Wordnik.com: This intriguing novel .... is a taut, lyrical, tour de force.: Comments

Comment by chained_bear, 4 months ago

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:09:51 +0000

That is a frighteningly perfect addition to this numinous (or was that luminous?) list.

Have you considered sending Mr. Forshaw a haunting link to this spare, compelling page of brio?

Comment by sionnach, 4 months ago

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:22:40 +0000

We review the review:

In three taut, elegant paragraphs, Forshaw leaves the reader breathless, stunned by the vacuous pomposity of his unusually moribund parade of bloviated buzzwords. Never one to eschew the sesquipedalian latinate impenetrability, Forshaw deploys them throughout his review with laserlike precision and beautifully textured transparency. Meaningless adjectives are scattered throughout the review to delight the reader, much like the partially gnawed limbs of the Donner Party. This review will make you pee your pants, it's such a fracking fully realised tour de force.

Comment by sionnach, 4 months ago

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:21:18 +0000

The review:

Incandescent prose. Beautifully textured characterisation. Transparent narratives. The adjectives to describe the writing of John Banville are all affirmative, and The Sea is a ringing affirmation of all his best qualities. His publishers are claiming that this novel by the Booker-shortlisted author is his finest yet, and while that claim may have an element of hyperbole, there is no denying that this perfectly balanced book is among the writer's most accomplished work.

Max Morden has reached a crossroads in his life, and is trying hard to deal with several disturbing things. A recent loss is still taking its toll on him, and a trauma in his past is similarly proving hard to deal with. He decides that he will return to a town on the coast at which he spent a memorable holiday when a boy. His memory of that time devolves on the charismatic Grace family, particularly the seductive twins Myles and Chloe. In a very short time, Max found himself drawn into a strange relationship with them, and pursuant events left their mark on him for the rest of his life. But will he be able to exorcise those memories of the past?

The fashion in which John Banville draws the reader into this hypnotic and disturbing world is non pareil, and the very complex relationships between his brilliantly delineated cast of characters are orchestrated with a master's skill. As in such books as Shroud and The Book of Evidence, the author eschews the obvious at all times, and the narrative is delivered with subtlety and understatement. The genuine moments of drama, when they do occur, are commensurately more powerful. --Barry Forshaw

Comment by sionnach, 10 months ago

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:35:56 +0000

In this taut, compelling, magisterial work, we see an insightful and gripping author at the top of his game, weaving a rich, lustrous, tapestry that transcends the genre. Elegant and scrupulous, intermittently poignant and subtle, Orwell eschews the jejune and the obvious, yet manages to limn a hauntingly evocative miniature of the Zeitgeist in this daring, nuanced, compelling account of a night spent in an air-raid shelter. In luminous, lapidary prose, with his customary brio, he has penned a spellbinding, fully imagined, piercingly scintillating* tour-de-force, which is surely destined to be a classic in years to come

*: or scintillatingly piercing, if you prefer; other permissible substitutions include 'numinous' for 'luminous', and 'elan' for 'brio' :-)

Comment by bestiary, about 1 year ago

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:14:15 +0000

ha! not five sentences into this article and all i could think of was this list (er, article).

The actor who plays the Joker in a blockbuster 2008 movie is gone. The cartoonist who created the Joker in 1939 is still around. He's Jerry Robinson, and he thinks the late Heath Ledger's acting turn in "The Dark Knight" is "a tour de force."

"A brilliant performance," said Robinson, 86, when E&P reached him by phone at the currently running Comic-Con in San Diego. "Very nuanced."

Comment by reesetee, about 1 year ago

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:34:40 +0000

Sionnach, your masterful reply denotes a Wordie member at the top of his game. In a deceptively simple paragraph, you have taken the reader on a rollicking yet darkly comic journey through the contrived nuances of list reviews. A fully imagined and tumultuous read.

Oh--and taut, too.

Comment by sionnach, about 1 year ago

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:11:32 +0000

Reesetee: your spare, haunting prose heralds the arrival of a bold new talent. With a deft, engaging touch you have limned an understated prose poem almost Nabokovian in its precisely honed legerdemain. A trompe l'oeil romp that will delight both discerning readers of klassy literary fiction and drooling Tom Klancy fans alike.

Comment by reesetee, about 1 year ago

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:35:07 +0000

Sionnach, this list weaves a rich tapestry of poignant and compelling words. Its highly engaging prose transcends the genre of Wordie lists.

*choke*

Sorry. I knew I couldn't pull that off with a straight face.