The Prestige by Christopher Priest
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Book Reviews of The Prestige
Book Review: Different from the movie
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this before seeing the movie of the same name. The book is a little more subtle, although the movie did get rid of an unnecessary framing device.Book Review: Save Your Time and See the Film
Summary: 3 Stars
As someone with an interest in the adaptation of books and stories into films, I often read a book and then watch the movie or movies to see how various screenwriters have reshaped the material. In this instance, seeing the movie pushed me to finally read the book that had been sitting on my shelf for two years. One always hates to be a heretic, but this is one of the very rare cases where the movie improves on the original.
The premise of this World Fantasy Award-winning novel is certainly an intriguing one: two English magicians of the Victorian era, Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier, engage in a lifelong rivalry to outperform each other, a rivalry which at times leads to life-threatening sabotage. Their story is told partially from the modern perspective of their great-grandchildren, but mainly through their own diary entries. The narrative framework is the first area in which the film is a vast improvement. The modern storyline serves almost no purpose and the filmmakers wisely jettisoned it. Similarly, the diary entries are entirely unconvincing as Victorian documents, and play a much-subdued role in the film.
However, the main problem of the book is that the feud is never given much of a basis -- in other word, there are no stakes. The one fairly egregious act early on is done by Borden to Angier, but when Angier eventually turns the other cheek, Borden keeps at it. Indeed, the feud seems to periodically die off, only to inexplicably flare up again over the course of twenty years! The filmmakers recognized this problem and came up with a much more convincing back story to explain the start of the feud, and then very carefully calibrated its escalation over time.
Another problem the book has is that for the reader to really buy into the notion that these two magicians are obsessed with each other, the protagonists must be equals. However we learn much more about Angier than Borden, and indeed, while Angier is a bit of a schmuck, he comes off far more sympathetic than Borden. Again, the film does a much better job of making the two men equals in stature, and very different in nature. It also does a good job of streamlining their family lives, which are rather convoluted in the book.
There are plenty of other more mundane instances where the film comes out looking better. For example, in the book Angier consults with the real-life inventor Nicola iTesla. Tesla builds him an apparatus which can replicate matter, lectures Angier about how he should not use it to counterfeit currency, and then proceeds to abandon his lab due to bankruptcy! The film takes the much more interesting and plausible approach that Tesla disappears because Thomas Edison's goons have finally tracked him down and torch his lab. And ultimately, Priest commits the sin of making the story's two big twists all too obvious to the reader, thus removing any sense of wonder or suspense. Meanwhile, the film does a great job of holding off on revealing the twists until the last possible moment, and actually adds one or two.
Ultimately, it's hard to recommend the original book version of this tale -- with its clunky framework, poor pacing, uneven characterization, vague motivations, and tipping of its hand -- when the film version exists. Instead of spending six hours reading this, watch the movie and use the other four hours on another book.
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.
Book Review: Page Turner Disappointment
Summary: 3 Stars
I saw the movie and when I found out that it was based on a novel, I wanted to read the book because "The book is always better than the movie". Not in this case. Ultimately the movie and the book are quite different and they both are good. The movie is good *period* where the book starts out good and ends badly. I would agree with other reviewers that the current day characters and narration are unnecessary, they make up less than 1% of the story and are completely irrelevant to the core of the story. It almost seems like the author had a great idea for a story but the editor cut out everything but the back-story. The editor was right but should have kept cutting until only the period piece was left. The present day arc is just too thin to contain the mass that is the core of this tale. The ending was. I think that grammatically that is a sentence, but just barely. The ending was an ending principally because there was no more text included in the book. I looked for more text.... twice. Most abrupt. There was more meat left to pick off the bones but we didn't get any of it.Book Review: Very good book.
Summary: 3 Stars
Very good book. Although I saw the movie first, and so I knew some of the plot twists going in, the book was so well-written I still ended up enjoying it.
The book is actually quite different from the movie, including a whole sub-plot involving present-day descendents of the two main characters. The story is narrated first-person by several of the characters in succession. The highlight of the book is a series of diary entries by one of the characters that is quite well-crafted. It unfolds the way a real diary might, with gaps, abrupt changes of heart or circumstance, the character's convictions and doubts and emotions laid bare.
I'd have to say though that the movie upstaged the book it was based on (so to speak), and if I HAD to choose, I'd recommend it over the book. Still, I'd loan my paperback out to a friend who was looking for a good read.