The Sea

How odd that John Banville would win his only Booker Prize to date for The Sea, a muddled and contrived novel about a grieving widow. (Perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising since the same thing happened to Ian McEwan, who won the 1998 Booker Prize for his inferior novel Amsterdam.) But don't let the award fool you — despite some very well-written scenes, this is one of Banville's weakest novels and not a good place to start if you are new to his work.