The novel won the Booker Prize for 2005. The selection of "The Sea" for the Booker Prize was a satisfying victory for Banville, as his novel "The Book of Evidence" was shortlisted in 1989 but lost to "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro. Ishiguro was again on the shortlist in 2005 with his novel "Never Let Me Go". In fact it was reported in "The Times" that they had whittled the shortlist down to those two novels and it was only the chair John Sutherland's casting vote that decided the winner. The choice of Banville as winner of the award was not seen as a populist choice, causing Banville to ponder: "If they give me the bloody prize, why can't they say nice things about me?" Banville's surprise win was described by Boyd Tonkin as "possibly the most perverse decision in the history of the award", though others defended the choice, citing the lyrical, stylistic prose as making the book worthy of the award.