Ancient light
Author
Series
Alexander Cleave trilogy volume 3
Publisher
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Publication Date
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Language
English
Description
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 sly humor that have marked all of John Banville’s extraordinary works. And it is the question that haunts Alexander Cleave, an actor in the twilight of his career and of his life, as he plumbs the memories of his first—and perhaps only—love (he, fifteen years old, 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 dormant 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.” Ancient Light is a profoundly moving meditation on love and loss, on the inscrutable immediacy of the past in our present lives, on how invention shapes memory and memory shapes the man. It is a book of spellbinding power and pathos from one of the greatest masters of prose at work today.
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ISBN
9780307957054
9780449013458
9780449013458
UPC
9780449013427
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Similar Series From Novelist
NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These character-driven tales are meditations on the steady decline of talent, will, and the body itself. To that end, the somber Cleave trilogy features actors and professional liars, while the darkly humorous Schmidt novels star retired lawyers. -- Mike Nilsson
Both of these character-driven series feature aging men who are losing their power, their health, and their loved ones. The Alexander Cleave trilogy inhabits a grim place between hallucination and reality; the Old Filth trilogy is more compassionate, charming, and witty. -- Mike Nilsson
These character-driven tales of men aging badly -- mostly in the emotional sense -- are thoughtful explorations into the gray area between objective and subjective truth. The Cleave trilogy is somber and hallucinatory, while the Kepesh novels are joyfully libidinous. -- Mike Nilsson
These series have the appeal factors reflective, bleak, and lyrical, and they have the genres "psychological fiction" and "literary fiction"; the subjects "family relationships," "fathers and daughters," and "mothers and daughters"; and characters that are "flawed characters" and "complex characters."
These series have the appeal factors reflective, stylistically complex, and nonlinear, and they have the genres "psychological fiction" and "literary fiction"; the subjects "senior men," "identity," and "self"; and characters that are "introspective characters."
These series have the appeal factors reflective, lyrical, and first person narratives, and they have the genres "psychological fiction" and "literary fiction"; and characters that are "flawed characters."
These series have the appeal factors reflective, lyrical, and first person narratives, and they have the genres "psychological fiction" and "literary fiction"; the subject "identity"; and characters that are "flawed characters" and "complex characters."
These series have the appeal factors reflective, lyrical, and first person narratives, and they have the genres "psychological fiction" and "literary fiction"; and characters that are "flawed characters," "complex characters," and "authentic characters."
These series have the appeal factors lyrical, stylistically complex, and first person narratives, and they have the genres "psychological fiction" and "literary fiction"; and the subject "fathers and daughters."
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These books have the appeal factors moving, reflective, and lyrical, and they have the genres "psychological fiction" and "literary fiction"; the subject "loss"; and characters that are "flawed characters," "introspective characters," and "complex characters."
These moving novels are concerned with youth, age, and love. Ancient Light is a detailed reminiscence of a man's first and only love; My Youth summons a long-ago romance and brings it back to life in the present. -- Mike Nilsson
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NoveList recommends "Kepesh novels" for fans of "Alexander Cleave trilogy". Check out the first book in the series.
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