Imagine. About a month ago I was only vaguely aware of John Banville.

I love the words and the way he puts them together. I've never looked up so many iffy words to make sure I had them right, so as not to lose the full effect of them all together. I tend to be a reader who consumes the page for the story, and the words and sentences are a means to the end. Here, the construction of the story was almost as engrossing as the plot. I read and re-read sections, word by word, almost like turning a beautifully made garment inside out and looking at the seams.

There IS a story, though. It grew on me, almost without me knowing. It absorbed me, almost immediately. I almost missed my station (the other time was with Emergence, which is a little different). The narrator is by turns pathetic and pompous, and just terribly human. I sometimes wanted to slap him, sometimes knew exactly where he was coming from. Supporting characters seem a little distorted by his perception.

You'll just have to read it for yourself. I don't see that's much of a hardship.

En el límite de los claroscuros está lo que vemos y lo que no vemos, lo que presentimos. Sin luz y sin sombra no hay mirada, es necesario el contraste. En ese espacio se mueve Alex cuando vuelve a la casona de su infancia, en el límite entre la luz y la sombra, entre pasado y futuro, entre lo real y lo imaginario.
En la soledad, Alex reflexiona sobre su pasado, el final de su carrera, la relación con su hija Cass -una joven que padece ataques y obsesiones- y empieza a ver apariciones:
“…me volví bruscamente y vi algo en la puerta, no una presencia, sino una intensa ausencia”.
Se desconcierta, se hace preguntas:
“…si el propósito de la aparición es confundirme y trastornarme, ¿es una proyección de mi propia fantasía, o procede de alguna fuente exterior? Al parecer ambas cosas, aunque no entiendo cómo es posible”.
Todas sus preguntas y dudas giran sobre los mismos temas, es un libro lento, con mucho cuidado de los detalles y del lenguaje, que hará al lector sentirse como los fantasmas y como el protagonista “una sombra entre sombras insustanciales”.

No he conseguido acabar, renuncio. Banville no es para mi.

Banville writes magnificent prose. It is dense rather than lean. It is filled with visual detail.

I have not described the writing as beautiful. Why? Because he captures the beautiful as well as the sordid and ugly. The sordid and ugly will make you squirm.

Think prose poetry and absence of plot. That is what is delivered until almost the very end. Without the ending, I would have been left hopelessly confused.

The story is about Alexander Cleave. He is fifty, an actor and he has collapsed on stage. He retreats to his childhood home, to collect himself, to figure out who he is. Acting has been more than just his profession; acting also describes how he relates to others. Now, back in his home, he falls into retrospection. The reader is delivered a monolog; Alex relates jumbled memories from his past mixed with events that occur in the present. He is searching to find himself. More precisely, he dares for the first time in his life to think about the past rather than running from it. He is very much thinking about his daughter, Cass.

We are given Alex’s thoughts. We must determine what is correct and what isn’t.

As I read this, I was frustrated. Why? Not due to lack of plot but because I was confused….and sometimes, I must admit, repulsed. The writing may be great, but the confusion drove me nuts. Alexander is not a man to admire; he is exceedingly narcissistic. More importantly, the author has not succeeded in making me want to know more about Alex! I had difficulty putting myself in his shoes. It is for these reasons I have given the book two stars, despite its praiseworthy prose.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Bill Wallis. He wonderfully captures Alexander’s voice. The narration I have given four stars. Really well done!

Eclipse is one off the three books composing the Cleave Trilogy. The books can be read in any order. Both Eclipse and Ancient Light are about Alexander Cleave. Shroud is about Alex's daughter Cass.

The bottom line is that I do not want to read Ancient Light, although I have already purchased it. With this in mind, I cannot give Eclipse more than two stars.

The books I have read by John Banville:
The Blue Guitar 5 stars
The Sea 3 stars
Eclipse 2 stars

El libro consta de cinco capítulos muy bien escritos, cargados de emociones, melancolía y recuerdos, los cuales nos van metiendo de a pocos en la trama de esta lectura.
Sin duda, John Banville es un escritor extraordinario y en esta oportunidad nos regala una muy buena novela, con una prosa maravillosa, suave, que nos envuelve y que siempre mantiene el ritmo. Es más, podría decir que muchas de sus frases parecen poesía y es una de las razones, por las que disfruté tanto de esta lectura.
El autor logra transmitirnos todos las emociones, dichas y alegrías, que pasa el protagonista de esta novela y sentirnos parte de la lectura. Tanto el personaje principal como los secundarios, aportan mucho a la trama y la hacen más interesante.
Algo que quiero destacar es la maravillosa pluma del autor y por cómo nos mete de lleno en la trama, siendo espectadores de la crisis de un hombre a sus cincuenta años, en medio de los recuerdos que lo atrapan y en esa búsqueda de respuestas en el pasado para superar el presente.

Raamatu peategelane on näitleja, kes lahkub lavalt. Ta läheb tagasi oma lapsepõlvekoju, et tagasi tõmbuda ja mõtiskleda oma elatud elu üle. Vanas majas elavad koos temaga igasugused mälestused ja viirastused ja majavalvur koos tütrega. Nende seal elamisest saab ta pooljuhuslikult teada, kuigi ise elab seal samas.
Alguses uimane ja sünge raamat. Lõpp oli natuke parem, aga ikkagi sünge.

"Se pudesse encarnar e tirar agora do meu seio
aquilo que nele é mais profundo, se pudesse cingir
com palavras estes meus pensamentos, e assim exprimir
alma, coração, e espírito, paixões e todos os sentimentos,
ah, tudo o que poderia desejar, e desejo,
sofro, conheço e sinto, sem que morra, numa só palavra
– e que essa palavra fosse “Relâmpago!” – eu a diria;
mas não, vivo e morro voltando para o silêncio apenas,
com sufocadas vozes que guardo como uma espada…"
— n  George Byronn

THE CLEAVE TRILOGY - Livro I
Eclipse


(Carlo Maria Mariani, Eclipse)

Personagens principais
Alex Cleave
n  Catherine Cleaven (filha de Alex e Lydia)
Lydia (mulher de Alex)

Pequeno resumo
Alex Cleave é um actor de teatro, de meia idade, cuja carreira termina durante uma representação em que perde a memória. Retira-se para a velha casa de seus pais (já falecidos) onde luta com os seus fantasmas - que tomam a forma de recordações do passado - ; e com as premonições do futuro, geradas pelos seus medos. A filha, Catherine, está sempre presente no seu pensamento, como uma preocupação permanente, pois é uma jovem que, desde a infância, sofre de uma doença mental, que oscila entre a depressão e a loucura.

n  "As coisas podem correr mal. Minha Marina, minha Miranda, oh, minha Perdita."n

"Η έκλειψη"

Μια ενδοσκόπηση ανθρώπινης υπόστασης. Μια προσπάθεια αναζήτησης του ίδιου του εαυτού του ήρωα. Ένα παιχνίδι αυτογνωσίας κ ψυχολογικής συνεδρίας.

Αναζητήσεις και θύμησες που σπαράζουν το μυαλό και την καρδιά.

Λάθη κ επιλογές που οδήγησαν σε λανθασμένα μονοπάτια...

Παιχνίδια του μυαλού...

Επίρριψη ευθυνών...

Ανθρώπινη αποτελμάτωση...

I struggled between giving 3 stars and 5 stars, so here is 4.

3 stars:
The story is mainly introspection, ruminations, identity confusion, and memories of the narrator, Cleave. It takes place almost entirely in his childhood house with a rare few brief outings. The dialogue between characters is skim. Each evening I continued to read not because there was a particularly compelling plot, but more out of duty to finish the book and a mild curiosity to see if this somewhat lost man ever finds some resolution to his mind's unease.

5 stars:
The writing is ~cliche~ BEAUTIFUL, astounding... bewitching even? While I wasn't driven each evening to read the book more, I did anyways and would always end up reading way too late at night. Once I jumped back into the pages, the way he uses words and constructs even the most basic images, was so moving for lack of better words. And the words.... Jesus the words. So many I didn't even know existed, but sure enough these words no one uses are clearly in the dictionary. And not just used as I always did for essays during college and high school, indiscriminately looking up whatever "bigger-sounding" word replacement with shift + F7 I could find. Whenever I loved up the myriad of new words I read in this book, the definitions were so nuanced and specific to exactly the context Banville used them in.

Overall, this read felt a bit like sometimes when you watch a film from the Criterion Collection. A little bit of "what is going on, what is this about?", but still touching and memorable because of the sheer true art of the work.

"مع نثر كهذا من يحتاج إلى حبكة."
قصيدة نثر طويلة رائعة.
قرأت هذه السنة كتب وصفية كثيرة لكن أريد أن أشير وأقول هكذا يكتب الوصف، جون يعطيني إيحاء بأنه يقضي يومًا كاملًا لصياغة جملة واحدة لكي تخرج مفعمة بالمعاني بأكثر أشكالها تشذيبًا ونظافة.

A disappointment. Lots of beautiful sentences saying very little.

The last few years of noirish detective/pathologist fiction output under the Benjamin Black pseudonym and then latterly as John Banville have been unchallenging fun for the most part. But it's good to remind oneself what a brilliant writer John Banville is/was at his best. Eclipse is low on overt action and narrative-driven plotline but crackles with atmosphere and has multiple layers at work, some of which do not become fully evident until the second volume in the trilogy (although all three volumes work very well as self-contained novels).