Book Review: The Prestige By Christopher Priest

One day in a "Crossword" shop i came across this book named "The Prestige". On its cover was a image of Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman facing each other and there was also mentioned "Now a major motion picture". I had heard that a director named Christopher Nolan had made a movie on a book named "The Prestige". I knew that this Christopher Nolan had directed two movies named Memento and The Batman Begins. I had liked both the movies so i was sure that there would be something in the novel which must have attracted Nolan.

I picked it up and started reading it. On the back side of the book it was written that its a story of two magicians about 100 years ago with an intense rivalry but it starts as a normal fictional novel. When you are through with some pages comes some twists and turns, some flashback, some back stories and the book was back on track.

The narration is strange and engrossing in many ways. There are two magicians named Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier who have got a bitter rivalry and they stretch all limits to outdo each other. First the story is told from Alfred Borden point of view. By point of view i mean in a form of diary. The reader is introduced to several diary entries by Alfred Borden including his encounters with Rupert Angier. His feeling and emotions are captured nicely whether it be towards magic in general or towards his rival. But you get confused by some diary entries. I got the feeling "what exactly is going on?". Herein lies the beauty of the novel.

When the story is told from point of view of Angier the picture starts to get a lot more clearer. But here again the confusion slowly and steadily catches up.

I especially liked the description of scenes where you get to read the same incident from Alfred Borden's point of view and in the second part from Rupert Angier's point of view. The contrast is highlighted beautifully. Things like these keeps your hands and eyes stuck to the book. The novel lost my interest somewhere in the middle where i thought that some irrelevant things are being told. But in the end it was like a jigsaw puzzle small pieces which comes together in the end to form one complete picture.

I won't divulge much about the rest of the story because it will reduce the charm of the book. In short i would say that its journal-in journal structure is confusing and engrossing both at the same time, just hold on to it for some period of time and you will feel confusion fading away. As the picture becomes clearer, comes the ending which is totally awesome.

This is not a normal happy ending novel but it doesn't mean that it loses its effect in any way because of it. The characters (esp. protagonists) are inherently complex which is always the case in real life also. My recommendation is that you just go and grab a copy of this. Read it fully and you won't be disappointed for sure. Its a different kind of story and such stories are difficult to find. Complex, intriguing and very well narrated. This one is a must read!!!