Book Review: The Prestige by Christopher Priest

The Prestige by Christopher Priest

Two magicians get drawn into a dangerous, hurtful rivalry in late 1800s and early 1900s Britain. Alfred Borden is an old-school illusionist who is very philosophical and technical about his craft. As an illusionist, he keeps lots of secrets, especially about his tricks, the most amazing of which is THE NEW TRANSPORTED MAN. In this trick, he steps into a cabinet on one side of the stage and instantly comes out of another cabinet on the other side of the stage. He might toss a hat or bounce a ball to himself to make it more theatrical. Rupert Angier is the second son of a Lord and has dreamed his whole life of being a magician. He has the theatricality naturally and the technique through practice. He also keeps lots of secrets, especially about his family life. He foreswears his nobility and lives in poverty, scraping by on odd jobs. He develops a spiritualist act (very trendy in late 1800s England) as a side hustle with a woman he marries. Borden hears about this and seeks to debunk Angier. When he finally confronts Angier, an accident causes Angier's wife to miscarry (though Borden does not know she is pregnant). Angier starts to take revenge by exposing Borden's illusions during performances, and Borden does the same for Angier. Their lives intertwine through the decades as their competition escalates to tragic ends.

The story has a framing device with two descendants of the Borden and Angier families trying to reconcile the feud in the early 1990s. The main narrative is told through the diaries of Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier. The reader has to grapple with the different perspectives on events and with the magicians' deliberate obfuscations in their writing. Having seen the movie version, I knew the key secrets which made it easier to comprehend passages that were obviously meant to be intriguingly vague, to force the reader to pay attention to details. The mystery is still interesting because both magicians are flawed but engaging characters. The book clearly sympathizes more with Angier, though both are sympathetic if one looks only at their individual diary (I found the characters in the movie to be universally unsympathetic). Both characters (and thereby I assume the author) realize the professional conflict is a waste and they would have been better off working together. The rivalry drives them to use horrible means and ends that cause problems for both families down to the present day.

The book is very interesting in several ways. If the reader hasn't experienced the story before, immediate re-reading is tempting to fill in narrative holes left in the various diaries. Usually I do not like dramas where information is left out deliberately to enhance the drama but using the ego-written diaries is a plausible way to present partial (and misleading) information. Thematically, there's a lot of duality. As the two magicians proceed in their careers, they have similar experiences, especially with women. They try to outdo each other with the same magic tricks and try the same tactics to expose each other or to find out secrets. Even though they are rivals, they are not so different from each other. The "authors" discuss a lot of the theatrical technique that goes into a good stage performance which gives the reader interesting information. Angier's ultimate method of improving THE NEW TRANSPORTED MAN leaves a lot of moral and philosophical questions for the reader to mull over. The book is a rich source for re-reading and reflection.

Highly recommended.

This book is discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast #289. I am glad that they inspired me to read the book because I was not a big fan of the movie.

Book Review: Black Panther The Complete Collection Vol. 1 by C. Priest et al.

Black Panther: The Complete Collection Volume 1 written by Christopher Priest and art by Joe Quesada, Mark Texeira, Vince Evans, Joe Jusko, Mike Manley, and others

Wakanda is an African kingdom about the size of New Jersey and is also the home of the only known deposit of vibranium, the metal from which Captain America's shield is made. The country is a mix of extreme wealth and technology along with tribal customs and social structures. The king, T'Challa, is head of the Panther Clan and thereby the Black Panther. His leadership abilities are enhanced by an herbal concoction that increases his strength and his senses. His outfit uses vibranium to make him more invulnerable and he has some high tech gadgets (like the Kimoyo Card that lets him access other technologies) too. His body guard, the Dora Milaje, are two young women taken from Wakandan tribes and are being groomed as potential spouses as well as providing sidekick action support.

Set in the 1990s, this new series (at least it was new in 1998) features Black Panther in some challenging adventures. He's come back to New York from Wakanda to fix a bad situation--the poster child of a charity he supports has been killed. His absence from Wakanda was orchestrated by forces determined to take his throne. The situation is further complicated by his U.S. handler, Everett K. Ross, a young white guy who narrates most of the story to his American boss. Ross is full of pop culture references and tells the most exciting parts of the story first, frustrating his boss, who is secretly in love with the Black Panther ever since their college days. Ross gets tangled up in the story and has adventures of his own while he supports his client, Black Panther, to get America's interests advanced.

The story itself is interesting and has plenty of action. The deliberately choppy narrative I found annoying even as I saw its purpose in an issue-by-issue story arc (this book contains 17 comic-books' worth of issues, so almost a year and half in publishing time). The pop culture references are twenty years old and they have not aged well. Most of the comic relief is based on those references, so the book is not as fun as it once was. The political situation is interesting. T'Challa plenty to do resolving conflicts with the United States and with factions at home. Other superheroes make appearances that fit naturally into the story (except for the two issues with the Hulk) and give a sense of the bigger picture within which Black Panther is operating.

Black Panther is an interesting character. He's no-nonsense and direct in his actions. His honesty is refreshing, even when it doesn't necessarily help him. I also like that he's just as likely to outthink or outscheme an opponent as he his to outfight one. He makes a fine hero.

Recommended.