Now you see him...

Christopher Priest’s The Prestige is an epistolary novel concerning two rival magicians who enjoy nothing more than sabotaging the others performance while in full swing. The bulk of the book concerns the diaries of Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier, the rivals. Borden is poor born, and uses his cabinet maker skills and strength developed in the lumber yard to make a hard scrabble life on the stem. Angier is born to a peerage and has a trust-fund chip on his shoulder, but his amusement with conjuring leads to dedication and ultimately mastery.

Flanking the journals are two modern set pieces with Borden and Angier descendants. It is fair here to point out that the film version of The Prestige took many liberties with the novel. The addition of the modern doesn’t make much sense or add anything in the first part of the book, but the coda’s payoff is surprising, frightening, and odd.

Having read much of the history of magic and magicians over the past few months, Priest’s take on the late 19^th century circuit is spot on. There’s a sense of depravity he brings through in the journals, as these grown men make a living at deceit. Comparing the book and the film is moot, as they are completely different. Both are great entertainments.