The Prestige by Christopher Priest Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Prestige
Book Review: Devious Secrets!
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband and I got two copies of this book because we had seen the movie and both fell in love with it -- so much so that we still debate and discuss aspects of it almost daily months later. If the movie managed to be intricate, complex, devious, and enjoyable, we wondered, what must the book be like?
Honestly, without giving things away, it's hard to compare them. Both are accounts of rival magicians at the turn of the century -- two determined men vying to outdo each other, interfering with each others' acts, stealing each others' secrets. But all that says so little! Both harbor one huge secret -- one astounding and mind-boggling, one fantastic (in the original sense of the word) and horrific. Now, having seen the movie, I was prepared for both secrets -- and they still astounded and sickened me! That is the power of Mr. Priest's writing.
The tone of the book is hard to pinpoint. It is told mostly through the journals of the two magicians with some fill-ins by modern-day descendants. It has a gloomy, dream-like feel, like the old Gothic novels. This is partly due, I'm sure, to the secrecy inherent in magicians and the nature of the Victorian time period, where most of the action takes place. Despite the lack of physical descriptions (after all, why would a man journal about his own hair color or how his living room is decorated?) the book still manages to have a sincere sense of period -- there is nothing to indicate that the journal entries were written by a modern writer, and not a 19th century stage magician. One caveat, however: The book is sometimes like a troubled Ferrari. It is hard to start and sometimes stalls out. It took me two false tries before I really got into the book, but once I was into it -- man, was I flying! Then, after awhile, it felt like the engine stuttered and I skidded to a stop. I would pick up the book, read a few sentences, put it down, pick it up again. However, once past the bumps, the book flew gracefully and elegantly towards the crash the reader knows is coming.
And yes, you know that there's tragedy waiting -- perhaps because of the way the two magicians fight with each other, both in the book and on film. I've never seen a book and movie so alike and dissimilar at the same time! The movie changed things many movies do: marital status (married with kids vs widowed), time stream (25ish years vs 10-12 max); but some of the changes are astounding in the way they affected me. In the movie, Borden was the sympathetic character. Malicious, yes, but non-violent and often a victim of crueler things. As an opposite, Angier was rarely seen in a good light. In the book, both are equal in their cruelty and violence and mistakes, but, despite the disgusting nature of his final "illusion", I find Angier to be the more sympathetic character in the book. My husband disagrees. More debating!
It's going to be awhile before I reread this one, but I will. I can only recommend this book to the patient and intelligent readers out there. If you want a fluffy, meaningless book that doesn't tax the brainpower -- look elsewhere! If you want to be taken on a macabre journey through the minds of two extraordinary men - and spend hours debating with other readers about nuances - go get it!
Despite the stalling -- or maybe because the rest was compelling enough to keep me going -- 5 stars.
Book Review: Didn't deliver...
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this book to delve deeper into the plot from the movie. Sadly, the movie had a better developed story than the book. The main difference was the use of a very poor frame around a few diaries. The diaries felt too contrived and a lot of the magic crossed the thin line between plausable fantasy and the rediculus. It kept my interest for most of the book mainly because I kept hoping something better was coming up.Book Review: Different and enjoyable
Summary: 4 Stars
I wasn't really sure what to expect coming into this book. The blurbs on the back are kind of vague, but the positive reviews got me to pick it up. Now I understand why the cover blurb is so vague: it is very difficult to describe the plot of this book. The most general way, without giving away too much, would be to explain that it is the story of two stage magicians in turn of the century (the last century, that is: 1900) England who end up in a feud that escalates in unexpected directions. At the heart of the novel is a mystery, one which the reader is not fully revealed until the last 50 pages of the book. This book won the World Fantasy Award, but I found that it leans more towards sci-fi rather than fantasy. It's sci-fi written in a style that is reminiscent of HG Wells which, considering the time period in which the majority of the book takes place, adds to the flavor of the story.What drives the book forward is its interesting characters. Throughout the book, the reader encounters four (possibly five, depending on how you look at it) narrators, all told in the first person, be it standard first person narration or from diary entries. On top of this, two of the narrators live in the late 19th century while the other two are from the present day, which serves to heighten the central mystery. Priest does an excellent job of giving each character their own voice and motivations.
As the feud between the two characters living in the 1880s escalates, the reader feels directly involved in the rising tensions and the desparate race of each man to uncover the other's secrets. We also see how this affects the narrators in the present day who happen to be descendants of the earlier two. While the plot itself is carefully unfolded throughout the book, the payoff in the reveal of the secret suddenly jumps out at the reader as the book begins to wind down. Unfortunately, I got the impression that the book ended before the story of the two modern narrators was finished. I would have liked that story to be tied up a bit more neatly. Here we have this big reveal to the two descendants, but then not much is done with it.
All in all, however, this is a very worthwhile book. I enjoyed the atmosphere that Priest created and was thoroughly engaged by the characters. If you're looking for something different than the standard fantasy fare on the shelves, this book will definitely sate you.
Book Review: Do you want the REAL story? [...]
Summary: 4 Stars
Want to know what really started the feud between the two magicians?
Would you like to know the truth about Tesla's machine?
This book is written from the point of view of two of the descendants of the magicians who are going through old papers belonging to one of the magicians and end up reading diaries left behind by each magician telling their side of the story. Even if you have seen the movie adapted from this book you will find this book to be a good read because the complicated details of the book are very different from the simplified movie and the ending is COMPLETELY different in this book.
Book Review: Enjoyable (even after watched the movie first)
Summary: 5 Stars
I like the movie made from this novel so much that I had to read the original novel. I have to admit that I am not a regular reader, but this novel is so well written (the language, the story) that once I started reading it, I didn't want to stop.
To those who watched the movie but haven't read the book -- the two are different in many ways and both are equally genius! I was kept being surprised since I was expecting the same plot from the book as I saw in the movie. I was satisfied when I finished the reading, and had the extra joy of comparing the movie and the book.
Go get this book!