The Marriage of the Sea : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: The UnKnowability of Place and The Human Heart
Review: Brilliantly placing her story in New Orleans and Venice, I disagree with the reviewer who could see no relationship between these two cities. Both are magical and mysterious cities that exist as much in one's imagination as in reality, and this is what Alison captures so well. The story of seven characters are vaguely linked in this story - two married couples, whose marriages are disintegrating like the two cities in which they are set, as well as two single people engaged in a subtle dance of courtship and desire. Finally there is an elderly, patrician Venetian facing his physical disintegration, as he longs to preserve the beauty of Venice in the construction of a 'water' villa floating on the surface of the lagoon.

Several reviewers criticized the lack of character development in this novel. I believe the author chose to do this purposely. Her characters advance and retreat like the tides themselves, while the author captures their vague and ephemeral natures, characteristics which they share with the cities in which the novel is set. This is a beautifully lyrical novel in which the unknowability of the human heart is explored.

Rating:
Summary: lovely
Review: If you've ever been to Venice and New Orleans, you'll love this book - not to say that it isn't lovely otherwise, but I found it marvelously evocative of place.

Rating:
Summary: "Sea" flows
Review: Jane Alison is excellent in her sophomore novel "Marriage of the Sea," a plotlessly beautiful tale of several people with lives that loosely intersect, based on love and longing. It's a beautiful, engrossing book with plenty of interesting characters and a lush prose style that is unforgettable.

Old, wealthy Oswaldo lives in a decayed house, reflecting on his aged body and lonely life, until he decides to create a "water villa" like nothing anyone has ever seen. Max travels from London to New Orleans to woo a beautiful woman he has fallen in love with, gets an American makeover, and puts on a spectacular Futurist banquet -- all to get her attention.

Sensitive artist Anton and his depressed wife Josephine struggle to have a child, even as Anton goes to Venice to work for Oswaldo on his "water villa." And Lach leaves his girlfriend Vera for the beautiful Italian Francesca, only to learn that Vera is also in Italy -- working on a portrait for Oswaldo. As the story unfolds, the lives of these friends, lovers and acquaintences mingle together.

Water is the center of this novel -- a sea-themed banquet, a water villa, mentions of levees and the Sargasso Sea. And "Marriage of the Sea" itself is like water -- going quickly from one story to another, mingling all of them together into one fluid mass that is always shifting around. There isn't much of a plot, nor much in the way of humor (except Max's pitiful efforts to impress Lucinde), but the half-dozen subplots serve to keep it afloat.

At first glance, Alison's view of New Orleans and Venice don't have much in common besides water. But as "Marriage" progresses we see that they share a sense of genteel decay, with the boarded-up ballrooms and decrepit villas sinking into the sea. Her sense of atmosphere is outstanding, recalling A.S. Byatt at her best; the entire book has a sort of liquid, murky feel.

And the characters are, if not well-rounded, then engagingly realistic -- the confused, artistic Anton, the depressed Josephine, the puppy-like Max, and the creepy Lach. Each one is searching for something -- a lover, a home, a baby -- and Alison draws us into their respective quests without making them pathetic.

Jane Alison's "Marriage of the Sea" is a liquid, languid journey to New Orleans and Venice, with a dash of dark humor and some mild tragedy. A beautifully-written second novel.

Rating:
Summary: "Sea" flows
Review: Jane Alison is excellent in her sophomore novel "Marriage of the Sea," a plotlessly beautiful tale of several people with lives that loosely intersect, based on love and longing. It's a beautiful, engrossing book with plenty of interesting characters and a lush prose style that is unforgettable.

Old, wealthy Oswaldo lives in a decayed house, reflecting on his aged body and lonely life, until he decides to create a "water villa" like nothing anyone has ever seen. Max travels from London to New Orleans to woo a beautiful woman he has fallen in love with, gets an American makeover, and puts on a spectacular Futurist banquet -- all to get her attention.

Sensitive artist Anton and his depressed wife Josephine struggle to have a child, even as Anton goes to Venice to work for Oswaldo on his "water villa." And Lach leaves his girlfriend Vera for the beautiful Italian Francesca, only to learn that Vera is also in Italy -- working on a portrait for Oswaldo. As the story unfolds, the lives of these friends, lovers and acquaintences mingle together.

Water is the center of this novel -- a sea-themed banquet, a water villa, mentions of levees and the Sargasso Sea. And "Marriage of the Sea" itself is like water -- going quickly from one story to another, mingling all of them together into one fluid mass that is always shifting around. There isn't much of a plot, nor much in the way of humor (except Max's pitiful efforts to impress Lucinde), but the half-dozen subplots serve to keep it afloat.

At first glance, Alison's view of New Orleans and Venice don't have much in common besides water. But as "Marriage" progresses we see that they share a sense of genteel decay, with the boarded-up ballrooms and decrepit villas sinking into the sea. Her sense of atmosphere is outstanding, recalling A.S. Byatt at her best; the entire book has a sort of liquid, murky feel.

And the characters are, if not well-rounded, then engagingly realistic -- the confused, artistic Anton, the depressed Josephine, the puppy-like Max, and the creepy Lach. Each one is searching for something -- a lover, a home, a baby -- and Alison draws us into their respective quests without making them pathetic.

Jane Alison's "Marriage of the Sea" is a liquid, languid journey to New Orleans and Venice, with a dash of dark humor and some mild tragedy. A beautifully-written second novel.

Rating:
Summary: Not Enough Character Development
Review: Jane Alison writes beautiful prose, there's no doubt about that, but I thought her debut novel, THE LOVE ARTIST, lacked cohesion in its plot as well as complex characterization and I can see those same problems in her second novel, THE MARRIAGE OF THE SEA. The same elegant, beautiful prose is there but so is the lack of a central throughline.

THE MARRIAGE OF THE SEA centers around seven characters, all with various obsessions. I find that many of today's authors aren't good at handling a large cast of characters and, unfortunately, Alison belongs to the large group who can't...at least not yet. As in THE LOVE ARTIST, she lavishes most of her attention on the setting, which makes for pretty reading but a far less than engaging story. Lovely details and vivid descriptions are necessary, of course, but people are really interested in...people...and when a book emphasizes setting over character, it simply isn't going to be memorable.

I'm not saying Alison's characters are "bad" creations...they're not. But they recede to the background far too often while Alison veers off into flights of rapturous description about their surroundings instead. I enjoyed reading the description, but I really wanted to know more about the characters and their thoughts and feelings. I wanted Alison to "make me care" and she just didn't.

Another thing I didn't like about this book was the connection Alison tried to establish between Venice and New Orleans. Yes, both of these cities are set upon a body of water, but there the similarity ends. Venice and New Orleans are so different in character that they clash rather then compliment or even contrast. They make the book seem at odds with itself.

Most of the seven characters in THE MARRIAGE OF THE SEA are moving back and forth between New Orleans and Venice, but not in a very believable way. And, the characters simply don't share enough connections to make this an engaging book. I also think the period of time covered in the novel--an autumn, a winter and a spring--is far too long. There isn't much story tension in these diaparate stories to begin with, but what little there is is dissipated even further by the long time span of the novel.

Alison has chosen to tell her story from different points of view. She does shift from one point of view to another with great fluidity, but she doesn't seem to really "know" her characters. Their actions and reactions and, especially, their motivations, really aren't clear. This made the book far more frustrating than engaging and it made me dislike the characters as well, especially Josephine. I finally didn't care if Josephine made it from one day of her pregnancy to the next or not.

Alison has filled her book with fascinating details such as the history of the color crimson, and, they were very, very interesting to read and added much depth to the story. But...fascinating details and beautiful prose don't make an engaging story when the author has failed to develop her characters. I found this same lack of character development in THE LOVE ARTIST. Alison can write beautiful prose; I just hope she learns the necessity of lavishing as much attention on her characters as she does on her setting. Until she does, she won't be able to write a book that is truly memorable.

I really can't recommend THE MARRIAGE OF THE SEA. It simply isn't engaging enough. Two stars for the fluid, beautiful prose. That's it.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, compelling, heartbreaking
Review: Once again, Jane Alison's poetic, nuanced prose enchants the reader in this, her second novel. As in The Love-Artist, her themes include the meaning of creation, the quest for immortality, the nature of art, the power of the bonds between lovers. Here, however, she sets her tales in several waterfront cities, primarily Venice and New Orleans, and handles those themes and others in a modern context. One character, boating across the lagoon of Venice, "thought about all that had once sailed here from over the waters: vermilion, serpentine, lapis lazuli, and silk that would sometimes be so subtly woven as to have the look of the sea, moire, or to sparkle like the paths of fireflies."
The novel works almost like a minuet, with the stories of several characters who exchange partners with each other, seizing or relinquishing creative and emotional ties as the tide seizes and relinquishes treasures or trash from the sea. Alison's exploration of creative effort and agony is complex and moving. This book was highly praised in the New York Times Book Review and was listed in that publication's And Bear In Mind column (editors' choices of recent books of particular interest). I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: A soft little...wow...as subtle as the surge of the sea
Review: Powerful and lyrical tale told with admirable restraint and understatement. Hints and innuendo propel the six characters of The Marriage of the Sea between the two irresistibly romantic settings of Venice and New Orleans as fluidly as a sleek sailboat upon the waves. This ornate and complex novel explores aging and decay (physical, spiritual, and architectural), marriage, barrenness in its many manifestations, lonliness, and the complex nature of relationships.
A piece of writing as finely drawn as the lines of Venitian canals and as richly layered as the levels of New Orleans society.
A winner. May Jane Alison write many more this good.

Rating:
Summary: lovely
Review: The Marriage of the Sea is a very well written novel about love and coincidence in contemporary Venice and New Orleans. The novel has a wonderful flow, and moves back and forth among a number of characters all in search of some relationship-related satisfaction while all chasing satisfaction with careers. This is a quick, compelling read without much of a plot. The beauty of the novel lies rather in the crisp, fresh writing. This evocative novel has a certain timelessness to it that makes it a wonderful read. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Love and Coincidence
Review: The Marriage of the Sea is a very well written novel about love and coincidence in contemporary Venice and New Orleans. The novel has a wonderful flow, and moves back and forth among a number of characters all in search of some relationship-related satisfaction while all chasing satisfaction with careers. This is a quick, compelling read without much of a plot. The beauty of the novel lies rather in the crisp, fresh writing. This evocative novel has a certain timelessness to it that makes it a wonderful read. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Fresh and Compelling
Review: This novel, the author's second, scores because it is intelligent, fresh in its characters and settings, broad and deep in the themes it explores, and tantalizingly under-written. So much is left unsaid, because the reader already knows--from the questions the characters ask themselves, to their gestures, to the way one would feel in the same place. There are Lachlan and Vera, artists drawn to Venice, and a couple until Lach experiments with Francesca, only to discover her flaws later; Anton and Josephine, who met by accident, but have little holding them together; Max, who is desperate to love, and Lucinde, incapable of love. And the incomparable Oswaldo, the patron, whose fancies power so much of the others' frustrations.

This is a wonderful novel. The pairing of New Orleans and Venice is brilliant, as is the use of the sea throughout, encroaching on everything, stranding us occasionally, always returning.