Beyond the Sea

[This] stark, mesmerizing book reads like an existential argument between [life's] irreconcilable truths, a Beckett play bobbing in the open water . . . this fine book contains multitudes of experience. --Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

[Bolivar and Hector] build a friendship that is artfully portrayed by Lynch, who resists the temptation to romanticize their connection, instead spotlighting its volatility, fractiousness and intensity . . . [Beyond the Sea] articulates Lynch's literary preoccupations striking clarity . . . its pages are alive with elegance and insight. --Oliver Eagleton, TLS

I highly recommend Paul Lynch's stunning Beyond the Sea, another tour de force from the Limerick man." --Donal Ryan, Irish Examiner

Lynch demonstrates a control over his ideas that comes from a pure lyrical telling, a speech act that, if you let it, will take you anywhere. Beyond the Sea is frightening but beautiful. --M John Harrison, The Guardian

[Lynch's] novels are artistic creations... Lynch's concern is not only the minutiae of survival or men battling the elements, although his account of these is exciting and persuasive. His main interest lies in the existential struggle within: how men handle themselves in extremis... His fourth novel has echoes of Melville, Dostoyevsky and William Golding. --The Sunday Times (London)

[Lynch] uses brevity to keep the heat on, in terms of emotion and drama. At the same time, the narrative carries considerable intellectual weight; brevity here does not translate to fast and easy reading. On the contrary--the prose, while fluid, is packed with enough ideas to make you want to pause and reflect after every section, as when reading poetry. --Matt Walker, The Rumpus

Lynch manages to transform a news story into a universal tale of friendship and endurance and love . . . Beyond the Sea is elemental. It is a story sliced to the bone. It compels the reader to look unblinkingly at matters of life and death, at the heart of what it means to be fully human. --Michael Pearson, New York Journal of Books

This is a book that will leave you feeling thoroughly wrung out by the final page, but also happy to be alive." -- Roger Cox, The Scotsman

"A lucid, lyrical tale... Lynch's spare and precise novel has a detached, almost mythical quality." --The Irish Times

Paul Lynch is one of our greatest writers, and Beyond the Sea is his best work yet. A sublime, elemental, fever dream of a novel that constantly tests us, tempts us, and guides us. This is a work of art that relentlessly and slyly captures not only the trials of the human spirit, but what we are doing to our environment, our world, and to each other--a profound, unforgettable journey, one I urge you to experience.--Paul Yoon, author of The Mountain

"Beyond the Sea sets us adrift in the unbounded ocean and stuns us with beautiful, fierce insights. After the familiar world has receded and the stories we tell ourselves have dissolved, we are left to confront our barest fears and self-accusations. Paul Lynch submerges us in the wildness of our own minds; I resurfaced changed." --Chia-Chia Lin, author of The Unpassing

"Combining the sensibilities of a Joseph Conrad or a Cormac McCarthy with the poetic intensity of an Emily Dickinson, this rich, raw, and powerful seascape by Paul Lynch throws the sea's storms and the sea's light into the darkest corners of human consciousness. An astonishing achievement." -Jane Urquhart, author of The Night Stages

"A powerful, heart-breaking story of friendship forged in the most extreme conditions. With its echoes of Greek myth, it yields up those small moments of grace that are deeply transformative." --Mary Costello, author of Academy Street