The Prestige

Written by Christopher Priest and made into a brilliant film starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlet Johannson, Andy Serkis, Michael Caine, and David Bowie, The Prestige is a fantastic book about the rivalry of two families that has lasted for centuries. 

Two nineteenth century stage illusionists, the aristocratic Rupert Angier and the working-class Alfred Borden, engage in a bitter and deadly feud; the effects of which are still being felt by their respective families to this day. 

As I have mentioned before, I am a firm believer in reading the book before seeing the film, however, it must be acknowledged that I occasionally see a film first without realising that it is based on a book. The Prestige was one of these scenarios. I came across this one day when I was happily whiling away the hours in a bookshop and bought it straight away of course. 

Having seen the film first, the book is a bit of a surprise because it actually harbours more than one story. There is the deadly feud between the two families Angier and Borden, and it goes into detail as to how the feud began and everything with the two rival magicians, just like the film. But it also tells the story of how, in the present day, two members from the families meet and grow fond of one another whilst attempting to solve an eerie and chilling mystery of their own. This just goes to show that nine times out of ten, you get more out of reading the book than you do watching the film. 

The book is written in the first person and divided into many parts, each one writing from the point of view of one the central characters: Andrew Westley, Alfred Borden, Kate Angier, and Rupert Angier. For the most part, the book is broken into small chapters, but when reading part four, the perspective of Rupert Angier, it is written as an abundance of diary entries, bringing a change to the style of text and providing more in-dept detail. 

Admittedly, it is a difficult book to get into and you must push yourself and persevere. I only really got hooked when reading part four, which is well over halfway through the book. 

Using simple language, the book itself is easy to read and understand, but it does take some time for the thrills and chills of the story to take hold. 

Filled with drama, suspense, romance, chilling mysteries and sinister plots, The Prestige was a fantastically eerie thriller, one that I could easily read again.