The Prestige by Christopher Priest Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Prestige
Book Review: Kept me going . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
so I had to finish it quickly!
Usually books that are un-put-down-able get five stars, but I didn't quite get that nineteenth century feel to the book that I thought. Also I didn't quite understand the ending.
Some readers might figure it out before the book gives the secret(s) away, but I didn't.
Now I can't wait to see the movie!
Book Review: Magical Story
Summary: 4 Stars
Monday, January 01, 2007
"The Prestige" by Christopher Priest, ©1995
I was impressed by the style of this book. It was arranged in a sort of odd way, though, on reflection, it really was a good way to present the material.
The story was of a newspaperman being sent out out on an 'human interest' story, finding that the story was a red herring to gets him out to see this Lady. She and he had not known each other before, except for a brief afternoon, when he was too little to remember it, and she was not much older. Both of their grandfathers were magicians in the late 1800's through the early 1900's. There was bit of misunderstanding, a lot of rivalry and bad blood between these two magicians. At first the one is the hero, or good magician and the other is the bad guy. Then, as his side is told, you realize there were some good reasons for the bad guy's actions. Anyone would have felt that way. It gets to be a rather fanciful way of dealing with transportation and transformation.
In the end the 'human interest' was the newspaperman, himself.
Book Review: More about the spirit than the movie version
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw the movie version first, which is a stunning work of cinema by director Christopher Nolan, and that led me back to the source material by Christopher Priest. This novel is an engaging bit of storytelling even though most will agree it meanders when compared with the movie. Studying them together is a good master's class on the differences between the mediums.
The story of The Prestige is the story of the rivalry between two magicians, Borden and Angier, obsessed with the craft, and their journal entries often serve as the narration. The book has more room to explore and frame the story around the family legacies of the two men, and it also dives deeply into the turn-of-the-century interest in spiritism, which is absent from the film.
Book Review: Not great writing...but a great premise
Summary: 3 Stars
Granted, I come to this as a result of having seen the film adaptation. (In fact, the very act of adaptation is what compelled me to read it, not the novel itself in a standalone sense.) And therefore, no matter how I've endeavoured to be objective, have found it wanting.
It's a book from a genre I don't normally read, but it was enjoyable. I guess my chief complaint would be that its telling wasn't up to the premise. It was stylistically done, with great verve and a certain amount of Victorian sensibility about it, but in the end, it wasn't the 'great read' I felt it could have been, had perhaps Caleb Carr written it.
Now, if you want to talk about what I felt of the adaptation to film by the Nolan brothers...
Book Review: One of the rare cases where a film exceeds a book
Summary: 3 Stars
This is one of the rare cases where a film exceeds a book. The film tightened plot, focused more on the rivalry, and wisely cut the present-day framing. As the book stands, it comes across as a run-of-the-mill gothic horror, with a touch of the H. P. Lovecraft. There are occasional goosebumps, but, as the film shows, the story could used one more revision.
Don't get me wrong, there are strengths. Priest is a marvel at changing his voice. Borden's and Angier's voices are distinct--lower class versus the aristocrat. As another reviewer noted, unlike actual 19th über-flowery, über -tedious prose, Priest is very readable.
I also found reading the contrasting journals a particular delight. This is what history is really like--each person with their own point of view. It is this person-relative perspective that drives the world. This is why we should not judge unrighteously--we have a limited assessment of the facts. And, sometimes, there are no heroes.
SPOILER: Take the climax, where Borden stops the IN A FLASH machine mid-transit. Objectively, this was just a terrible accident. But the events that lead up to the accident were not. Like a classic Greek tragedy, this book has no heroes. Both Borden and Angier start out as loudmouth punks (rudely debunking versus the crackpot letters), their pride being a poor cover for callowness. And you know full well that they loved their rivalry. In sum, Borden seems the nastier: in March 1896 and further on, Borden does a series of sabotages, overstating his point. And the water-tank is unpardonable.
The ending is classic--even vintage--gothic horror. There is always a beast lurking in the hidden room, symbolic of the hidden corner of our hearts. But this maybe the books weakness--it aims too low. Instead of tightly focusing on the rivalry, a GREAT, COSMIC, ETERNAL TRUTH, Priest leaves us with a lowball bunt.