Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating! Want to participate? Post your own WOW entry on your blog, and leave your link at Breaking the Spine. My pick is:
The Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea
gives us a brilliant, profoundly moving new novel about an actor in the
twilight of his life and his career: a meditation on love and loss, and
on the inscrutable immediacy of the past in our present lives.
Is there any difference between memory and invention? That is the question that fuels this stunning novel, written with the depth of character, the clarifying lyricism, and the heart-wrenching humor that have marked all of John Banville's extraordinary works. And it is the question that haunts Alexander Cleave as he plumbs the memories of his first—and perhaps only—love (he, just fifteen, the woman more than twice his age, the mother of his best friend; the situation impossible, thrilling, devouring, and finally devastating) . . . and of his daughter, lost to a kind of madness of mind and heart that Cleave can only fail to understand. When his stunted acting career is suddenly, inexplicably revived with a movie role portraying a man who may not be who he says he is, his young leading lady—famous and fragile—unwittingly gives him the opportunity to see with aching clarity the "chasm that yawns between the doing of a thing and the recollection of what was done."
Is there any difference between memory and invention? That is the question that fuels this stunning novel, written with the depth of character, the clarifying lyricism, and the heart-wrenching humor that have marked all of John Banville's extraordinary works. And it is the question that haunts Alexander Cleave as he plumbs the memories of his first—and perhaps only—love (he, just fifteen, the woman more than twice his age, the mother of his best friend; the situation impossible, thrilling, devouring, and finally devastating) . . . and of his daughter, lost to a kind of madness of mind and heart that Cleave can only fail to understand. When his stunted acting career is suddenly, inexplicably revived with a movie role portraying a man who may not be who he says he is, his young leading lady—famous and fragile—unwittingly gives him the opportunity to see with aching clarity the "chasm that yawns between the doing of a thing and the recollection of what was done."
I haven't heard of it before, but I think it sounds really good!
ReplyDeletePatricia // My WOW
Hmmm....actually this one sounds like one of those that I struggle to get a real sense of ahead of time. I'd probably have to pick it up and read the first few pages.
ReplyDeleteI sort of felt the same way, but he is a prize-winning author so I felt it should be good, at least quite literary.
DeleteWow, how have I not heard of this author? This one sounds so enticing, that it simply has to go on my list.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!
Here's MY WOW POST
Laurel, he wrote The SEA, which won the Man Booker Prize.
DeleteNew to me as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking that this will be a great read!!
ReplyDeleteSold me!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a winner to me!
ReplyDeleteNew to me as well but sounds like a good author to try and I am always on the look out for new to me authors. Have a Happy Easter!
ReplyDeleteI think the Man Booker prize winners are always a solid pick! I've always had good luck with the winners as well as anyone that was shortlisted for the prize.
ReplyDeleteWOW - this looks like a great book. Adding it to my list!
ReplyDeleteI also had not heard of this one, but it sounds pretty good! Thanks for the spotlight!
ReplyDeleteIt does sound interesting but the cover seems a bit odd. I know, don't judge a book...
ReplyDeleteI like the sound of this and, hopefully, because it's John Banville's work, it has substanbce and is a captivating read.
ReplyDeleteYou have a knack for finding great upcoming books!
Didn't know John Banville had a new book coming out. This sounds great!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of this before but it sounds great. One for the wishlist and I really like the quiet subtleness of the cover too.
ReplyDeleteMemory definitely distorts things as time goes by. It sounds like a very introspective story.
ReplyDeleteI have Banville's The Sea in my TBR box for a while now. But Ancient Light sounds like one I'd like to read more. I need to read two more books by Irish writers to complete my Ireland Challenge. So I think I'll try to get hold of this one. Thanks for your review. It sounds like Barnes' The Sense of an Ending, no?
ReplyDelete