woman. He and Claire go to the Golf Hotel. Claire tells him he lives in the past. He knows she is right; it is for him a retreat from the cold present, the cold future. Claire has given up her studies to teach “backward children” in a seething slum to please a man who later abandons her. She tells Max he had driven Jerome away. Max calls The Cedars and reserves a room for a month.
As a boy he had come upon Chloe and Myles, the twins. They are bound to each other. Myles is a mute and his toes are splayed. Neither parent did sign language well but Myles understood them. Sometimes the image of Mrs. Grace causes Max to sob in lovesick grief. The day Max went on a picnic with the Grace family was memorable. Mrs. Grace, Connie, lay on the grass smoking a cigarette and drinking a glass of wine. Her underpants are exposed and the boy fantasizes. Mr. Grace watches the boy from under his straw hat, eating his ham sandwich. As children, the three played most days in the sea. Max was not a good swimmer and Chloe waited for him on shore when he swam. He recalls Chloe’s smell, her hands, her eyes. And an important kiss.
After Anna dies, he returns to The Cedars as the survivor. Miss Vavasour and Colonel Blunden greet him. He thinks he’d rather be alone, put up with the echoes, the emptiness. Claire says he can come live with her, there’s room for two. He doesn’t want her pity. He writes about art for a journal. Miss Vavasour serves a tasteless dinner and leads them to the television room. Max has brandy in his room. He always wanted to be someone else and wonders who he is.
Max remembers Rose most of all when she had her hair washed by Mrs. Grace. He painted her black hair and white skin in a portrait. She had been the governess and Chloe and Myles were mean to her until she cried. When Mrs. Grace and Rose walk in the garden, Max hears Rose say Carlos’ name and the word “love.” Is she in love with the father of her charges? He could not picture this. Myles draws a sketch on the gate posts of two torsos and their initials. Chloe says she hopes Rose drowns. “I hate her,” she says. Years later Max recalls those last words of Chloe after the twins walk into the sea. They walked slowly, out and out. Rose watched, then gathered her things.
What happens to Max in his last years? Does he go live with Claire his daughter? Does he recognize Miss Vavasour as the governess, Rose? Why didn’t she go after them? Find this fascinating novel on the fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
Later Max and his wife Anna are in Dr. Todd’s office. Todd tells Anna there are new treatments and drugs to be used these days. Anna says thank you. She’s not really listening.
The next time Max, as a boy, sees the Grace family they are on the beach. He pretends to read a book but watches Chloe. Rose is also there under a beach towel, getting dressed. Max thinks he has fallen in love with Mrs. Grace. Miss Vavasour plays piano downstairs.
In the autumn, years later, Max’s daughter Claire comes to see him. She is twenty something. In the car, he points out The Cedars. Claire does not stop, but he tells her the Graces stayed there. He shows her the old dairy where he bought milk for their household. At the farm door he talks with Avril, an old woman. He and Claire go to the Golf Hotel. Claire tells him he lives in the past. He knows she is right; it is for him a retreat from the cold present, the cold future. Claire has given up her studies to teach “backward children” in a seething slum to please a man who later abandons her. She tells Max he had driven Jerome away. Max calls The Cedars and reserves a room for a month.
As a boy he had come upon Chloe and Myles, the twins. They are bound to each other. Myles is a mute and his toes are splayed. Neither parent did sign language well but Myles understood them. Sometimes the image of Mrs. Grace causes Max to sob in lovesick grief. The day Max went on a picnic with the Grace family was memorable. Mrs. Grace, Connie, lay on the grass smoking a cigarette and drinking a glass of wine. Her underpants are exposed and the boy fantasizes. Mr. Grace watches the boy from under his straw hat, eating his ham sandwich. As children, the three played most days in the sea. Max was not a good swimmer and Chloe waited for him on shore when he swam. He recalls Chloe’s smell, her hands, her eyes. And an important kiss.
After Anna dies, he returns to The Cedars as the survivor. Miss Vavasour and Colonel Blunden greet him. He thinks he’d rather be alone, put up with the echoes, the emptiness. Claire says he can come live with her, there’s room for two. He doesn’t want her pity. He writes about art for a journal. Miss Vavasour serves a tasteless dinner and leads them to the television room. Max has brandy in his room. He always wanted to be someone else and wonders who he is.
Max remembers Rose most of all when she had her hair washed by Mrs. Grace. He painted her black hair and white skin in a portrait. She had been the governess and Chloe and Myles were mean to her until she cried. When Mrs. Grace and Rose walk in the garden, Max hears Rose say Carlos’ name and the word “love.” Is she in love with the father of her charges? He could not picture this. Myles draws a sketch on the gate posts of two torsos and their initials. Chloe says she hopes Rose drowns. “I hate her,” she says. Years later Max recalls those last words of Chloe after the twins walk into the sea. They walked slowly, out and out. Rose watched, then gathered her things.
What happens to Max in his last years? Does he go live with Claire his daughter? Does he recognize Miss Vavasour as the governess, Rose? Why didn’t she go after them? Find this fascinating novel on the fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.