In this brilliantly haunting new novel, John Banville forges an unforgettable amalgam of enchantment and menace that suggests both The Tempest and ...
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Jul 19, 2009
Bruce
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A very intriguing, beautifully written novel, but not what I ever thought I'd like. There's no plot, it's rambling, emotionally diffuse and self-indulgent . . . so why did I like it so well that I'm going to start the sequel, Athena, immediately? The wit, wrenching self-exploration, and poetical expression of the narrator, Freddie Montgomery, are enormously affecting, both aesthetically and empathetically.
In The Book of Evidence, Freddie committed murder, and Ghosts can be likened to C More...
In The Book of Evidence, Freddie committed murder, and Ghosts can be likened to C More...
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Sep 11, 2011
Graziano
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QUOTES:
"Non sono mai stato il tipo che venera la natura, eppure riconosco un certo valore terapeutico alla contemplazione dei fenomeni naturali; credo che abbia a che fare con l'indifferenza del mondo, voglio dire con il modo in cui il mondo non si interessa a noi, alla nostra felicita' o a come soffriamo, con il modo in cui si limita ad aspettare guardando in alto, borbottando tra se' in una lingua che noi non capiamo mai." (page 71)
"Quello che la interess More...
"Non sono mai stato il tipo che venera la natura, eppure riconosco un certo valore terapeutico alla contemplazione dei fenomeni naturali; credo che abbia a che fare con l'indifferenza del mondo, voglio dire con il modo in cui il mondo non si interessa a noi, alla nostra felicita' o a come soffriamo, con il modo in cui si limita ad aspettare guardando in alto, borbottando tra se' in una lingua che noi non capiamo mai." (page 71)
"Quello che la interess More...
Jul 22, 2009
David
rated it:
here is the thing about banville. about the perfection of his prose. you can be 38 pages into this book and read "I too was eager already for change, for disorder, for the mess and confusion that people make of things...Company, that was what we wanted, the brute warmth of the presence of others to tell us we were alive after all, despite appearances" and you will close the book and run your hand over the cover and stare off into the distance at a tree. the way the light hits it in a s
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Aug 29, 2009
Adrian
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Banville retells Shakespeare's The Tempest in this beautifully written book in which not a lot happens, the characters are unlikeable, and nothing is resolved. This is apparently the second book of a cycle, but I read it before knowing that, and can say it is enjoyable even if you haven't read the previous book. I'd be more enthusiastic about it here, since I really did enjoy it, if I thought any of my friends who would read this would enjoy it. I can't think of anyone specifically.
Apr 08, 2010
Just found this on my bookshelf. I have no idea when or where I got it, but it was most certainly somewhere in Miami.
The synopsis truck me as eerily Lost-like, thus I have to make the time to read it. It may be NOTHING at all like Lost-but I am in the throes of seeing comparisons everywhere. Plus, it does seem like a good read...
Well it seems to be part of a trilogy, glad I checked first. The Book of Evidence shall now be added to this ever-growing to-read list as well.
The synopsis truck me as eerily Lost-like, thus I have to make the time to read it. It may be NOTHING at all like Lost-but I am in the throes of seeing comparisons everywhere. Plus, it does seem like a good read...
Well it seems to be part of a trilogy, glad I checked first. The Book of Evidence shall now be added to this ever-growing to-read list as well.
Jan 29, 2012
Richard
rated it: 
Sometimes I liked this novel. Every so often it made me think, but not so often about events in the book. Then again, there aren't many events in the book. Banville has a good eye, good vocabulary, good turn of phrase, but the lack of plot made it hard for me to care about the characters. The supporting characters remain as elusive as the figures in a painting that the narrator is examining. Perhaps that was the point. If so, for me, it didn't carry the novel.
Dec 16, 2008
Kimi
rated it:
john banville is a word man and i love reading his novels for this reason. you're always reaching for the dictionary, not because you don't understand the reference but because you have to know more about this wonderful word. this happens every few pages. he obviously loves words. those irish. i am looking for one of his crime novels that he writes under another name, somebody black.
Dec 15, 2010
Christopher
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An extended meditation on the body/spirit duality, and on art as a medium for living with the entirety one's self. A very interesting book, one of Banville's better offerings.
Mar 20, 2009
Katrinka
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Really interesting, sort of haunting book-- leaves plenty of room for uncertainty, which I appreciate.
Aug 05, 2011
Selene
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It was well written but I just didn't understand what was going on, or who was speaking. Didn't finish!
Jan 20, 2008
Gemma
rated it:
A very beautiful and subtly strange novel. For the first page or two I was just fishing out literary allusions ( The Tempest especially ) and thinking how clever, but soon was quite captivated and forgot all about that. The plot is haunting. It looks like it is going to go down certain lines, then doesn't really go anywhere, yet the book remains satisfying without anything much needing to happen. A real sense of the everyday being drenched in the mysterious and meaningful.
Jan 15, 2008
Anncar77
rated it: 
I reread this book recently and found even more that I love about it. I found numerous parallels to Beckett and Joyce (thankfully, for my paper's sake). Banville's narrators have voices like no other writer's narrators I have read. This one mostly wrestles with being human, with living in society, if that's possible for him. I'll write more about it when I find my notes...
Sep 29, 2010
Frank
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John Banville is becoming my favourite author. Ghosts is the second part of a trilogy that started with The Book of Evidence which I read earlier in the year, narrated by the same person, Freddie Montgomery, now out of prison and living on a small island off the coast of Ireland. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Jul 27, 2008
Monica
rated it: 
I hate it when books build an interesting premise and then don't deliver. The mystery isn't solved, the grisly details of the narrator are not revealed. And there is much ponc-y art talk to add to my annoyance. I got the definite impression this was written by a pretensious git.
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Apr 12, 2009
Lyn
rated it:
Confusingly, This guy gets a lot of grief on here for being pretentious. But, to me it is an authentic pretentiousness, like art is. Very unlike David Foster Wallace who tries to sound cooler than you or Michael Chabon who tries to sound smarter (and who prolly are.).
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Sep 25, 2010
Matt
rated it:
if ever i was going to write the novel of my dreams, this was that novel. and my version never had a hope or prayer of being this good. banville's a knack for haunting and metaphysical, and i love each passage more with each re-reading.
Aug 03, 2011
Eamonn
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Another treat from Banville. Covers a lot of the same ground as his other works but when it's done as brilliantly as this, who could complain?
Dec 18, 2007
Pat/rick
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Meticulously crafted to open like a series of Russian dolls, an Escher print, a riddle in which the spirit of Lewis Carroll plays topsy turvy.
Mar 12, 2010
Taylor
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This is all style, no substance, and the style certainly isn't enough to save it.
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Feb 22, 2008
Jesse
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I still don't know the point of the book. Can someone point it out to me? Please?
Feb 11, 2012
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