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nekreader's review against another edition
3.0
Yawn. Another middle-aged man musing about his mid-life crisis in a novel where nothing much happens, and the characters are unlikable. Many find Banville's prose beautiful, and sometimes it is. But at other times it seems pretentious. There is practically no plot, so if you like a good plot, you won't find it here.
jbarr5's review against another edition
3.0
The blue guitar by John Banville
Oliver Ponn steals things and it's not about the item just that he can get away with it.
His other passion was painting. Starts out with him being a kid of 8 or 9 and stealing a toy from a display at Christmas time.
Also all about his parents and the woman he cheats with while married to another.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Oliver Ponn steals things and it's not about the item just that he can get away with it.
His other passion was painting. Starts out with him being a kid of 8 or 9 and stealing a toy from a display at Christmas time.
Also all about his parents and the woman he cheats with while married to another.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
bianca89279's review against another edition
5.0
Occasionally, I feel uneasy and uncertain when it comes to writing a book review. But never as much as on this occasion. I felt totally self-conscious because I don’t have the skills to write a review that is worthy of such a tremendous novel. So bear with me as I stagger through writing this review.
This was my first John Banville novel. To be honest, I hadn’t heard of him, but when I saw that he’s a Man Booker Prize winner,the literary snob in me I decided that I should request it on NetGalley.
I’ve read some great books in my life, but I can’t remember the last time I was awed by somebody’s writing to this extent. My poor brain was exploding with enchantment, incredulity, and admiration.
It starts like this:
“Call me Autolycus. Well, no, don’t. Although I am, like that unfunny clown, a picker-up of unconsidered trifles. Which is a fancy way of saying I steal things.”
The Blue Guitar is about Oliver Orme. He’s a famous painter, who can’t paint anymore, and who likes to steal little things of no use, just for the thrill of it. He’s pushing fifty and is having some sort of delayed mid-life crisis.
“Childhood is supposed to be a radiant springtime but mine seems to have been always autumn, the gales seething in the big beeches behind this old gate-lodge, as they’re doing right now, and the rooks above them wheeling haphazard, like scraps of char from a bonfire, and a custard-coloured gleam having its last go low down in the western sky”.
This is a character driven novel. It’s Oliver’s musings throughout the entire novel. He’s not a particularly charming character, something that he’s well aware of and admits to it with an uncanny honesty. He’s simple, yet complex. He’s a famous artist who can’t create art anymore. He’s not unhappy but not particularly happy either. He just is. Many times you feel like yelling “get over yourself”! He knows it, too.
Banville has created a complex, three-dimensional character. Oliver is as real as they come. Through him Banville is asking what’s real. Who are we? What is our “true self”? Is there such a thing as a “true self”? Oh, there are so many things to contemplate and think about, it can get a bit exhausting. But don’t let my statement detract you from reading it. Because, while it’s not a fluffy, feel-good novel, it’s filled with humour - smart, sarcastic humour.
Banville’s way with words is astounding. I’ve never had to look up so many words as I had to do while reading The Blue Guitar. Don’t get dispirited by this, because you don’t really have to, you’ll understand the gist of it all, but why wouldn’t you? When was the last time you had the opportunity to learn a new word? I personally was mesmerised. And awed. And gobsmacked. And many other things I don’t have the vocabulary to express, at least not eloquently enough. In this world where the “lowest common denominator” is the status-quo, I feel grateful and lucky to have come across an author who raises the bar, without being cumbersome or arrogant.
Many novels these days include books and music references. The Blue Guitar brings up art, mainly painting references. That was another aspect I truly enjoyed about this novel.
Oliver’s irreverence and self-effacing ramblings made me smile on many occasions.
For instance, here’s how he describes himself:
“The fact is, whenever I made an overture to a woman, which I seldom did, even in my young days, I never really expected it to be entertained, or even noticed, despite certain instances of success, which I tended to regards as flukes, the result of misunderstanding, or dimness on the part of the woman and simple good fortune on mine. I’m not an immediately alluring specimen, having been, for a start, the runt of the litter. I’m short and stout, or better go the whole hog and say fat, with a big head and tiny feet. My hair is of a shade somewhere between wet rust and badly tarnished brass, and in damp weather, or when I’m by the seaside, clenches itself into curls that are as tight and dense as cauliflower florets and stubbornly resistant to fiercest combings. My skin – oh, my skin! – is a flaccid, moist, off-white integument, so that I look as if I had been blanched in the dark for a long time. Of my freckles I shall not speak.”
John Banville is a wordsmith. Every phrase is painstakingly crafted, as if it were precious glass that he’s carefully blown into art objects, but his are beautifully constructed phrases. His writing has a certain musicality, a cadence that’s quite unique. And he never ceases to surprise, amaze and delight. This is definitely a novel that’s going on my Favourites shelf. I can’t rave enough about it. While it’s not for everyone, if you love good literature, then I wholeheartedly recommend this splendid novel.
I’ve received this novel via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. Many thanks to Penguin UK for allowing me to read and review this novel.
This was my first John Banville novel. To be honest, I hadn’t heard of him, but when I saw that he’s a Man Booker Prize winner,
I’ve read some great books in my life, but I can’t remember the last time I was awed by somebody’s writing to this extent. My poor brain was exploding with enchantment, incredulity, and admiration.
It starts like this:
“Call me Autolycus. Well, no, don’t. Although I am, like that unfunny clown, a picker-up of unconsidered trifles. Which is a fancy way of saying I steal things.”
The Blue Guitar is about Oliver Orme. He’s a famous painter, who can’t paint anymore, and who likes to steal little things of no use, just for the thrill of it. He’s pushing fifty and is having some sort of delayed mid-life crisis.
“Childhood is supposed to be a radiant springtime but mine seems to have been always autumn, the gales seething in the big beeches behind this old gate-lodge, as they’re doing right now, and the rooks above them wheeling haphazard, like scraps of char from a bonfire, and a custard-coloured gleam having its last go low down in the western sky”.
This is a character driven novel. It’s Oliver’s musings throughout the entire novel. He’s not a particularly charming character, something that he’s well aware of and admits to it with an uncanny honesty. He’s simple, yet complex. He’s a famous artist who can’t create art anymore. He’s not unhappy but not particularly happy either. He just is. Many times you feel like yelling “get over yourself”! He knows it, too.
Banville has created a complex, three-dimensional character. Oliver is as real as they come. Through him Banville is asking what’s real. Who are we? What is our “true self”? Is there such a thing as a “true self”? Oh, there are so many things to contemplate and think about, it can get a bit exhausting. But don’t let my statement detract you from reading it. Because, while it’s not a fluffy, feel-good novel, it’s filled with humour - smart, sarcastic humour.
Banville’s way with words is astounding. I’ve never had to look up so many words as I had to do while reading The Blue Guitar. Don’t get dispirited by this, because you don’t really have to, you’ll understand the gist of it all, but why wouldn’t you? When was the last time you had the opportunity to learn a new word? I personally was mesmerised. And awed. And gobsmacked. And many other things I don’t have the vocabulary to express, at least not eloquently enough. In this world where the “lowest common denominator” is the status-quo, I feel grateful and lucky to have come across an author who raises the bar, without being cumbersome or arrogant.
Many novels these days include books and music references. The Blue Guitar brings up art, mainly painting references. That was another aspect I truly enjoyed about this novel.
Oliver’s irreverence and self-effacing ramblings made me smile on many occasions.
For instance, here’s how he describes himself:
“The fact is, whenever I made an overture to a woman, which I seldom did, even in my young days, I never really expected it to be entertained, or even noticed, despite certain instances of success, which I tended to regards as flukes, the result of misunderstanding, or dimness on the part of the woman and simple good fortune on mine. I’m not an immediately alluring specimen, having been, for a start, the runt of the litter. I’m short and stout, or better go the whole hog and say fat, with a big head and tiny feet. My hair is of a shade somewhere between wet rust and badly tarnished brass, and in damp weather, or when I’m by the seaside, clenches itself into curls that are as tight and dense as cauliflower florets and stubbornly resistant to fiercest combings. My skin – oh, my skin! – is a flaccid, moist, off-white integument, so that I look as if I had been blanched in the dark for a long time. Of my freckles I shall not speak.”
John Banville is a wordsmith. Every phrase is painstakingly crafted, as if it were precious glass that he’s carefully blown into art objects, but his are beautifully constructed phrases. His writing has a certain musicality, a cadence that’s quite unique. And he never ceases to surprise, amaze and delight. This is definitely a novel that’s going on my Favourites shelf. I can’t rave enough about it. While it’s not for everyone, if you love good literature, then I wholeheartedly recommend this splendid novel.
I’ve received this novel via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. Many thanks to Penguin UK for allowing me to read and review this novel.
mattneely's review against another edition
5.0
Possible the greatest book I've ever read. He is just incredible.
cjeanne99's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Oliver Otway Ormay gives us a soliloquy of his life; his painting, his petty thievery, his relationship with his father, his marriage, his best friend, his affair with his best friend’s wife. He is one of those people who believes that we, the reader, should be interested in everything they have to say.
robshpprd's review against another edition
3.0
This is my second Banville novel. There’s a pattern for sure. Beautiful language and a painful lack of plot. The most interesting moments are tricks lifted almost directly out of Nabokov. There’s a line in this novel about (I think) Cezanne, something like, “I could see his greatness, I just didn’t like what he did with it.” That’s kind of how I feel about Banville. He’s talented for sure. I just don’t much care for the stories he chooses to tell with that talent.
plan2read's review against another edition
5.0
Feels somehow like an across-the-Atlantic cousin of [b:The Goldfinch|17333223|The Goldfinch|Donna Tartt|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1378710146s/17333223.jpg|24065147] with its themes of art and thievery. Rich in vocabulary (so many unfamiliar words!) and distinguished by its personalized depiction of the guilt-plagued sin nature.
smbla's review against another edition
2.0
I have a conflicted relationship with John Banville I am never sure that I enjoy his work and yet I read his books as soon as they are published. The Blue Guitar leaves me in the same quandary-there are parts I absolutely loved and moments that stick with me and yet I have a flat feeling about this novel. Oliver Orme is a painter and a thief (really more of a kleptomaniac) married to Gloria, he is definitely in the midst of a midlife crisis and has an affair with Polly who is married to Marcus.
It is one of those stories that nothing really every seems to work out for the characters -the affair ends with Oliver bolting, we learn some truths about Gloria and her feelings and external relationships, Polly changes course and Marcus meets his end. I did enjoy Oliver's response when he realized something had been stolen from him-the shock and realization that he was not the only thief. All in all the characters were just not likable perhaps contributing to my Banville ennui and lackluster response to this book.
It is one of those stories that nothing really every seems to work out for the characters -the affair ends with Oliver bolting, we learn some truths about Gloria and her feelings and external relationships, Polly changes course and Marcus meets his end. I did enjoy Oliver's response when he realized something had been stolen from him-the shock and realization that he was not the only thief. All in all the characters were just not likable perhaps contributing to my Banville ennui and lackluster response to this book.
mercedesol_'s review against another edition
4.0
This was my first Banville book and, while I found the story somehow mediocre, I fell in love with this man's writing. He'll dazzle you while talking about the mundane. He'll make you go to the dictionary at least once per page. He'll have you highlighting quotes all over. I'm in love.
jumbleread's review against another edition
3.0
Mystery book. But I just couldn’t relate to the main character - darn.