The Prestige

The Prestige is a novel by Christopher Priest with the title derived from the novel's fictional practice of stage illusions having three parts: the setup, the performance, and the prestige (effect).

Having heard a lot about its movie adaptation during my third year at college, I automatically took the book from the shelves of the British Council Library when I came across it.

A month passed, and still I had not read the book.

This is all that I'd have had to report had I returned it then, but it was now that I finally mustered myself to take to it. And once I had taken to it, I couldn't drop it. It took the better of three days to finish the book, but it was certainly worth every minute of it.

The story is structured into five parts and takes place at the present with the actual story dating back to a few generations. The story revolves around two characters( or is it two?), Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier. Before they go on to become world class magicians, a meeting between the two ends up in a bitter rivalry which takes the better part of most of their lives. They constantly try to out do the other, and even sabotage the other's acts.

A trick which involves transporting oneself into a seemingly impossible new position in a matter of seconds, forms a pivotal role to the plot. Borden develops it first, calls it the The Transported Man, enhances it with better effects and calls it The New Transported Man. Angier, having always the difficulty of coping with a trick, in spite of being a magician himself, goes on a search to emulate his rival. Borden, who strongly believes that no one would ever find his secret, tries to mislead Angier. Angier, in his search, meets the physicist Nikola Tesla, who develops an apparatus, which helps Angier achieve what he is thriving for, with a bizarre effect.

Angier calls his version of the trick as In A Flash and with it becomes a great success. Borden, unable to comprehend this, tries to find Angier's secret, and what happens then and how it has come to haunt their families even after generations have passed, form the rest of the plot.

A bewitching read for anyone who has the slightest interest in legerdemain or the liking for stories with the protagonists lives running in a parallel fashion.

Next up, I'm looking to catch up with the movie!