Compare and Contrast: "The Sea, The Sea" and "If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things"

This week I’ve read two very different books, “The Sea, The Sea” by Iris Murdoch and “If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things” by Jon McGregor.

“The Sea, The Sea” was set on the English coast, populated with eccentric characters from the theatre world and was written in the 1970s. It is told entirely from the point of view of one character. “If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things” is set in what sounds like a northern industrial town, populated with students and “ordinary” working class people and was written and set early this decade. It is told from various view points.

So on the surface they were very different books, but when I finished them both, I realised that they both had a similar ending, based around the same idea.



[SPOILER ALERT – DON’T READ IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW HOW THESE BOOKS END]




In “The Sea, The Sea”, James, the cousin of the narrator Charles, saves Charles from drowning using what he describes as a Buddhist ‘trick’ but this leaves him drained and he dies. In “If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things”, the boy from number 18 runs to try to save the child, but get there too late, however he goes back to his house and starts to die. At the same time, the child miraculously recovers in the ambulance, so the boy from number 18 has sacrificed his life in return for the child’s in much the same way that James did for Charles.