bgg616's review against another edition
5.0
Banville is an exquisite writer. This story is sad, and somewhat disturbing, but Banville's prose gets better and better.
hakocon's review against another edition
3.0
In John Banville's typical style, the book is eloquent and lyrical. His writing style might be off-putting to some, but I generally find it magical and it draws me into the novel and it's characters.
While I love the style of this book, the jury is still out on the content. There are two main story lines, one of which I'm not sure has a place in the book--the scenes seem to come from nowhere and I was always looking forward to them ending.
If you're a die-hard Banville fan (or like similar styles), you'll enjoy the book, even if you have to ask yourself why. If you're not, skip it.
While I love the style of this book, the jury is still out on the content. There are two main story lines, one of which I'm not sure has a place in the book--the scenes seem to come from nowhere and I was always looking forward to them ending.
If you're a die-hard Banville fan (or like similar styles), you'll enjoy the book, even if you have to ask yourself why. If you're not, skip it.
shelfimprovement's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I wonder if I'd have appreciated it more if I had realized that there were two other books dealing with the characters already out there -- I didn't know until I started skimming other reviews just today. Shame, as I wish I could have had the opportunity to fully appreciate this one.
Ancient Light is about Alexander Cleave, an aging actor who is offered a role in a film about a mysterious writer, Axel Vander, at the same time he is reminiscing about the scandalous affair he engaged in with his best friend's mother when he was 15. John Banville writes very elegant, almost languorous prose. There is very little plot movement, and what does happen moves very slowly. Instead, there is a lot of reminiscing and connecting ideas. As I was reading, all I could think was that Michael Chabon needs to take a lesson from John Banville on how to write long, meandering sentences that don't lost their coherence. I'm not a huge, huge fan of stream-of-consciousness narration but it's obvious to me that Banville took a lot of time with his word choices and sentence structure.
However, I started to get bored. I wanted Banville to do a little more to connect the fifty-years-ago affair with the present day moving making, and it just wasn't coming together for me. In many ways, this one reminded me of The Sense of An Ending, my final book of 2011. Both feature older men looking back on significant events of their youth and trying to unravel the contradictions between memory and history, personal experience and the truth. While both novels were very introspective, I think Barnes's brevity worked better for me. Even though Ancient Light is a relatively brief 300 pages, it often felt like it was considerably more.
Maybe I'll give the older books a try and then revisit this one, if I'm ever at a loss for fresh material. As it stands, though, this one nestles right into the middle of my ratings, well-written and thoughtful but just too slow to completely engage me.
Ancient Light is about Alexander Cleave, an aging actor who is offered a role in a film about a mysterious writer, Axel Vander, at the same time he is reminiscing about the scandalous affair he engaged in with his best friend's mother when he was 15. John Banville writes very elegant, almost languorous prose. There is very little plot movement, and what does happen moves very slowly. Instead, there is a lot of reminiscing and connecting ideas. As I was reading, all I could think was that Michael Chabon needs to take a lesson from John Banville on how to write long, meandering sentences that don't lost their coherence. I'm not a huge, huge fan of stream-of-consciousness narration but it's obvious to me that Banville took a lot of time with his word choices and sentence structure.
However, I started to get bored. I wanted Banville to do a little more to connect the fifty-years-ago affair with the present day moving making, and it just wasn't coming together for me. In many ways, this one reminded me of The Sense of An Ending, my final book of 2011. Both feature older men looking back on significant events of their youth and trying to unravel the contradictions between memory and history, personal experience and the truth. While both novels were very introspective, I think Barnes's brevity worked better for me. Even though Ancient Light is a relatively brief 300 pages, it often felt like it was considerably more.
Maybe I'll give the older books a try and then revisit this one, if I'm ever at a loss for fresh material. As it stands, though, this one nestles right into the middle of my ratings, well-written and thoughtful but just too slow to completely engage me.
lexib_'s review
dark
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
jfl's review
4.0
John Banville’s Ancient Lightwill find resonance certainly among those people on the declining side of life. It is a vivid confirmation of the potentially restorative power of defective memory.
deea_bks's review against another edition
4.0
I totally loved this book. I would give it 4stars though I liked "The Sea" more. I really like Banville's style...he really has a knack for creating very plastic and suggestive images and his humor is one of a kind.
morethanmylupus's review against another edition
1.0
This book just didn't live up to the reviews I read about it.
The story is supposed to be about a man remembering his first (and possibly only) love back in his teenage years. A woman approximately twice his age.
The story, unfortunately, just didn't hold my attention. Alex remembers his affair. At 60-something years old, he's asked to act in a movie after a life career on the stage. There isn't much told about this new life situation. His co-star so he takes her to Italy where his daughter
The book's prose was overly flowery, but it couldn't make up for the lack of plot. None of the characters are well-developed.
Boring.
The story is supposed to be about a man remembering his first (and possibly only) love back in his teenage years. A woman approximately twice his age.
The story, unfortunately, just didn't hold my attention. Alex remembers his affair. At 60-something years old, he's asked to act in a movie after a life career on the stage. There isn't much told about this new life situation. His co-star
Spoiler
tries to commit suicideSpoiler
was more successful in her own attempt. (We never find out why.)The book's prose was overly flowery, but it couldn't make up for the lack of plot. None of the characters are well-developed.
Boring.
wordnerdy's review against another edition
3.0
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2012/09/2012-book-260.html
dvalk's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0