SHROUD, by John Banville

I recently discovered the very talented Irish writer John Banville. The first novel I read by him was Shroud. It's an extraordinarily well-written novel structured as two alternating narratives - the main one a first-person narrative of the protagonist, "Axel Vander" and the second a 3rd person telling of the story, mostly related to Vanders' emotionally disturbed would-be blackmailer. Anders is a complex character who has a considerable degree of self-knowledge. Earlier in life, in the midst of the chaos of pre-WWII Belgium,  he took the identity of a rich townsperson to hide his Jewish identity. Reinventing himself in London and then America, he became a famous literary critic by bluffing his way into high circles of academia. He confronts the deception that has been his life when he receives a veiled blackmail threat from an unknown woman. The story plays out in Turin, where he meets and becomes involved with the woman, Cass, who seems to be some sort of schizophrenic with unclear motives. The novel has some very lyrical and sometimes astonishing stylistic elements and is truly poetic. I later read Banville's earlier novels The Book of Evidence, and The Sea, which was long-listed for the Booker Prize, and found many thematic links and protagonists who shared  asocial characteristics. All-in-all, I found Shroud to be a more subtle and mature work and enjoyed it more.

For a review of the book from The Observer, click here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/oct/05/fiction.johnbanville