The Untouchable (Vintage International)
by John Banville
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Read in June, 2008
This is the fictional account of Victor Maskell, a Brit who spied for the Soviet Union in the mid-20th century, but also was a respected art critic, military officer, code breaker, latent homosexual (at least until his 30s and thereafter when he settles into his sexual identity), and poor family man (married to a woman who admits she doesn't love him). It is based on the true account of Anthony Blunt, a member of the so-called Cambridge spies.
The book is a brilliant psychological and philoso...more
The book is a brilliant psychological and philoso...more
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Read in September, 2006
I enjoyed this book tremendously. John Banville has created in the character of Victor Maskell someone both complex and believable; the story is suspenseful, and his prose, as always, can only be described as both luminous and effortless. He describes his voyage to France early in the war: "The night was preternaturally calm, and our troopship, a converted steamer which before the outbreak of war had ferried day trippers between Wales and the Isle of Man, glided intently as a knife through ...more
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recommends it for:
Anyone that enjoys Vladimir Nabokov's writing.
Last year I started The Untouchable by John Banville and for some reason was bogged down in character names...some of main peripheral characters had several names that were thrown out all at once and I suppose at that time I was distracted, so I put the book aside.
I picked it up again last week and was immediately captured by Banville's prose. He has a way, like another author I could mention of making us see the real and human side of a verra nasty character. And make no mistake about it Vi...more
I picked it up again last week and was immediately captured by Banville's prose. He has a way, like another author I could mention of making us see the real and human side of a verra nasty character. And make no mistake about it Vi...more
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"Everybody nowadays disparages the 1950s, saying what a dreary decade it was—and they are right, if you think of McCarthyism, and Korea, the Hungarian rebellion, all that serious, history stuff; I suspect, however, that it is not public but private affairs that people are complaining of. Quite simply, I think they did not get enough of sex. All that fumbling with corsetry and woolen undergarments, all those grim couplings in the back seats of motor cars, the complaints and tears and resen...more
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The Untouchable starts out really pretentious. Victor Maskell almost gets run over and describes a resistance in the pockets of air around his ankles. In very turgid prose. I was like...what?
But as I read further, the pull of the story is gentle but undeniable. Set in London and alternately Cambridge between the First and Second World Wars, it seems to be all about those Cambridge band of boys and their firebrand liberalism that ended up making themselves traitors to good old Mother and ...more
But as I read further, the pull of the story is gentle but undeniable. Set in London and alternately Cambridge between the First and Second World Wars, it seems to be all about those Cambridge band of boys and their firebrand liberalism that ended up making themselves traitors to good old Mother and ...more
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Read in May, 2008
This book was a chore to read. It was slow, there was essentially no plot line, but rather it recounted the life of a double agent who was conflicted about his spy role, seemed to have no real convictions, drank too much and in the end was rather unlikeable. The story jumped back and forth in time, between Victor in the present, talking to his biographer, and the past. Most of the story took place during and around the time of WWII. Much of the story also revolved around the main characters e...more
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Banville is a beautiful writer. Because his books are dense, they are slow going and it took me almost 100 pages to get into the flow of this book. His story sticks fairly closely to the real story of the Cambridge spies, but has a more existential feel by having the main character both looking back on his life and describing the present. The irony of wealthy, upper class men claiming to be socialists and yet living the decadent lives they lived is not lost. I think it is a good description...more
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recommends it for:
a certain sort of Anglophile
An acidic roman à clef about a Cambridge art historian who, despite tepid ideological convictions, is recruited to spy for Moscow. Banville's novel is perfect for that particular variety of Anglophile fascinated by the trappings of the era between the Armistice and the evacuation of Dunkirk--tweedy propriety, Bletchly Park, public school homosexuality, and, of course, treason. Banville does it perfectly.
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I'm 100 pages in and frankly I'd rather be watching James Fox in A Question of Attribution. Or Rupert Everett in Another Country. When does an homage become plagiarism, I wonder? It's all very well done, very clever, but I find I simply do not care. About the characters or the story.
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Read in June, 2002
This is one of my favorite books ever. It's beautifully written, about a gay, Irish man who acted as a spy for Russians during the second World War. Really fascinating, and for anyone who loves descriptions of the U.K., very powerful.
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Read in May, 2008
Just kind of had trouble with this. I mean to get back to it, but it's one of those good intentions that will probably not happen. A bit stiff, maybe a little -- false? Wasn't told well enough to completely hold my interest.
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Read in February, 2008
A novel of the Cambridge Spies. Excellent, and strongly reminiscent of the whole Philby saga of the mid 50's.
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Probably the best book by a contemporary writer of fiction. I probably like it best, though, because I met the author at my friend's wedding and he told me that I was a fantastic dancer.
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Based on the first 80 or so pages, this is going to be amazing! A fascinating narrator, a compelling story (about the Cambridge spies), and an incredible gift for language.
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Read in February, 2004
Nearly a perfect novel--perfect mastery of lst person voice--wonderfully dense and poetic language--superbly evocative of the thirties, forties & fifties
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Read in January, 2008
very british spy circa 1940. The references were to obscure for me....you need to either be British or really old to get this book.
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Read in April, 2008
I'm over John Banville. I didn't like our book club book, Book of Evidence, and I really couldn't get into The Untouchable.
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Spies in WWII mixed with Henry Green-esque social interactions.
The best spy novel I've read.
The best spy novel I've read.
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historically based novels are often either too dry or too embellished -- this one is perfect.
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