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The Age of Magic
This novel takes us on a journey, a magical, and a literal one. A tightly knit group of filmmakers travel from Paris together to make a documentary. Unknown to themselves they carry a lot of unwanted baggage - fear, anger, jealousy, love.
When they arrive in an idyllic Swiss village ringed by mountains and reflected in a lake, they discover a haunted world that will compel them to confront the demons they have been trying to escape.
A mind-blowingly beautiful book, full of unexpected, poetic and metaphysical revelations.
When they arrive in an idyllic Swiss village ringed by mountains and reflected in a lake, they discover a haunted world that will compel them to confront the demons they have been trying to escape.
A mind-blowingly beautiful book, full of unexpected, poetic and metaphysical revelations.
287 pages, Hardcover
First published October 9, 2014
94 people are currently reading
2115 people want to read
About the author
Ben Okri
86 books996 followersPoet and novelist Ben Okri was born in 1959 in Minna, northern Nigeria, to an Igbo mother and Urhobo father. He grew up in London before returning to Nigeria with his family in 1968. Much of his early fiction explores the political violence that he witnessed at first hand during the civil war in Nigeria. He left the country when a grant from the Nigerian government enabled him to read Comparative Literature at Essex University in England.
He was poetry editor for West Africa magazine between 1983 and 1986 and broadcast regularly for the BBC World Service between 1983 and 1985. He was appointed Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge in 1991, a post he held until 1993. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1987, and was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Westminster (1997) and Essex (2002).
His first two novels, Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981), are both set in Nigeria and feature as central characters two young men struggling to make sense of the disintegration and chaos happening in both their family and country. The two collections of stories that followed, Incidents at the Shrine (1986) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988), are set in Lagos and London.
In 1991 Okri was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Famished Road (1991). Set in a Nigerian village, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which tell the story of Azaro, a spirit child. Azaro's narrative is continued in Songs of Enchantment (1993) and Infinite Riches (1998). Other recent fiction includes Astonishing the Gods (1995) and Dangerous Love (1996), which was awarded the Premio Palmi (Italy) in 2000. His latest novels are In Arcadia (2002) and Starbook (2007).
A collection of poems, An African Elegy, was published in 1992, and an epic poem, Mental Flight, in 1999. A collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, was published in 1997. Ben Okri is also the author of a play, In Exilus.
In his latest book, Tales of Freedom (2009), Okri brings together poetry and story.
Ben Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE in 2001. He lives in London.
He was poetry editor for West Africa magazine between 1983 and 1986 and broadcast regularly for the BBC World Service between 1983 and 1985. He was appointed Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge in 1991, a post he held until 1993. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1987, and was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Westminster (1997) and Essex (2002).
His first two novels, Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981), are both set in Nigeria and feature as central characters two young men struggling to make sense of the disintegration and chaos happening in both their family and country. The two collections of stories that followed, Incidents at the Shrine (1986) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988), are set in Lagos and London.
In 1991 Okri was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Famished Road (1991). Set in a Nigerian village, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which tell the story of Azaro, a spirit child. Azaro's narrative is continued in Songs of Enchantment (1993) and Infinite Riches (1998). Other recent fiction includes Astonishing the Gods (1995) and Dangerous Love (1996), which was awarded the Premio Palmi (Italy) in 2000. His latest novels are In Arcadia (2002) and Starbook (2007).
A collection of poems, An African Elegy, was published in 1992, and an epic poem, Mental Flight, in 1999. A collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, was published in 1997. Ben Okri is also the author of a play, In Exilus.
In his latest book, Tales of Freedom (2009), Okri brings together poetry and story.
Ben Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE in 2001. He lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 200 reviews
November 1, 2014
Hmmm. Beautiful, certainly, in parts. But I feel unsatisfied. In fact, I feel as though I just walked through an art gallery lined with beautiful pictures, but I don't know what the point of the exhibition was. Maybe if I'd read Faust?
January 18, 2015
I picked up this book because it is a beautifully produced little hardback with a gorgeous dust-jacket. Although I wasn’t absolutely sure what it was about, the short description on the inside cover intrigued me. I’m still not entirely sure what this was about because it is very surreal and dreamlike. There are parts of this that felt like Platonic dialogues, and others that reminded me of the strange sequences that you get in Haruki Murakami’s magical realist books. Needless to say that I loved this. It was superbly written and wonderfully compelling, despite the lack of a clear narrative. I bought and read it immediately, within a matter of hours. Loosely, it’s about a group of filmmakers on a train and the weird and sometimes disturbing things that start happening to them. There’s a sense that they have been put together by some malignant exterior force. But if you’re the kind of person that needs clear conclusions in fiction then you should steer clear of this.
December 23, 2014
I cannot stand how many open doors are kicked in in this book. Every single page is one of excellently written quotes but on a whole there is no red-line. The characters do not evolve in the course of the book. Certain events just happen for 4 pages and have no consequence at all. The book contains several walks with spiritual realizations which all the members magically agree on. Not to mention the repetitive way in which these ideas are conveyed. To top it all off it ends with a classic mistake: to describe a certain person or in this case Quylph, way later than it was introduced, leaving the reader confused because he had envisioned it differently the moment it was introduced without description.
Don't take me as an over-rationalizing reader who dislikes books with a spiritual angle, as a matter of fact I adore philosophy. This book is full with repetition, lacks a red line, lacks character development, has poorly written conversations and kicks in too many open doors for my taste.
If you would like an easy, short and accessible tale on basic philosophy and spirituality I would recommend The Alchemist. This feels like a very cheap ripp-off to me. This book is to spirituality what Nickelback is to rock-music.
Don't take me as an over-rationalizing reader who dislikes books with a spiritual angle, as a matter of fact I adore philosophy. This book is full with repetition, lacks a red line, lacks character development, has poorly written conversations and kicks in too many open doors for my taste.
If you would like an easy, short and accessible tale on basic philosophy and spirituality I would recommend The Alchemist. This feels like a very cheap ripp-off to me. This book is to spirituality what Nickelback is to rock-music.
May 2, 2015
I feel frustrated after completing this book. It promised so much but ultimately under-delivered especially given how much I loved Okri's previous book, The Famished Road. The Age of Magic looks beautiful and at times reads beautifully but for the most part I felt like I was missing something. I'm still not sure if it was me or the book missing something but its an uncomfortable read. It feels very stilted, disjointed and inconsistent. Between beautifully scribed moments the book falls short with 2-dimensional characters and very heavy handed dialogue. It felt clunky and unsure of itself. Very disappointing.
February 1, 2024
While I'm definitely a sucker for surrealist, dreamlike prose, Ben's writing almost always leaves me with more questions than answers, yet I keep reading his books. Maybe it's because his pondering is so simple but personal and profound, it feels like you've entered a pocket of time or a breath of peace, as if you're on holiday.
April 24, 2016
4.25 Stars
This was not what I was expecting at all.
I did not have high expectations due to the overall GR rating for the book and the various 1 star reviews, but I ended up pleasantly surprised.
This book starts off very jarring and is often didactic, however the more I read the better it became. All of a sudden I found myself invested in the journey the characters took. The writing style went from being overly poetic to being nicely subtle, with beautiful quotes on life that started off pretentious but then turned into sweet little gifts along the way.
In my opinion, this book feels standoffish at first but it slowly finds its way into you like all good books do.
I also think that if you understand Magical Realism, Absurdism or Existentialism you will really appreciate this. It has a bit of a Waiting For Godot feel and the motif of Arcadia was my favourite part. :)
Definitely recommend!
And side-note: if you are interested in a book with bad reviews, do not be hesitant. You'll find that you might end up enjoying it more than most others.
This was not what I was expecting at all.
I did not have high expectations due to the overall GR rating for the book and the various 1 star reviews, but I ended up pleasantly surprised.
This book starts off very jarring and is often didactic, however the more I read the better it became. All of a sudden I found myself invested in the journey the characters took. The writing style went from being overly poetic to being nicely subtle, with beautiful quotes on life that started off pretentious but then turned into sweet little gifts along the way.
In my opinion, this book feels standoffish at first but it slowly finds its way into you like all good books do.
I also think that if you understand Magical Realism, Absurdism or Existentialism you will really appreciate this. It has a bit of a Waiting For Godot feel and the motif of Arcadia was my favourite part. :)
Definitely recommend!
And side-note: if you are interested in a book with bad reviews, do not be hesitant. You'll find that you might end up enjoying it more than most others.
March 2, 2017
"Some things only become clear much later."
Age of magic is not like the works of contemporary literature that focuses on just an unidirectional grand narrative. The book is more about change, magic, and moreover, a book that is full of ideas. It has the ability to persuade the reader to think deeply. Often dwelling in the corners of unexplored lines of thoughts and perception, this book presents ideas and philosophies- that at any mundane situation would seem to be silly and occasionally, blasphemous even. No matter what you feel about them, the content is surely thought provoking and engaging at the same time.
The disjoint form of narration is often considered by critics to be an hindrance when it comes to storytelling... But Age of Magic is an exception in my opinion. Each chapter is self reliant, and each 'book' is self contained. Put together in a way to present various lines of thoughts sequentially yet giving away just a dash of parallelism. And at the same time each narrative leaves one or more threads that the reader can use later, to join the beads to form a larger piece of art.
Each character involved in the story represents something that corresponds to something else in your real-life. Each place, event is a reference to materialistic symbolism and emotion is expressed via the actions of the characters.
One of the many interesting parts of this book is that, it often leaves undirected references here and there. Some lead to incidents or concepts of our known realm, journeys and other trivial or not so trivial matters of importance... And some references lead to other layers of the story, giving the reader an opportunity to explore the narrative from a different point of view. ...And just when you'll start to think that, you've finally been able to get a hold of the reference and grasp it's true meaning, Okri surprises you completely by unveiling an unique intention.
A book full of lossless ideas and mystery, often touching the borders of realism and magic together through very ordinary events at times, Age of Magic in its true essence is definitely more like a fairytale reconstructed. Surrealism at its best, that's what this book is. Reading it too fast won't be a wise thing to do at all.
Age of magic is not like the works of contemporary literature that focuses on just an unidirectional grand narrative. The book is more about change, magic, and moreover, a book that is full of ideas. It has the ability to persuade the reader to think deeply. Often dwelling in the corners of unexplored lines of thoughts and perception, this book presents ideas and philosophies- that at any mundane situation would seem to be silly and occasionally, blasphemous even. No matter what you feel about them, the content is surely thought provoking and engaging at the same time.
The disjoint form of narration is often considered by critics to be an hindrance when it comes to storytelling... But Age of Magic is an exception in my opinion. Each chapter is self reliant, and each 'book' is self contained. Put together in a way to present various lines of thoughts sequentially yet giving away just a dash of parallelism. And at the same time each narrative leaves one or more threads that the reader can use later, to join the beads to form a larger piece of art.
Each character involved in the story represents something that corresponds to something else in your real-life. Each place, event is a reference to materialistic symbolism and emotion is expressed via the actions of the characters.
One of the many interesting parts of this book is that, it often leaves undirected references here and there. Some lead to incidents or concepts of our known realm, journeys and other trivial or not so trivial matters of importance... And some references lead to other layers of the story, giving the reader an opportunity to explore the narrative from a different point of view. ...And just when you'll start to think that, you've finally been able to get a hold of the reference and grasp it's true meaning, Okri surprises you completely by unveiling an unique intention.
A book full of lossless ideas and mystery, often touching the borders of realism and magic together through very ordinary events at times, Age of Magic in its true essence is definitely more like a fairytale reconstructed. Surrealism at its best, that's what this book is. Reading it too fast won't be a wise thing to do at all.
November 22, 2015
Clearly, I am just not one for metaphysical journeys. This was one of those books that I knew within the first ten minutes that I was not going to finish. Fortunately,I don't come across a lot of these in my reading journey but enough that I know not to trudge through it just for the sake of completion. Therefore, I am not in a position to be able to recommend it to the normal crew.
NB: of course, forgot to mention his award for the "Bad sex in Fiction Awards 2014 for the immortal line - ""When his hand brushed her nipple it tripped a switch and she came alight."
NB: of course, forgot to mention his award for the "Bad sex in Fiction Awards 2014 for the immortal line - ""When his hand brushed her nipple it tripped a switch and she came alight."
October 24, 2015
Could not finish this narrative of randomness. Made it to page 183 of 285, and said enough.
Hope the film makers find what they're looking for... But probably not the point at all.
Frankly, if you can't show me the point by the halfway point, Ben, I don't see the point. Get it?
Hope the film makers find what they're looking for... But probably not the point at all.
Frankly, if you can't show me the point by the halfway point, Ben, I don't see the point. Get it?
November 7, 2014
Beautiful. It left me with something intangible and mysterious, a seed of something in my psyche, perhaps.
March 10, 2018
I wish I would have saved it for a time I was traveling. Very thought-provoking.
May 5, 2021
The writing and setting were beautiful, but everything else was monstrously pretentious.
July 9, 2017
In search of Arcadia, the Eden of their dreams are found in and around themselves.
#
The age of magic has begun.
Unveil your eyes.
Pensero, Il Camino (1321)
>>
‘Do you know what the luckiest thing is?’
‘No.’
‘It is to be at home everywhere.’
>>
we don’t like people changing on us. It means we have to change too, and we dislike making the effort. We prefer them predictable.
>>
Only the dead are consistent.
>>
The imp of impersonation came over him.
>>
He thought about how the camera makes one fall in love with an image of oneself, and perpetuates a false reality. What if by sheer repetition we become the person we most often pretend to be? Does that mean there is no authentic self? Are we made of habits, compressed by time, like layered rocks?
>>
But what is personality, he asked himself? The general theory is that it is active, performed, and larger than life. But it seemed to him that personality is the outward presence of an inner accomplishment. It exerts its influence unseen, like the moon on the tide. It sways without knowing that it does. It is akin to talent or an innate gift.
>>
Begin at the beginning; at the mid-point begin again; and at the end return to the beginning. Never move far from the alpha of life. Replenish yourself in the aleph. Renew the core with the alf. In A we begin and to A we return.
>>
‘I want to ask you all what your personal Arcadia might be. What is your idea of a private paradise? Is it a place, a book, a person, a piece of music, a painting?’
>>
The Bhagavad Gita says: More blessed than a thousand words, is one word that brings peace.
>>
And yet, after I’ve seen everything I’ve decided that home, wherever that may be, is the place for feelings of peace. And if I can be at peace with myself then that is the most important thing. I think travelling teaches one that. It teaches you that the grass may be greener on the other side, but that basically most of us are happiest wherever we feel at home.’
>>
There is a moment in all endeavours when, after much effort, one comes upon something. At the beginning one may have imagined that what one is searching for is a castle or a mountain or a lump of fame. But one comes upon something truer and simpler. It is smaller than one imagined, but it is right and best for one. It is what the heart needs. This humble thing will do.
>>
The best thing about death is having lived fully, Lao thought. Lived richly the possibilities. The best thing about life is death. Going back home. Living teaches us that home is best. Home is where we never left, but only thought we had. But you have to live fully to know that. And you have to know where is truly home.
>>
The way you live depends on the pact you made with your spirit.
>>
He stared at the urban ruins. They seemed endless. Tenements and dilapidated buildings. Edges of towns in decomposition. He wondered why the worst aspects of cities were always visible from trains.
>>
Sleeping faces are a gift to the camera. There is in sleep an angel of distortion and a demon of beauty.
>>
he saw, in a flash, a horrible spectacle. He saw imps of regret, goblins of worry, red-eyed monsters of nasty thoughts, giants of deeds done, hybrid creatures of fear, ghommids of envy, bats of guilt, cloven-hoofed figures of lust, beings of terrible aspect. He realised they were the problems, fears, nightmares, worries, and guilt that people carried around with them.
>>
Our past obscures our future, Lao thought, grimly. We travel forwards, but live backwards. Travelling is no escape; only the panorama changes. We are stuck in ourselves. There is no escape, but maybe there can be a change of direction. Maybe true travel is not the transportation of the body, but a change of perception, renewing the mind.
>>
‘Journeys are perverse. We arrive at our destination before we arrive at our revelation.’
>>
The hermeticists say that things on earth are mortal counterparts of things in heaven.
>>
There are twenty-two letters in the Jewish alphabet, twenty-two cards in the major arcana of Tarot, and twenty-two paths on the tree of life.
>>
It is the name of all destinations, but not our destiny. It is written on all faces, the great and the small. It is whispered in our triumphs and our failures.
>>
He should have been cautious about days of rest. That’s when hidden things strike, when the small print bites.
>>
They say that to find order one must go through chaos, to attain success one must pass through the polished gates of failure.
>>
‘We really hear long after we have heard. We hear best in recollection.’
‘The best hearing is when the original words are resurrected in another experience, echoing through time…’
>>
‘Everyone must live in accordance with their own light or darkness.’
>>
in dreams the mind is the stage, and the play staged upon it is our drama, already scripted in the book of life.
>>
One’s breathing is shallow in cities, thought Lao. Shallow breath, shallow life: as you breathe, so you live.
>>
A resting place between journeys.Flowers in a garden.Trees among rocks.A beautiful little town along a highway.An oasis.A weekend among week days.Poetry in the midst of prose.A drawing among words.A song on a journey.Music in the silence.Silence in the music.An act of love in the midst of hatred.A dialectical pause.Holidays.
>>
Deeper and deeper into the maelstrom of their quarrel they descended till they were trapped in the labyrinths of an evil current. They went on hurting one another, wreaking vengeance, raking up the demons of past deeds, as if possessed.
They were unrelenting and unforgiving; but deep down they each wanted the other to say or do something that would turn the anger back into love. But neither wanted to be the first to give in. The shouting and quarrelling satisfied some raw hunger.
>>
‘It’s easier to fool people through their eyes.’
‘But people only really believe what they see.’
>>
‘Remember what Jung said?’
‘Yes. Who looks outside, dreams.’
‘Who looks inside, awakens.’
‘Truth seems upside down.’
‘And inside out.’
>>
It gave him the curious notion that the best way to see is to not see. To unsee. And that in trying to see he only failed to see. Then he had an even stranger notion, that there is a whole world he was not seeing because he was looking; and that whole world, that vast reality, came into being when he was not looking, when he was not trying to see.
>>
humans are stained-glass beings, giving off the colours of their true selves in everything they do.
>>
Mystics say a moment in eternity is a lifetime in history.
>>
#
The age of magic has begun.
Unveil your eyes.
Pensero, Il Camino (1321)
>>
‘Do you know what the luckiest thing is?’
‘No.’
‘It is to be at home everywhere.’
>>
we don’t like people changing on us. It means we have to change too, and we dislike making the effort. We prefer them predictable.
>>
Only the dead are consistent.
>>
The imp of impersonation came over him.
>>
He thought about how the camera makes one fall in love with an image of oneself, and perpetuates a false reality. What if by sheer repetition we become the person we most often pretend to be? Does that mean there is no authentic self? Are we made of habits, compressed by time, like layered rocks?
>>
But what is personality, he asked himself? The general theory is that it is active, performed, and larger than life. But it seemed to him that personality is the outward presence of an inner accomplishment. It exerts its influence unseen, like the moon on the tide. It sways without knowing that it does. It is akin to talent or an innate gift.
>>
Begin at the beginning; at the mid-point begin again; and at the end return to the beginning. Never move far from the alpha of life. Replenish yourself in the aleph. Renew the core with the alf. In A we begin and to A we return.
>>
‘I want to ask you all what your personal Arcadia might be. What is your idea of a private paradise? Is it a place, a book, a person, a piece of music, a painting?’
>>
The Bhagavad Gita says: More blessed than a thousand words, is one word that brings peace.
>>
And yet, after I’ve seen everything I’ve decided that home, wherever that may be, is the place for feelings of peace. And if I can be at peace with myself then that is the most important thing. I think travelling teaches one that. It teaches you that the grass may be greener on the other side, but that basically most of us are happiest wherever we feel at home.’
>>
There is a moment in all endeavours when, after much effort, one comes upon something. At the beginning one may have imagined that what one is searching for is a castle or a mountain or a lump of fame. But one comes upon something truer and simpler. It is smaller than one imagined, but it is right and best for one. It is what the heart needs. This humble thing will do.
>>
The best thing about death is having lived fully, Lao thought. Lived richly the possibilities. The best thing about life is death. Going back home. Living teaches us that home is best. Home is where we never left, but only thought we had. But you have to live fully to know that. And you have to know where is truly home.
>>
The way you live depends on the pact you made with your spirit.
>>
He stared at the urban ruins. They seemed endless. Tenements and dilapidated buildings. Edges of towns in decomposition. He wondered why the worst aspects of cities were always visible from trains.
>>
Sleeping faces are a gift to the camera. There is in sleep an angel of distortion and a demon of beauty.
>>
he saw, in a flash, a horrible spectacle. He saw imps of regret, goblins of worry, red-eyed monsters of nasty thoughts, giants of deeds done, hybrid creatures of fear, ghommids of envy, bats of guilt, cloven-hoofed figures of lust, beings of terrible aspect. He realised they were the problems, fears, nightmares, worries, and guilt that people carried around with them.
>>
Our past obscures our future, Lao thought, grimly. We travel forwards, but live backwards. Travelling is no escape; only the panorama changes. We are stuck in ourselves. There is no escape, but maybe there can be a change of direction. Maybe true travel is not the transportation of the body, but a change of perception, renewing the mind.
>>
‘Journeys are perverse. We arrive at our destination before we arrive at our revelation.’
>>
The hermeticists say that things on earth are mortal counterparts of things in heaven.
>>
There are twenty-two letters in the Jewish alphabet, twenty-two cards in the major arcana of Tarot, and twenty-two paths on the tree of life.
>>
It is the name of all destinations, but not our destiny. It is written on all faces, the great and the small. It is whispered in our triumphs and our failures.
>>
He should have been cautious about days of rest. That’s when hidden things strike, when the small print bites.
>>
They say that to find order one must go through chaos, to attain success one must pass through the polished gates of failure.
>>
‘We really hear long after we have heard. We hear best in recollection.’
‘The best hearing is when the original words are resurrected in another experience, echoing through time…’
>>
‘Everyone must live in accordance with their own light or darkness.’
>>
in dreams the mind is the stage, and the play staged upon it is our drama, already scripted in the book of life.
>>
One’s breathing is shallow in cities, thought Lao. Shallow breath, shallow life: as you breathe, so you live.
>>
A resting place between journeys.Flowers in a garden.Trees among rocks.A beautiful little town along a highway.An oasis.A weekend among week days.Poetry in the midst of prose.A drawing among words.A song on a journey.Music in the silence.Silence in the music.An act of love in the midst of hatred.A dialectical pause.Holidays.
>>
Deeper and deeper into the maelstrom of their quarrel they descended till they were trapped in the labyrinths of an evil current. They went on hurting one another, wreaking vengeance, raking up the demons of past deeds, as if possessed.
They were unrelenting and unforgiving; but deep down they each wanted the other to say or do something that would turn the anger back into love. But neither wanted to be the first to give in. The shouting and quarrelling satisfied some raw hunger.
>>
‘It’s easier to fool people through their eyes.’
‘But people only really believe what they see.’
>>
‘Remember what Jung said?’
‘Yes. Who looks outside, dreams.’
‘Who looks inside, awakens.’
‘Truth seems upside down.’
‘And inside out.’
>>
It gave him the curious notion that the best way to see is to not see. To unsee. And that in trying to see he only failed to see. Then he had an even stranger notion, that there is a whole world he was not seeing because he was looking; and that whole world, that vast reality, came into being when he was not looking, when he was not trying to see.
>>
humans are stained-glass beings, giving off the colours of their true selves in everything they do.
>>
Mystics say a moment in eternity is a lifetime in history.
>>
August 26, 2020
Lao is Jesse. Mistletoe is Leslie. This is a sequel to Bridge to Terabithia. This is the sequel that would have been, had Leslie not drowned on that fateful day. It took me until the very end to realize just why I resonated so strongly with this book. Every page unbinds a knot in the parts of the mind you aren’t even aware are tied up. To any considering reading this, buy it, but leave it on your shelf. It’ll call out to you when you’re ready.
December 26, 2024
couldn’t get behind this one
December 8, 2024
⭐️ 1.50
Read this for book club with Eden, Ellie & Alli. Great quotes but the story wasn’t very clear and didn’t hold my attention.
“There was the belief that life is not accidental, that it was a matter of how to read it.”
“What if by sheer repetition we become the person we most often pretend to be? Does that mean there is no authentic self? Are we made of habits, compressed by time, like layered rocks?”
“Do you think traveling is an escape?” “Yes,” said Bob. “An escape to what?” “Sometimes to the past.”
“People want to stay in touch with their past, but things happen in history. So there’s this continuous destruction and reconstruction.”
“ There is something poignant about having to use words when silence would be best.”
“When we’ve been traveling around I’ve often thought: Oh, this would be a good place to be, and that would be an excellent place to “live. And yet, after I’ve seen everything I’ve decided that home, wherever that may be, is the place for feelings of peace. And if I can be at peace with myself then that is the most important thing.”
“The best thing about life is death. Going back home. Living teaches us that home is best. Home is where we never left, but only thought we had.”
“He became aware that he was living backwards. He was dimly conscious that he was rarely in the present moment, and that, as in a time-lapse, he was always arriving at the place he had been minutes or hours ago.”
“We really hear long after we have heard. We hear best in recollection”
“It’s easier to lose if you have to win.”
To know is to be silent.
Read this for book club with Eden, Ellie & Alli. Great quotes but the story wasn’t very clear and didn’t hold my attention.
“There was the belief that life is not accidental, that it was a matter of how to read it.”
“What if by sheer repetition we become the person we most often pretend to be? Does that mean there is no authentic self? Are we made of habits, compressed by time, like layered rocks?”
“Do you think traveling is an escape?” “Yes,” said Bob. “An escape to what?” “Sometimes to the past.”
“People want to stay in touch with their past, but things happen in history. So there’s this continuous destruction and reconstruction.”
“ There is something poignant about having to use words when silence would be best.”
“When we’ve been traveling around I’ve often thought: Oh, this would be a good place to be, and that would be an excellent place to “live. And yet, after I’ve seen everything I’ve decided that home, wherever that may be, is the place for feelings of peace. And if I can be at peace with myself then that is the most important thing.”
“The best thing about life is death. Going back home. Living teaches us that home is best. Home is where we never left, but only thought we had.”
“He became aware that he was living backwards. He was dimly conscious that he was rarely in the present moment, and that, as in a time-lapse, he was always arriving at the place he had been minutes or hours ago.”
“We really hear long after we have heard. We hear best in recollection”
“It’s easier to lose if you have to win.”
To know is to be silent.
February 19, 2019
The Age of Magic, published by Head of Zeus, is Ben Okri’s first novel in seven years. The author won the Man Booker Prize in 1991 with his novel The Famished Road.
The blurb heralds The Age of Magic ‘intoxicating and dreamlike… a mind-blowingly beautiful book’. The premise of the novel, whilst rather simplistic, is rather interesting. On their way to film a documentary about happiness in Arcadia in Greece, eight ‘weary filmmakers’ spend three days and two nights at a Swiss hotel overlooking a lake, each of them altering whilst they are there: ‘In those days seven people were needed to film such a journey. Along the way they were filming travellers, asking what their idea of Arcadia was, what their ideal of happiness might be. They were making a journey to a place, but in truth they were making a journey to an idea’. Okri writes: ‘They did not notice how the journey was altering them. They did not notice how each place they had arrived at, stayed in, and passed through, was subtly transforming them’.
Okri demonstrates throughout the strength which nature has upon us: ‘the travellers will find themselves drawn into the mystery of the mountain reflected in the lake. One by one, they will be disturbed, enlightened and transformed, each in a different way’. We slowly meet each of the eight involved within the project in subsequent chapters. Okri gives just a little away about them each time; all he tells us about Husk, for example, when we first meet her is as follows: she ‘was thin and efficient and neurotically beautiful in her floral dress’.
The structure within The Age of Magic is interesting; it is split into separate books, each of which is rather short, and the opening chapter consists of just one sentence. Those already familiar with Okri’s work will not be surprised that the novel is largely philosophical and is filled with quite profound musings on human nature: ‘On the whole, Lao thought, we don’t like people changing on us. It means we have to change too, and we dislike making the effort’. The concepts of beauty and fulfilment wind their way throughout, and it contains some quite interesting ideas: ‘To live is to love, evolve, create. To live is to be replenished by the origins’. Magical realism seeps in from time to time, as ‘the lake cast a spell over the world’, and existential conversations are had between various characters as it goes on.
The Age of Magic deals largely with the notions of self-discovery and indentity. Okri presents different concepts well, and the relatively quiet storyline which he has created works as a steady platform for the many ideas which manifest themselves as the novel gains speed. Whilst Okri is perceptive and an intelligent writer, and the novel certainly has depth to it, there is something oddly detached about The Age of Magic; we do learn a fair amount about the characters, but cannot feel much compassion for them due to the manner in which they are presented and the novel is told.
The blurb heralds The Age of Magic ‘intoxicating and dreamlike… a mind-blowingly beautiful book’. The premise of the novel, whilst rather simplistic, is rather interesting. On their way to film a documentary about happiness in Arcadia in Greece, eight ‘weary filmmakers’ spend three days and two nights at a Swiss hotel overlooking a lake, each of them altering whilst they are there: ‘In those days seven people were needed to film such a journey. Along the way they were filming travellers, asking what their idea of Arcadia was, what their ideal of happiness might be. They were making a journey to a place, but in truth they were making a journey to an idea’. Okri writes: ‘They did not notice how the journey was altering them. They did not notice how each place they had arrived at, stayed in, and passed through, was subtly transforming them’.
Okri demonstrates throughout the strength which nature has upon us: ‘the travellers will find themselves drawn into the mystery of the mountain reflected in the lake. One by one, they will be disturbed, enlightened and transformed, each in a different way’. We slowly meet each of the eight involved within the project in subsequent chapters. Okri gives just a little away about them each time; all he tells us about Husk, for example, when we first meet her is as follows: she ‘was thin and efficient and neurotically beautiful in her floral dress’.
The structure within The Age of Magic is interesting; it is split into separate books, each of which is rather short, and the opening chapter consists of just one sentence. Those already familiar with Okri’s work will not be surprised that the novel is largely philosophical and is filled with quite profound musings on human nature: ‘On the whole, Lao thought, we don’t like people changing on us. It means we have to change too, and we dislike making the effort’. The concepts of beauty and fulfilment wind their way throughout, and it contains some quite interesting ideas: ‘To live is to love, evolve, create. To live is to be replenished by the origins’. Magical realism seeps in from time to time, as ‘the lake cast a spell over the world’, and existential conversations are had between various characters as it goes on.
The Age of Magic deals largely with the notions of self-discovery and indentity. Okri presents different concepts well, and the relatively quiet storyline which he has created works as a steady platform for the many ideas which manifest themselves as the novel gains speed. Whilst Okri is perceptive and an intelligent writer, and the novel certainly has depth to it, there is something oddly detached about The Age of Magic; we do learn a fair amount about the characters, but cannot feel much compassion for them due to the manner in which they are presented and the novel is told.
March 24, 2021
There are two good things this book has going for it, one being the stunning book cover. Absolutely love that. The second is the beautifully written poetic metaphors.
In every chapter there are these small, philosophical monologues by the narrative voice, but these don’t account to anything as a whole. There are so many smaller journey taken by many of characters by none of it accounts to anything in the end.
Overall it’s just 300 pages of randomness that occasionally has something worthwhile, the whole book could’ve been condensed to an easy 30 page read. Even then, I don’t think it’d be saying anything.
Needless to say, I regret reading this one. I just don’t think you can put a reader through that many pages of vague anecdote and then have a vague, unremarkable ending to go along with it.
In every chapter there are these small, philosophical monologues by the narrative voice, but these don’t account to anything as a whole. There are so many smaller journey taken by many of characters by none of it accounts to anything in the end.
Overall it’s just 300 pages of randomness that occasionally has something worthwhile, the whole book could’ve been condensed to an easy 30 page read. Even then, I don’t think it’d be saying anything.
Needless to say, I regret reading this one. I just don’t think you can put a reader through that many pages of vague anecdote and then have a vague, unremarkable ending to go along with it.
June 24, 2021
2.5 out of 5. Some of this book was interesting but unfortunately I found myself losing concentration and zoning out when reading (listening). I found this happened more often than not and this ruined my enjoyment to be honest. Maybe I should have read it, rather than listened to it 🤷♀️
Edit: changed the rating to my initial gut reaction. Not for me. Left no impression.
Edit: changed the rating to my initial gut reaction. Not for me. Left no impression.
December 22, 2014
3.5 stars. I really enjoyed some of the middle sections of this book. But I found parts of it cold, abstract, and disconnected. While the ideas were interesting, the dialogue heavy sections were rather tedious. There are lots of Faustian allusions to be enjoyed.
November 8, 2014
Premonitory book in some weird beautiful way. It left me with a feeling of mystery and my eyes open to every sign around me.
September 17, 2018
What was that. Book full of coelho-ish quotes, but as overall story - with no sense at all.
October 4, 2022
Something between Hilton's Lost Horizon and Hesse's Steppenwolf, The Age of Magic serves self-discovery in a hazy, magical realist backdrop of an Alpine village beside a lake. The book's atmosphere resembles a fever dream, with hints of dark foreboding, that materialises differently for each of the eight characters featured. Yet, not all of them get a clear self-rebirth moment (despite that seeming to be the main point of the book) and that didn't work for me. It was almost like the author decided to drop them halfway through, and I felt the book opened up a promise it didn't keep, or one that it got distracted from along the way.
The writing is beautiful and poetic. Featuring multiple direct and indirect references to Goethe's Faust, Okri uses that archetypal story to make a commentary on the human quest for the symbolic ideal of Arcadia, whatever this might mean for each of us. Or at least that's what I understood. The book also introduces the paradox of our need for tangible evidence for even the most elusive, mystical things, which if we obtain reduces those very things to dullness. And thus our search for meaning begins again. In a more literal interpretation, one could also read this book as an elegy to the mountains as -let's face it- they are inherently magical.
I quite enjoyed the poetic narration of the book but did not like the dialogues between characters as much; they felt forced, inorganic, and I thought they disrupted the flow of the story. Overall, I'd say read this book for the prose and atmosphere-building rather than the storyline and plot if interested.
PS: This was my first book from the Leeds Central Library as I've recently discovered the joy of borrowing books instead of overburdening my poor bookshelves. Support your local libraries folks!
WHO IS THIS FOR:
Fans of magical realism, journeys of self-discovery and re-birth, multi-character viewpoints.
FAVOURITE LINE(S) FROM THE BOOK:
"But abstractions defeat us. We need real and visible things. Even miracles must be concrete. [...] We lose our way because we can only believe in evidence. We lose our way with the very senses we use to verify."
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
None
The writing is beautiful and poetic. Featuring multiple direct and indirect references to Goethe's Faust, Okri uses that archetypal story to make a commentary on the human quest for the symbolic ideal of Arcadia, whatever this might mean for each of us. Or at least that's what I understood. The book also introduces the paradox of our need for tangible evidence for even the most elusive, mystical things, which if we obtain reduces those very things to dullness. And thus our search for meaning begins again. In a more literal interpretation, one could also read this book as an elegy to the mountains as -let's face it- they are inherently magical.
I quite enjoyed the poetic narration of the book but did not like the dialogues between characters as much; they felt forced, inorganic, and I thought they disrupted the flow of the story. Overall, I'd say read this book for the prose and atmosphere-building rather than the storyline and plot if interested.
PS: This was my first book from the Leeds Central Library as I've recently discovered the joy of borrowing books instead of overburdening my poor bookshelves. Support your local libraries folks!
WHO IS THIS FOR:
Fans of magical realism, journeys of self-discovery and re-birth, multi-character viewpoints.
FAVOURITE LINE(S) FROM THE BOOK:
"But abstractions defeat us. We need real and visible things. Even miracles must be concrete. [...] We lose our way because we can only believe in evidence. We lose our way with the very senses we use to verify."
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
None
February 2, 2020
What did I just read? We're following a camera crew, filming a documentary in a Swiss village. Whilst there, they experience visions - the text is often repetitive and their visions similar in nature... almost identical, which seems improbable. The characters are dull and don't grow through the book. Instead, the reader is left with a philosophical outpouring which, whilst including the occasional exquisite passage, doesn't seem to have much of a point.
I'm not sure what this novel was trying to say. Maybe I would understand it more if I had read the frequently name checked Faust? This one wasn't for me, unfortunately.
I'm not sure what this novel was trying to say. Maybe I would understand it more if I had read the frequently name checked Faust? This one wasn't for me, unfortunately.
March 23, 2021
I quite like the whimsical feel of the book, especially with regards to the descriptions of mountains, and there's some lines that, on their own, are beautiful. But on the whole, I am so confused by what I just read. I don't get the point of the story at all and knew about 40 pages before the end that the ending could only be unsatisfactory (and it was). Zero character development, far too cryptic and tries overly hard to be "profound", it just reads uncomfortably. Maybe I needed to be more familiar with Goethe's Faust to get it, though I somehow doubt the many references to it actually went far beyond the superficial. Overall a big meh with some nice quotes.
October 13, 2024
no plot just metaphysical viiibessss
this was so chill, it kinda takes you on a journey that invites you to slow down and immerse yourself in its tranquil, almost dreamlike flow.
as a piece of writing it was quite compelling in its simplicity — the perfect travel read actually!!
i found myself jotting down many of its quotes into my journal to keep with me, which says a lot about how resonating it is. it even inspired me to buy Faust, which feels like a natural next step after this book.
this was so chill, it kinda takes you on a journey that invites you to slow down and immerse yourself in its tranquil, almost dreamlike flow.
as a piece of writing it was quite compelling in its simplicity — the perfect travel read actually!!
i found myself jotting down many of its quotes into my journal to keep with me, which says a lot about how resonating it is. it even inspired me to buy Faust, which feels like a natural next step after this book.
April 8, 2018
I liked the whimsical feel of this, the magic, the sense of the unknown and the writing was beautiful. BUT I just didn’t get it. Maybe it’s a higher level than I’m accustomed too, or maybe I wasn’t meant to get it. Either way, this book was a strange one to me.
November 3, 2024
1.5/5. Definitely wasn’t the book for me, reading this felt like I was floating aimlessly in the middle of the ocean. It’s one of those books where it’s just vibes and no plot. It did have some lovely quotes though.
April 6, 2024
Prachtig
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