Comments on: The Lemur by Benjamin Black

By: Amateur Reader

Amateur Reader — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:08:19 +0000

My favorites are The Book of Evidence, The Untouchable, and Doctor Copernicus. My only caution against The Newton Letter is that it's a self-parody. Banville had just written two biographical novels, about Copernicus and Kepler; The Newton Letter is about the failure to write a biographical novel about Newton. Every one of his books that I've read contains some unbelievably fine writing. Plotting is not a great strength of Banville's; psychological acuteness definitely is.

By: nicole

nicole — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:42:20 +0000

Yeah, this one is a tiny 132 pages. Verbivore’s idea of a travel read seems like a very good one.

Where would you start with Banville, out of curiosity? I have The Sea, but am curious as to whether that would be the best first one. I’ve heard good things about The Newton Letter too.

By: Amateur Reader

Amateur Reader — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:16:16 +0000

I’ve read all but one “Banville” novel, but none of the Benjamin Black novels. Do I subconsciously suspect that they’re not so good? Banville says that he writes them very differently, less painstakingly, than his other books, and he is clearly enjoying the some of the freedoms he’s found in the mysteries. The Lemur is extra short, right? It sounds like a good place to see what he’s doing.

There ain’t no guarantee of nothing, but you’ll probably find a lot to like in Banville. He is, sometimes, extremely Nabokovian.

By: verbivore

verbivore — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:11:35 +0000

I think I need to start buying Benjamin Black novels for whenever I travel – I’m always looking for something that will keep me distracted from the 30,000 feet between me and the earth and I love Banville’s writing but would probably do too much existential musing if I read a Banville in-flight. Black might be a better choice.