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“Banville is a glorious stylist whose prose holds
sustaining pleasures…You keep turning the pages just to gather more of these
bouquets. But when Banville waxes philosophic he’s even better; he’s heartbreakingly
poignant…[A] rich and strange novel, as ambitious in its reach as it is
delightful to read. This god has outdone himself.”
— Newsday
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“A major work of Shakespearean imagination,
Banville’s fifteenth novel is among his best.”
— Austin American-Statesman
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“Like Nabokov, Banville has a wide-ranging
intellect and a rather godlike view of the power of fiction—and, like Nabokov,
he’s got the goods to back it up. The
Infinities is an inventive melding of myth and realism, a sly and poignant
tale of lust and loss, but above all it is a joy to read for the sheer beauty
of its language.”
— St. Petersburg Times
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“Characteristically gorgeous.”
— Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
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“Banville may have surpassed himself with the
brilliance and introspection of his writing in [this] mythic novel.”
— Buffalo News
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“Banville’s best and brightest work…Masterful.”
— Bookforum
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“Spellbinding.”
— Finacial Times
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“A
Midsummer Night’s Dream of a story…Pure pleasure.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune
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“Intriguing, complex, and ultimately elusive, The Infinities manages, through divine
sleight of mind, to bring glimmers of possibility to its dark characters: as
such, it is a novel for our hopeless times.”
— Irish Times
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“The Infinities is a Beethoven string quartet of
a novel. It deals with huge ideas—plenty of them—and in doing so, breaks new
ground in its own medium…A masterpiece of a book.”
— Daily Telegraph (London)
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“Mesmerizing…The
Infinities is rife with mischief, as well as godly/authorial omniscience,
irony, and wordplay, but what warms and anchors it is its humanity.”
— Miami Herald
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“Entrancing…Banville achieves real depth in this
alternately grave and bawdy exploration of the nature of time, the legacy of
grief, and the costs and sources of inspiration.”
— San Francisco Chronicle
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“Dazzling…Banville is, without question, one of
the great living masters of English-language prose. The Infinities is a
dazzling example of that mastery.”
— Los Angeles Times
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“A writer of protean powers…[Banville] retains
his standing as one of the world’s most exquisite stylists in this sublimely
acerbic and mischievous tale about the timeless mysteries of love and death…With
odd details (cars powered by seawater) and intricate musings over the
complexities of consciousness and the cosmos, Banville creates a bewitching
world in which to ponder what it is to be human.”
— Booklist (starred review)
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“In his first novel since the 2005 Man Booker
Prize-winning The Sea, Banville
reminds the world that he is one of the best prose stylists at work today…Choosing
introspective character description over rich plotlines, Banville here puts his
writing prowess on full display.”
— Library Journal
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“Even more pristine than his Booker-winning The Sea.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“[Banville’s] latest novel…is haunting,
beautiful, and perhaps even stranger than those that preceded it…Ultimately, The Infinities is a kind of mystery
novel, one that respects its mysteries too much to try to resolve them. The
real subject of this unforgettable, beautifully written book is nothing less
than the enigma of mortal existence. And who better than a cast of lusty,
bemused, mischievous, and quite possibly imaginary immortals to cast a new
light on that?”
— Washington Post
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“In a narrative that makes intricate use of this
material’s mythic, dramatic, and philosophical possibilities while remaining
improbably comedic…Banville manages to write compassionately about his mortals
without sacrificing his deities’ exalted wit and wisdom. And always, even as
this story prepares to takes tragic turns, his agility is abundantly evident.”
— New York Times
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“Beautifully written, perversely entertaining,
and well worth a close look.”
— Kirkus Reviews