Ocean Sea (novel)

Ocean Sea

Author	Alessandro Baricco
Original title	Oceano mare
Translator	Alastair McEwen
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Publisher	Rizzoli editore
Publication date	1993
Published in English	1999
Pages	226
ISBN	88-17-66043-4

Ocean Sea (Italian: Oceano marecode: it is deprecated ) is a 1993 novel by the Italian writer Alessandro Baricco. Its narrative revolves around the lives of a group of people gathered at a remote seaside hotel. The novel won the Viareggio Prize.

Reception

Richard Bernstein reviewed the book for The New York Times, and wrote: "Ocean Sea unfolds in its poetically elliptical way. Mr. Baricco is a literary cubist, a stylist who looks simultaneously at the several sides of things. He switches from one rhetorical mode to another, from a kind of symbolist poetry to grand adventure narrative to picaresque comedy." Bernstein continued: "This style of writing can be precious, artificial, a kind of verbal craftsmanship for craftsmanship's sake, but generally I read Ocean Sea transfixed by Mr. Baricco's linguistic originality, the boisterousness of his characters, and the skill with which he weaves the threads of a seemingly disjointed plot into a single narrative strand." Tom Boncza-Tomaszewski of The Independent called the book an "extraordinary novel", and wrote: "A book about being, metaphysics juggled like the best trick of a wise old clown, this is a novel that at least suggests there's more to life than what any rationalist would tell you."

See also

• 1993 in literature
• Italian literature