2007-11-07 Subtle and Impressive

Unlike other reviewers, I came to 'Ghosts' without knowledge of the previous books. I doubt my enjoyment could have been greater if I had read its predecessors.

'Ghosts' is an imaginative and poetic meditation on repentance and atonement, on self-identity and self-estrangement. It follows the thoughts of an ex-convict released after serving time for murder as he spends his days reforming his tattered existence on a secluded island inhabited by the mysterious 'Professor' and the equally elusive 'Licht'. The nameless narrator experiences a whole tapestry of fleeting emotions and terrors finally culminating in a dream-like retrospective of the day he was released.

Banville's language is, as ever, finely judged but those looking for a traditional plot or character interactions would do better to look elsewhere. Recommended.