MADreads

Are you watching closely?

March 26th, 2007 Kathy - Meadowridge

If you thought there were a lot of twists and turns in the movie The Prestige, wait until you read the book upon which the movie was based. You’ll be scratching and shaking your head at least as much as you were when you walked out of the theater.

Both book and movie tell the story of two stage magicians in Victorian England, engaged in an obsessive rivalry to possess each other’s secrets. That’s about where the similarities end, though, and that’s the main reason I enjoyed reading the book so much. If I wanted a rehash, I’d just see the movie again. (OK, I did that, too.)

The plot is too intricate to summarize here, and it would give away too much anyway. The book is a little creepier than the movie, and while it illuminates some mysteries, it also introduces others not even hinted at in the film.

Did anyone read the book before seeing the movie? What did you think of the screen adaptation?

Entry Filed under: Literary Fiction