This year is, unbelievably, the 120th anniversary of H.G. Wells’ The First Men in the Moon. The spacefaring adventure was published in 1901, over 60 years before the real moon landings, and was up-to-date with the science that was known at the time. We can only imagine what it must have been like to read at the time, how exciting the descriptions of space travel must have been, and how awe-inspiring the fictional account of being on the moon.
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The Mark and the Void is a big, important novel, but it doesn’t feel that way. Paul Murray has infused the book with a lightness of touch and a sense of humour that belies its significant themes. It follows a French banker named living in Dublin during the banking crisis, who meets a writer named Paul (an alter-ego of Murray). Paul is shadowing Claude looking for new material for a book; he wants an ‘everyman’ protagonist to show the humanity of the hated bankers. But Paul isn’t telling Claude everything, and as the fortunes of the country change, so do theirs.
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Atticus Book ReviewsBook reviews and reading recommendations written by volunteers and friends of the shop! |
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