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mattstebbins's review against another edition
2.0
I expect a great deal from Banville: The [b:The Book of Evidence|3659|The Book of Evidence|John Banville|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320464622s/3659.jpg|2388621], [b:Ghosts|88253|Ghosts|John Banville|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320429767s/88253.jpg|1391424], and [b:The Sea|3656|The Sea|John Banville|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320474389s/3656.jpg|987554] are some of my favorite works, and to this point I've found everything else of his quite solid. His lyricism here, though, doesn't quite hit the same notes, and while I appreciate his aim - The Infinities was originally intended to be a re-write of Kleist's adaptation of Molier's [b:Amphitryon|665266|Amphitryon|Molière|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176919997s/665266.jpg|1592933], as well as something of a continuation of his science novels ([b:Doctor Copernicus|3661|Doctor Copernicus|John Banville|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165030171s/3661.jpg|969712], [b:Kepler: A novel|984211|Kepler A novel|John Banville|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180007890s/984211.jpg|2199821], etc) - I struggled to get myself through this. His character's hesitations and about-faces, normally endearing, were here disappointing, and seemed only to take up pages, rather than develop characters. Were it not Banville, and had there not been occasional flashes of the lyrical beauty I love in his work, this would have only merited one star. For being a Banville, it nets an extra half.
[1.5 stars]
[1.5 stars]
deea_bks's review against another edition
3.0
In this deliciously humorous novel, Banville plays with the idea of being a modern Shakespeare. Taking as model “A Midsummer’s Night Dream”, he explores one of the parallel worlds the “pater familia” in this story had theorized about in his earlier studies about the infinities of realities.
He enters the particular reality from the novel (which is the same as our reality, but slightly different) while being in a coma. We are presented the thoughts, feelings and reactions of the members of his household and of some friends to the tragedy of his paresis and also the actions of the Gods who interfere in their mortal lives (yes, in this particular reality, Greek Gods exist and they are envious of mortals). Hermes and Zeus fool around with mortals; the old story of Amphytrion and Alcmene is reloaded and staged differently, but yet in the same way, and all in the time of a single day.
The phrasing is deliciously humorous and plastic (typical Banville who never disappoints) and although this novel is not a fiver, not even an acquirer of a 4 star prize in my mind, I had a lot of fun reading it and enjoyed it quite a lot. And because nothing I say would sound as wonderfully eloquent as Banville’s play of words and also because this is not a review per se, but rather an exercise of expressing a like in spite of the grade I gave with more than stars, I will end this comment by quoting Banville’s eloquent words used while musing in this novel about one of the themes he likes most: time.
He enters the particular reality from the novel (which is the same as our reality, but slightly different) while being in a coma. We are presented the thoughts, feelings and reactions of the members of his household and of some friends to the tragedy of his paresis and also the actions of the Gods who interfere in their mortal lives (yes, in this particular reality, Greek Gods exist and they are envious of mortals). Hermes and Zeus fool around with mortals; the old story of Amphytrion and Alcmene is reloaded and staged differently, but yet in the same way, and all in the time of a single day.
The phrasing is deliciously humorous and plastic (typical Banville who never disappoints) and although this novel is not a fiver, not even an acquirer of a 4 star prize in my mind, I had a lot of fun reading it and enjoyed it quite a lot. And because nothing I say would sound as wonderfully eloquent as Banville’s play of words and also because this is not a review per se, but rather an exercise of expressing a like in spite of the grade I gave with more than stars, I will end this comment by quoting Banville’s eloquent words used while musing in this novel about one of the themes he likes most: time.
And then there is the question of time. What for instant is an instant? Hours, minutes, seconds, even, these are comprehensible, since they can be measured on a clock, but what is meant when people speak of a moment, a while – a tick – a jiffy? They are only words, of course, yet they hang above soundless depths.
happy_stomach's review against another edition
3.0
In contrast to The Sea, this was plodding and felt crass--too much revealed about the characters and conspicuously absent of a hero. The way the structure ultimately revealed the slowness before death helped redeem the book, but I'm glad this wasn't my first Banville read. I prefer his more delicate side.
blchandler9000's review against another edition
3.0
I have long wanted to read a book by John Banville. I've started a few, sometimes among the shelves of a local bookstore, but have never gone past a few pages. Banville's stated goal when writing prose is to provide it with "the kind of denseness and thickness that poetry has." As a lover of especially poetic prose, I was curious.
Quickly put, "The Infinities" follows the Greek god Hermes as he watches a modern family come together to pay final respects to their dying patriarch. He narrates their actions, explains their thoughts, and waxes on immortals' place in the universe. As the book progresses, the identity the narrator comes into question and subtle hints that this book takes place in an alternate universe emerge from the memories of the Godley family.
I found the conceit of the book intriguing, but I'm afraid it starts to lose its charm half-way through the book. By the time some of the characters begin to reveal their true selves, Banville had lost my interest. (Granted, I still finished the book.) The man's prose is pretty solid and remarkably particular in its word choice. (Sometimes Banville even seems to be showboating, using 25¢ words which I had to look up the meanings for. [Thanks Kindle for the handiness of your dictionary function!]) But his pedantic devotion to saturating his language drowned the story and its characters, obfuscated the alternate world he was trying to hint at, and just lost any of the whimsy that a modern tale featuring ancient gods may have had. Even with hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-hammer symbolism in the character's names, references to Greek myth and Bible stories, the novel just seems to reference itself and never comes to anything more than the book it is. Banville is somewhat disliked in some circles because of his clear statements that his writing, unlike those of many of his colleagues, is art. If so, his dexterity with words is impressive, but in the end this work of art had the curious and oxymoronic distinction of being heavy-handed and empty. Oh, well.
Quickly put, "The Infinities" follows the Greek god Hermes as he watches a modern family come together to pay final respects to their dying patriarch. He narrates their actions, explains their thoughts, and waxes on immortals' place in the universe. As the book progresses, the identity the narrator comes into question and subtle hints that this book takes place in an alternate universe emerge from the memories of the Godley family.
I found the conceit of the book intriguing, but I'm afraid it starts to lose its charm half-way through the book. By the time some of the characters begin to reveal their true selves, Banville had lost my interest. (Granted, I still finished the book.) The man's prose is pretty solid and remarkably particular in its word choice. (Sometimes Banville even seems to be showboating, using 25¢ words which I had to look up the meanings for. [Thanks Kindle for the handiness of your dictionary function!]) But his pedantic devotion to saturating his language drowned the story and its characters, obfuscated the alternate world he was trying to hint at, and just lost any of the whimsy that a modern tale featuring ancient gods may have had. Even with hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-hammer symbolism in the character's names, references to Greek myth and Bible stories, the novel just seems to reference itself and never comes to anything more than the book it is. Banville is somewhat disliked in some circles because of his clear statements that his writing, unlike those of many of his colleagues, is art. If so, his dexterity with words is impressive, but in the end this work of art had the curious and oxymoronic distinction of being heavy-handed and empty. Oh, well.
jmorr290's review against another edition
I have always read by the philosophy of once I start book I finish it. No matter. But this was a book I just could not read. I gave it until page 60,
then could no go on. It was so incredibly boring and pretentious , I don't know how anyone could make it thru.
then could no go on. It was so incredibly boring and pretentious , I don't know how anyone could make it thru.
already1selected's review against another edition
Read it 2 years ago and can't remember anything about it. Apparently I wasn't overly engaged or impressed
blackoxford's review against another edition
4.0
A Divine Perspective
Whenever I feel the need for a smooth read, for that sensation of floating into soft, elegant prose that requires no effort to appreciate and absorb, Banville is my go-to guy. Nobody does it better. And that includes a tale narrated by a Greek god about one of an infinite number of simultaneous universes is which the subtle differences from our own create an intriguing context for considering things like... well, infinity.
Hermes, the messenger of the gods, sets the tongue-in-cheek tone: “But what attention we lavished on the making of this poor place! The lengths we went to, the pains we took, that it should be plausible in every detail—planting in the rocks the fossils of outlandish creatures that never existed, distributing fake dark matter throughout the universe, even setting up in the cosmos the faintest of faint hums to mimic the reverberations of the initiating shot that is supposed to have set the whole shooting-match going.” The immortals set the game up. We merely respond, mostly inadequately.
In such a world, “The secret of survival is a defective imagination... The unresisted glimpse of the world’s totality of suffering would annihilate them on the spot.” So we create consoling stories, like the Brahman Hypothesis, about the ultimate particle of time, “the golden egg of Brahma from the broken yolk of which flowed all creation.” Turns out that the hypothesis looks pretty pragmatic since it has led to automobiles powered by salt-water, the success of cold fusion, and hydrogen-fuelled machines (Oppenheimer failed in his attempt to create the bomb). But that’s just the gods having a laugh: “For what is spirit in this world may be flesh in another. In an infinity of worlds all possibilities are fulfilled.”
Adam (how could it be any other?) is the one who figured it all out. “—an infinity of infinities... all crossing and breaking into each other, all here and invisible, a complex of worlds beyond what anyone before him had imagined ever was there—well, you can imagine the effect.” But Adam is dying, and his son (the Second Adam as St. Paul would call him of course) understands almost nothing about either the nature of the universe, or his father.
Adam fils, however, has a very private, a very personal conviction, “He has a secret, one he will tell to no one, not even his wife, for fear of ridicule. He believes unshakeably in the possibility of the good... For him, good and evil are two species of virus competing against each other for hegemony in the heart of man, with good managing to hold the upper hand, though barely.” This Adam has no real story to tell about this intuition. He can only live out its implications and hope that others ‘get it’.
The gods know this is silly but wish they could be like the second Adam.
Whenever I feel the need for a smooth read, for that sensation of floating into soft, elegant prose that requires no effort to appreciate and absorb, Banville is my go-to guy. Nobody does it better. And that includes a tale narrated by a Greek god about one of an infinite number of simultaneous universes is which the subtle differences from our own create an intriguing context for considering things like... well, infinity.
Hermes, the messenger of the gods, sets the tongue-in-cheek tone: “But what attention we lavished on the making of this poor place! The lengths we went to, the pains we took, that it should be plausible in every detail—planting in the rocks the fossils of outlandish creatures that never existed, distributing fake dark matter throughout the universe, even setting up in the cosmos the faintest of faint hums to mimic the reverberations of the initiating shot that is supposed to have set the whole shooting-match going.” The immortals set the game up. We merely respond, mostly inadequately.
In such a world, “The secret of survival is a defective imagination... The unresisted glimpse of the world’s totality of suffering would annihilate them on the spot.” So we create consoling stories, like the Brahman Hypothesis, about the ultimate particle of time, “the golden egg of Brahma from the broken yolk of which flowed all creation.” Turns out that the hypothesis looks pretty pragmatic since it has led to automobiles powered by salt-water, the success of cold fusion, and hydrogen-fuelled machines (Oppenheimer failed in his attempt to create the bomb). But that’s just the gods having a laugh: “For what is spirit in this world may be flesh in another. In an infinity of worlds all possibilities are fulfilled.”
Adam (how could it be any other?) is the one who figured it all out. “—an infinity of infinities... all crossing and breaking into each other, all here and invisible, a complex of worlds beyond what anyone before him had imagined ever was there—well, you can imagine the effect.” But Adam is dying, and his son (the Second Adam as St. Paul would call him of course) understands almost nothing about either the nature of the universe, or his father.
Adam fils, however, has a very private, a very personal conviction, “He has a secret, one he will tell to no one, not even his wife, for fear of ridicule. He believes unshakeably in the possibility of the good... For him, good and evil are two species of virus competing against each other for hegemony in the heart of man, with good managing to hold the upper hand, though barely.” This Adam has no real story to tell about this intuition. He can only live out its implications and hope that others ‘get it’.
The gods know this is silly but wish they could be like the second Adam.
poindextrix's review against another edition
2.0
The story sounded so interesting - a mortal family's trials and tribulations combined with adventures of the immortals as they pop in and out of the family's consciousness.
It sounded great, but it was kind of just OK...
Banville's story-telling is great, and though I didn't necessarily like the characters, they were well-formed and kept me interested.
The Infinities was not what I was expecting, so maybe that's why I found it somewhat disappointing, but it was a good read and I would still recommend it.
It sounded great, but it was kind of just OK...
Banville's story-telling is great, and though I didn't necessarily like the characters, they were well-formed and kept me interested.
The Infinities was not what I was expecting, so maybe that's why I found it somewhat disappointing, but it was a good read and I would still recommend it.
bthny's review against another edition
I'm sure that this book is great but I just couldn't get into it.
maddynewquist's review against another edition
3.0
It was a very strange and original and unexpected combination of bawdy phrases and elegant clauses, and somehow it worked. Can't say if I liked it or not, I'll have to read his 'The Sea' to determine...