Ancient Light (Vintage International)
The Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea gives us a brilliant novel about an actor in the twilight of his life and his career: "a devastating account of a boy's sexual awakening and the loss of his childhood.... Seamless [and] profound ... An unsettling and beautiful work." --Wall Street Journal
Is there a difference between memory and invention? That is the question that haunts Alexander Cleave as he reflects on his first, and perhaps only, love--an underage affair with his best friend's mother. When his stunted acting career is suddenly, inexplicably revived with a movie role playing a man who may not be who he claims, his young leading lady--famous and fragile--unwittingly gives him the opportunity to see, with startling clarity, the gap between the things he has done and the way he recalls them. Profoundly moving, Ancient Light is written with the depth of character, clarifying lyricism, and heart-wrenching humor that mark all of Man Booker Prize-winning author John Banville's extraordinary works.
Is there a difference between memory and invention? That is the question that haunts Alexander Cleave as he reflects on his first, and perhaps only, love--an underage affair with his best friend's mother. When his stunted acting career is suddenly, inexplicably revived with a movie role playing a man who may not be who he claims, his young leading lady--famous and fragile--unwittingly gives him the opportunity to see, with startling clarity, the gap between the things he has done and the way he recalls them. Profoundly moving, Ancient Light is written with the depth of character, clarifying lyricism, and heart-wrenching humor that mark all of Man Booker Prize-winning author John Banville's extraordinary works.
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Community Reviews
I loved this book! Narrator Alex Cleave is a former theatre actor who has been called out of retirement to play in a new movie. The details of this experience are interspersed with his recollections of his teenage years, when he fell in love with his best friend's mother and began a sexual relationship/love affair with her.
Right from the beginning, he pulls us in as a sort of confidante, but also lets us know that he's probably not that reliable a historian. "Images from the far past crowd in my head and half the time I cannot tell whether they are memories or inventions." Ain't that the truth?! I'm amazed sometimes at how well people remember things from the past when everything seems to be fuzzy old movie clips for me. (Was I actually there, or am I just remembering someone telling me about this???)
But he soldiers on in rehashing the sordid tale of the love affair between Mrs. Gray and him, describing in detail walking on the crunchy, dry leaves on the autumn ground, then pedaling back and realizing, no, it wasn't autumn, was it? It was summer! And Banville's sly, wry humor just adds to the enjoyment.
In the present time, he's battling different memories, of a daughter lost to her own demons, which he is still struggling with. His leading lady in the film is a young actress with troubles of her own, hauntingly reminding him of the daughter he lost a decade earlier.
Right from the beginning, he pulls us in as a sort of confidante, but also lets us know that he's probably not that reliable a historian. "Images from the far past crowd in my head and half the time I cannot tell whether they are memories or inventions." Ain't that the truth?! I'm amazed sometimes at how well people remember things from the past when everything seems to be fuzzy old movie clips for me. (Was I actually there, or am I just remembering someone telling me about this???)
But he soldiers on in rehashing the sordid tale of the love affair between Mrs. Gray and him, describing in detail walking on the crunchy, dry leaves on the autumn ground, then pedaling back and realizing, no, it wasn't autumn, was it? It was summer! And Banville's sly, wry humor just adds to the enjoyment.
In the present time, he's battling different memories, of a daughter lost to her own demons, which he is still struggling with. His leading lady in the film is a young actress with troubles of her own, hauntingly reminding him of the daughter he lost a decade earlier.
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