book data
256 ratings, 3.85 average rating, 29 reviews
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published
June 12th 2001
(first published 1989)
by Vintage
binding
Paperback, 224 pages
literary awards
1989 Booker Prize Nominee
isbn
0375725237
(isbn13: 9780375725234)
description
John Banville’s stunning powers of mimicry are brilliantly on display in this engrossing novel, the darkly compelling confession of an improbabl...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 415)
Some books you just have to examine like a work of art. This is one of them.
Freddie Montgomery, the narrator & subject of this novel, has committed a murder, and lays down his "confession" here in this novel. But what he confesses to goes well beyond the murder -- and paints a picture of a sad sad life, which he describes as somewhat "bifurcated."
In some respects, The Book of Evidence reminded me a little of Crime & Punishment. But the real question is WHY d...more
Freddie Montgomery, the narrator & subject of this novel, has committed a murder, and lays down his "confession" here in this novel. But what he confesses to goes well beyond the murder -- and paints a picture of a sad sad life, which he describes as somewhat "bifurcated."
In some respects, The Book of Evidence reminded me a little of Crime & Punishment. But the real question is WHY d...more
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Read in June, 2008
Actually, I would give this 3.5 stars, but goodreads won't let me.
John Banville knows how to write a contemporary gothic. He does. It's true. And when I want to read an eerie description of a house (especially) or a boat or a road, I go to John. When I want to find myself collasped inside a psyche, immersed in a landscape of how dark it is to be human, a world of falseness and uncertainty and careful deliberation, a real intimate and interior space, I go to John. Granted, his prose can be...more
John Banville knows how to write a contemporary gothic. He does. It's true. And when I want to read an eerie description of a house (especially) or a boat or a road, I go to John. When I want to find myself collasped inside a psyche, immersed in a landscape of how dark it is to be human, a world of falseness and uncertainty and careful deliberation, a real intimate and interior space, I go to John. Granted, his prose can be...more
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Read in January, 2008
The unreliable narrator is a favorite of contemporary novelists, and the question of how much can one trust the narrator is just as popular with literary analysts. The appeal of The Book of Evidence, then, is easy to understand. For me, however, the salient reason to pick up this little novel is the prose, which is almost as fun and rich as Nabokov's (with whom John Banville has been compared to the point of it now being a cliche).
A blurb on the back of this edition states that those reading...more
A blurb on the back of this edition states that those reading...more
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This book is a lovely addition to your collection of existential 'The Stranger'-like books, such as 'The Stranger' or 'The Floating Opera' by John Barth.
While Camus takes the faceless everyman approach, and Barth takes the jovial happy-go-lucky people person approach, Banville takes the ugly booze-pickled playboy approach. And does quite well with it.
The murder scene--and I'm not giving anything away, you learn of the murder on page 1 or 2, I believe--is horrifyingly effective.
While Camus takes the faceless everyman approach, and Barth takes the jovial happy-go-lucky people person approach, Banville takes the ugly booze-pickled playboy approach. And does quite well with it.
The murder scene--and I'm not giving anything away, you learn of the murder on page 1 or 2, I believe--is horrifyingly effective.
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At Tin House 2007 writer's workshop Annie Proulx said "stay away from 'Quality of Light' writing, you think it sounds good, but it doesn't." Interesting. Banville, who Proulx considered second only to Aidan Higgins, uses it all the time, and he uses it well. Aidan Higgins does also, and about him she said, "He might be the greatest writer, even better than Banville, I hope lightning doesn't strike me for saying that."
Anyway, I won't get into what it's about.
It'
Anyway, I won't get into what it's about.
It'
There is no plot. We know right from the start what the narrator did and that he's now in jail awaiting trial. Nevertheless the book held my interest. He's kind of a slimy lot, but it's fun to read his version of things, sort of like watching a worm squirm on the end of a pin. Banville has a gift for evocative language. In the end the narrator imagines himself ...as some kind of grub, calmly and methodically consuming the future...
I do, too.
I do, too.
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3 comments
The memoir of a murder through the voice of the murderer. Gruesome, disturbing, but very well written and entertaining. I'd give it five stars, but the book comes along with a bit of scandal in its pages, therefore losing a star. Sorry, John...You should have laid off the naughty bits.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Andrewcharles420 by:
BOOKER PRIZE
This was not a bad book though I'm disappointed that the main threads weaving the story focused strongly on the negative. The ending was clever and overall the book was well-written, though there were frequent points where the word choice seemed esoteric and sometimes the quips trite.
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Reads like a glorious blend of Nabokov and Camus, but is so much more than a mere gloss on better novelists. Astonishing, and chilling, to be sure. The second Banville I read after The Sea; I will surely return to this author.
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Read in August, 2007
Reading this book is not the most comfortable experience. The main character, Freddie, is not a sympathetic character, but Banville fleshes his out into a believably well-rounded and flawed human who commits a violent and senseless act.
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Cori by:
Peg
Very well written, dark and deeply disturbing. Banville really does an excellent job of portraying the warped mind of a killer -- the depth of small details contrasting with the larger actions wrap together for a provactive read.
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Read in October, 2008
Banville's writing is impressive, but the story deflated rapidly after the halfway point. No matter how beautiful the prose might be, it's hard to maintain narrative tension through 100 pages of falling action.
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Read in August, 2008
I found this one quite engrossing. A wonderfully detailed character sketch, with a few nice hooks to the plot. I had to make a couple of trips to the dictionary, but that's probably a good thing!
This book reminded me of The Stranger by Camus. It is very dense reading, but worth the time it took to read it (and the requisite dictionary entries because of the grandiloquent language).
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I learned that John Banville is a great writer. I will be reading The Sea again when I get a chance. Him winning the Booker and this book as a finalist shows his power in his prose.
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Lee picked this as one of the best books he's read recently. All I know is that I had nightmares about the narrator. Good portrait of insanity, self-delusion.
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Read in August, 2005
like a grey monday morning....the murderer as failed person, sometimes too much like a grey monday morning tho....still a good book.
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Read in January, 2008
slippery but glorious reading. I hate mysteries usually. Might have to reconsider that belief. Note to self: One Banville a summer.
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Freddie Montgomery is the most enjoyable unreliable narrator since John Lanchester's Tarquin Winot, from A Debt to Pleasure.
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