The Prestige by Christopher Priest Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Prestige
Book Review: Bad technique mars good story.
Summary: 2 Stars
I have no fault with the author's imagination. The plot outline (a generations-long magicians' feud laced with hints of the fantastic) is compelling, and I also don't fault Mr. Priest for his development of the narrative. However, in reading the novel I couldn't overlook what I thought were serious defects in the technique that detracted from my enjoyment of the plot.Priest takes the risky step of using the supposed memoirs and diaries of the two principal magicians as the vehicle for the story development. This allows him to try his hand at two different voices with sometimes distorted perspectives. These "source materials" ostensibly date from the 1870's-1900's. Unfortunately, his execution of this device was, in my opinion, wretched.
My main criticism is that Priest makes no attempt whatsoever (that I can discern) to bring ANY authenticity to his source materials. The memoir and diaries read like a 1990s author trying (but not very hard) to sound like a real, honest late-Victorian Briton. There are on average at least a dozen anachronisms in language, usage and historical material on every page. I'm sure Priest did a lot of research into the development of magic and illusionists, but he certainly didn't do any research into Victorian writing. I hope the next time he tries this technique, he buys a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary to lend some authenticity to his efforts. Otherwise, what's the point?
In addition, the diaries, in particular, are almost laughably unlike any real person's diary--they contain long word-for-word extracts of conversations, almost always end with melodramatic climaxes, and never seem to allude to any mundane details of the diarist's life.
I wouldn't be so critical of Priest's use of the historical first person devices if they didn't occupy 80% of the novel. Since they do, and since I couldn't overlook the fundamental problems in presentation, I can't award this book any points for execution. Just some points for excellence of plot.
Book Review: Beautifuly written victorian revenge story of two battling nagicians.
Summary: 2 Stars
... until two thirds of the way through it limps on withouit a credible resolution and turns in to a cross between Star Trek, Dead Ringers and The Invisible Man. With a better 3rd act this could have been great. The guy can write.Book Review: Brilliant but uneven
Summary: 4 Stars
Priest does almost everything right in this novel. But as with the prestige that is one of the central themes, the novel depends on the author playing a game of peek-a-boo with the reader. Just as the protaganists torment each other with the ultimate secret of the others tricks, the force that drove this reader onwards was curiousity as to exactly how the author would explain everything. And, I think, the final explanation and the resolution, horrific and effective as it was, was a let down. Part of the problem is that the book can be broken down into two different narrative halves each going over the same period of time and events. Unfortunately, the different halves seem to belong to different genres. The first half and the gradual revelation of the sacrifices the magician has to make for the sake of his act can be roughly described as a realistic, impressively imagined, well researched, semi-historical drama. This led me to expect that the second half would continue on the same vein and the seemingly supernatural occurences would be revealed to be the result of a particularly clever illusion. Instead, the second half is an almost straight forward horror story. Of course it was an effective horror story and one I would have been happy to read but compared to the first half, it lacked conviction. Overall, Priest has written an atmospheric, chilling novel with full blooded characters. But it could have been more.Book Review: Carter beats this too.
Summary: 2 Stars
Compared to the longer, denser 'Carter Beats The Devil', this, somehow, is a plod. While Glen Gold's box of tricks manages to immerse the reader in the charms of a bygone age of stage magic, Priest slogs away with a writing style that's either intentionally stiff or simply soporific. Sure, there's a whiff of metaphor here, a moment of meta-fiction there. But for all the ideas that Priest manages to unearth, from questions of identity and masquerade to Rashamon-like "truth", he'd have been better off handing off an outline to a writer who could make the thing sizzle on the page. This splutters. The writing style may be excused as presumably consistent with the era Priest is trying to evoke. But the modern day introduction, told from the perspective of one Andrew Westley, is amateurish. A cardboard narrator who deserves to be pulped. There are some intriguing notions here and there in The Prestige, but it's determinedly dull in places. A disappointing "recommendation" that I didn't particularly hate, but would have gladly done without. Fans of 'Carter...' would be advised not to bother. Those who've missed 'Carter...' should skip past this and not look back.Book Review: Couldn't put it down
Summary: 4 Stars
Like other reviewers here, I saw the movie first and was then prompted to read the original book. But I wanted to read the book because I felt like the movie had a good backbone it just really lacked in presentation and character development. After reading the book I can see why. The movie is an extremely loose adaptation.
The novel starts off in present day with a Borden descendant discovering his heritage for the first time in a memoir about the magician Alfred Borden. From here we go on to actually read the Borden memoir. There is a brief interlude of present-day story, and then we go on to read another memoir, this one by Borden's nemesis, Rupert Angier, another magician.
The way the story flows allows for multiple realizations by the reader. (And don't worry about knowing some of the secrets if you've already seen the movie, the book is different enough that nothing will be ruined. In fact it will actually be helpful because you'll see how obviously everything is laid out before you).
What the book also accomplishes is a very well-developed exploration of the theme of duality and human nature. While the movie may have attempted to express this, none of the characters were explored enough to really give the idea gravity. In the book, as we read the intimate details of each man's journal, and discover many of their secrets and experiences, we see what obsession and resentment and bitterness can do to people.
The ending is a bit sudden and definitely not as compelling as the rest of the book, but The Prestige still packs a big punch and is one of those enjoyable reads that you just can't put down. If you're at all interested, check this book out today. You won't be sorry.