What do you think?
Rate this book
El Lèmur
John Glass ha abandonat la seva carrera periodística per escriure la biografia autoritzada del seu sogre, Bill Mulholland, magnat de la comunicació i antic agent de la CIA. Un encàrrec enverinat que capgirarà la plàcida vida en què s'ha acomodat. I per advertir-lo del perill que corre, res millor que un cadàver, el de l'investigador amb cara de lèmur que contracta per aprofundir en els obscurs secrets de la seva família política. Qui hi ha darrere d'aquest assassinat i què en sabia el Lèmur per merèixer la mort? Dues qüestions que Glass haurà d'esbrinar abans que es descobreixi algun secret més… o algun altre cos.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
44 people are currently reading
614 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Black
33 books675 followersPen name for John Banville
Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties; his mother was a housewife. He is the youngest of three siblings; his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a reminiscence of growing up in Wexford.
Educated at a Christian Brothers' school and at St Peter's College in Wexford. Despite having intended to be a painter and an architect he did not attend university. Banville has described this as "A great mistake. I should have gone. I regret not taking that four years of getting drunk and falling in love. But I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted to be free." After school he worked as a clerk at Aer Lingus which allowed him to travel at deeply-discounted rates. He took advantage of this to travel in Greece and Italy. He lived in the United States during 1968 and 1969. On his return to Ireland he became a sub-editor at the Irish Press, rising eventually to the position of chief sub-editor. His first book, Long Lankin, was published in 1970.
After the Irish Press collapsed in 1995, he became a sub-editor at the Irish Times. He was appointed literary editor in 1998. The Irish Times, too, suffered severe financial problems, and Banville was offered the choice of taking a redundancy package or working as a features department sub-editor. He left. Banville has been a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books since 1990. In 1984, he was elected to Aosdána, but resigned in 2001, so that some other artist might be allowed to receive the cnuas.
Banville also writes under the pen name Benjamin Black. His first novel under this pen name was Christine Falls, which was followed by The Silver Swan in 2007. Banville has two adult sons with his wife, the American textile artist Janet Dunham. They met during his visit to San Francisco in 1968 where she was a student at the University of California, Berkeley. Dunham described him during the writing process as being like "a murderer who's just come back from a particularly bloody killing". Banville has two daughters from his relationship with Patricia Quinn, former head of the Arts Council of Ireland.
Banville has a strong interest in vivisection and animal rights, and is often featured in Irish media speaking out against vivisection in Irish university research.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benjam...
Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties; his mother was a housewife. He is the youngest of three siblings; his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a reminiscence of growing up in Wexford.
Educated at a Christian Brothers' school and at St Peter's College in Wexford. Despite having intended to be a painter and an architect he did not attend university. Banville has described this as "A great mistake. I should have gone. I regret not taking that four years of getting drunk and falling in love. But I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted to be free." After school he worked as a clerk at Aer Lingus which allowed him to travel at deeply-discounted rates. He took advantage of this to travel in Greece and Italy. He lived in the United States during 1968 and 1969. On his return to Ireland he became a sub-editor at the Irish Press, rising eventually to the position of chief sub-editor. His first book, Long Lankin, was published in 1970.
After the Irish Press collapsed in 1995, he became a sub-editor at the Irish Times. He was appointed literary editor in 1998. The Irish Times, too, suffered severe financial problems, and Banville was offered the choice of taking a redundancy package or working as a features department sub-editor. He left. Banville has been a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books since 1990. In 1984, he was elected to Aosdána, but resigned in 2001, so that some other artist might be allowed to receive the cnuas.
Banville also writes under the pen name Benjamin Black. His first novel under this pen name was Christine Falls, which was followed by The Silver Swan in 2007. Banville has two adult sons with his wife, the American textile artist Janet Dunham. They met during his visit to San Francisco in 1968 where she was a student at the University of California, Berkeley. Dunham described him during the writing process as being like "a murderer who's just come back from a particularly bloody killing". Banville has two daughters from his relationship with Patricia Quinn, former head of the Arts Council of Ireland.
Banville has a strong interest in vivisection and animal rights, and is often featured in Irish media speaking out against vivisection in Irish university research.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benjam...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 275 reviews
August 28, 2012
Full disclosure here, after reading the announcement that John Banville writing as Benjamin Black would write as Raymond Chandler for a new Philip Marlowe novel I decided the scenario was too ridiculous for words and had to read what something so schizophrenic might be like before he ruins Chandler.
And boy was I suprised, this is one of the worst pices of fiction I've ever read, it's lazy and unimaginitive and deadly boring. The only plus I could point to is that the guy can evoke a sense of place, but if you can't evoke a sense of New York in your writing you may as well give up and become a traffic warden or something.
The characters are cliches and uninspired. The tedious Dan Brown endings to chapters are obvious and the only paragraphs that contain plot movement. For crime fiction there's no mystery and only lip service paid to the crime. For a thriller there are no thrills. The entire work reads like a half baked attempt to capture the essence of Martin Amis that failed miserably.
Give it a miss, just don't bother considering it at all and pray that he does a better job with Philip Marlowe.
And boy was I suprised, this is one of the worst pices of fiction I've ever read, it's lazy and unimaginitive and deadly boring. The only plus I could point to is that the guy can evoke a sense of place, but if you can't evoke a sense of New York in your writing you may as well give up and become a traffic warden or something.
The characters are cliches and uninspired. The tedious Dan Brown endings to chapters are obvious and the only paragraphs that contain plot movement. For crime fiction there's no mystery and only lip service paid to the crime. For a thriller there are no thrills. The entire work reads like a half baked attempt to capture the essence of Martin Amis that failed miserably.
Give it a miss, just don't bother considering it at all and pray that he does a better job with Philip Marlowe.
August 27, 2018
Δεύτερο βιβλίο του Μπέντζαμιν Μπλακ που διαβάζω (ψευδώνυμο του Τζον Μπάνβιλ), μετά το πολύ καλό "Η ξανθιά με τα μαύρα μάτια" που διάβασα το 2015. Εδώ έχουμε να κάνουμε με κάτι πολύ διαφορετικό, τόσο θεματικά, όσο κυρίως ποιοτικά. Λοιπόν, δεν ήταν τόσο κακό βιβλίο όσο περίμενα με βάση τη βαθμολογία του στο Goodreads, αλλά ήταν τουλάχιστον όσο μέτριο αναμενόταν. Η αλήθεια είναι ότι σε κανένα σημείο δεν ένιωσα κάτι για την πλοκή -που μου φάνηκε πολύ επιφανειακή και μάλλον ανιαρή-, ή για τους χαρακτήρες, που θα έλεγα ότι ήταν εξαιρετικά αδιάφοροι, δίχως κανένα βάθος. Είναι φανερό ότι ο συγγραφέας ξέρει να γράφει, αλλά εδώ δεν ήταν σε μεγάλη φόρμα όσον αφορά την ιστορία. Να τον πίεσε κάποιος εκδότης ώστε να βγάλει ένα μικρό θρίλερ μυστηρίου, μέσα σε λίγες εβδομάδες; Ποιος ξέρει. Πάντως σαν βιβλίο δεν έχει να προσφέρει και κάτι το καινούργιο ή το ιδιαίτερο στους λάτρεις του είδους, που λίγα πράγματα θα νιώσουν διαβάζοντάς το. Βέβαια, μου άρεσε σε μεγάλο βαθμό το όλο σκηνικό, καθώς και η γραφή του -με τις περιγραφές του να δημιουργούν μια κάποια νουάρ ατμόσφαιρα-, αλλά μέχρι εκεί.
November 18, 2020
Benjamin Black es el seudónimo de John Banville cuando escribe novela negra, como es el caso en este tenso thriller con intriga familiar incluida.
John Glass es un periodista casado con la hija del magnate de la comunicación y exagente de la CIA, Bill Mulholland. Recibe el encargo de escribir la biografía autorizada de su suegro y una de sus fuentes es un estrafalario joven con aspecto de lémur. Chantaje, adulterio, asesinato y traición se suceden en una trama clásica de novela negra, que mantiene el interés aunque el desenlace no acabe de entusiasmar.
Entretenida y bien escrita, como toda la obra de este autor, es una interesante incursión en la literatura de género, aunque no sea su mejor obra.
John Glass es un periodista casado con la hija del magnate de la comunicación y exagente de la CIA, Bill Mulholland. Recibe el encargo de escribir la biografía autorizada de su suegro y una de sus fuentes es un estrafalario joven con aspecto de lémur. Chantaje, adulterio, asesinato y traición se suceden en una trama clásica de novela negra, que mantiene el interés aunque el desenlace no acabe de entusiasmar.
Entretenida y bien escrita, como toda la obra de este autor, es una interesante incursión en la literatura de género, aunque no sea su mejor obra.
August 20, 2008
Somewhere around the end of the first chapter I started feeling like this book was going to be a disappointment. And that feeling never really went away.
I wanted to like it, but I never cared about any of the characters and the plot twists were more like plot leaps, having little connection to what had come before.
I wanted to like it, but I never cared about any of the characters and the plot twists were more like plot leaps, having little connection to what had come before.
May 29, 2016
John Glass used to be a cutting edge investigative reporter in Ireland. But he sold his soul when he married into a wealthy New York family who are hiding secrets. His father-in-law, owner of a communications company and a former CIA spook, hired him to write his biography. Glass is working in an upscale office on the 39th floor of a building owned by his father-in-law, surrounded by glass windows--but he is afraid of heights. He is miserable and dizzy in his posh location.
Glass is considering hiring a researcher to do background work for the biography. A few days later he receives a threatening phone call from the strange researcher (the Lemur) that he has discovered some scandalous information, and demanding money to keep things quiet.
The novella shows a family seduced by wealth and power. Even though they are living an upper class life, they are not enjoying it. The mystery itself is not too exciting, but the flawed characters in the family are well portrayed. This was originally a serialized novella in the New York Times Magazine. I read it as a "waiting room" book while accompanying relatives to appointments since it was a short book that easily fit into my purse.
Glass is considering hiring a researcher to do background work for the biography. A few days later he receives a threatening phone call from the strange researcher (the Lemur) that he has discovered some scandalous information, and demanding money to keep things quiet.
The novella shows a family seduced by wealth and power. Even though they are living an upper class life, they are not enjoying it. The mystery itself is not too exciting, but the flawed characters in the family are well portrayed. This was originally a serialized novella in the New York Times Magazine. I read it as a "waiting room" book while accompanying relatives to appointments since it was a short book that easily fit into my purse.
April 26, 2010
Fairly good writing but totally lame mystery. One of the thinnest plots I've ever encountered. I thought the physical description of "The Lemur" made him sound more like a marmoset, but I won't belabor mammalian classification.
One good line I got from this book:
"The internet is not the world, my dear." Amen, brother!
One good line I got from this book:
"The internet is not the world, my dear." Amen, brother!
June 11, 2025
A stylish, literary short novel, written under a pen name. The potting is gripping and the situations plausible. The characters are mostly believable (the weakest character development was "Cleaver").
The nickname "Wild Bill" for a CIA bigwig inevitably makes one think of Wild Bill Donovan. Perhaps that was the author's intention.
The nickname "Wild Bill" for a CIA bigwig inevitably makes one think of Wild Bill Donovan. Perhaps that was the author's intention.
May 18, 2015
Oh, John, John, John. Stop dressing up as Benjamin. This is the last, although it's also my first, straw. Not all hard-boiled fiction is 'easy', you smug little man. You make it look like a parody. Your characters say things that the embarrassed John Banville is saying in your head (e.g. 'You speak like you're in a bad play.' or 'I don't understand this.' or 'What?').
One of the most unimaginative plots imaginable. But the extra star is given to Banville's always sensuous descriptive quality. He can describe bird shit beautifully, if he wanted to. But he can't write crime for love nor money. Rather than a lemur, this book should be more of a lemming and throw itself off a cliff.
One of the most unimaginative plots imaginable. But the extra star is given to Banville's always sensuous descriptive quality. He can describe bird shit beautifully, if he wanted to. But he can't write crime for love nor money. Rather than a lemur, this book should be more of a lemming and throw itself off a cliff.
May 17, 2011
John Banville—the writer behind the writer Benjamin Black—used to thrill me with his surprising turns of phrase, peculiar situations and exposition of plot via the medium of a strong narrator’s speculative musing. Now I’ve come to expect these, indeed look forward to them; the thrill now comes from finding the literary nods and winks, the wild meanderings through art and philosophy as well as the damaged and defective characters—and of course the delicious language for which Banville is so well known. In his Benjamin Black books, however, things are a little more plain and straight-forward. This short book, originally serialised in The New York Times Magazine, is Black’s first work set in contemporary time, and in New York City, rather than 1950s Dublin. It also gives us a new protagonist: John Glass, a professional journalist turned first-time biographer, hired specifically to write the authorised life story of his father-in-law, William “Wild Bill“ Mulholland.
Not untypical for Banville, many of the characters are loosely based on a real-life people: Mulholland’s history is clearly based on that of “Wild Bill” Donovan—founder of the OSS (precursor to the CIA); his daughter Louise (Glass’s wife) seems drawn at least partially from the actress Angelica Huston. (Her real-life father, film director John Huston—a naturalised Irish citizen—makes a cameo appearance to announce the main theme of the book.) Naturally, there are skeletons to be found in the closet of a master spy turned business mogul, though they will certainly never be revealed in an authorised biography. Before any in-depth research can start, Glass (perhaps) hires Dylan Riley, the eponymous “lemur” according to Glass‘s first impression, a research assistant who winds up dead a few pages in. Riley is a techie geek, smarmy and derisive; the type who graduated from ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ to real-life electronic cloak-and-dagger stuff without fully realising the physical threats.
Banville/Black seems to have most fun in this novella with names. Glass is, despite his reputation as a world-class investigative journalist, quite clueless. My immediate impression was not that he was Irish, but rather Jewish—an impression no doubt derived from the famous family featured in most of J.D. Salinger’s fiction. The “Wild Bill” connexion is, as mentioned, obvious; the Mulholland may be a nod to the neo-noir film Mulholland Drive. A single reference to Mulholland’s first wife, a film actress of the ‘40s named Vanessa Lane, seems to evoke Veronica Lake. The police captain leading the investigation into the “Lemur’s” death is named Ambrose, like the former light-ship which stood off the entrance to New York harbour, guiding generations of mariners to safe moorings. And finally Mulholland’s protégé and secret saviour Charlie Varriker made me think of the Irish physician-turned-politician Leo Varadkar, recently elevated to a Minister in the current Fine Gael/Labour government.
Ultimately, as the details of the cover-up which required the Lemur’s murder unfold, Glass realises that he completely missed the point; that he “lost the plot” as the Irish say. He’s reminded, as we are, of the advice John Huston gave him years ago in wilds of the West of Ireland: “If you don’t know who the patsy in the room is, it’s you.”
Not untypical for Banville, many of the characters are loosely based on a real-life people: Mulholland’s history is clearly based on that of “Wild Bill” Donovan—founder of the OSS (precursor to the CIA); his daughter Louise (Glass’s wife) seems drawn at least partially from the actress Angelica Huston. (Her real-life father, film director John Huston—a naturalised Irish citizen—makes a cameo appearance to announce the main theme of the book.) Naturally, there are skeletons to be found in the closet of a master spy turned business mogul, though they will certainly never be revealed in an authorised biography. Before any in-depth research can start, Glass (perhaps) hires Dylan Riley, the eponymous “lemur” according to Glass‘s first impression, a research assistant who winds up dead a few pages in. Riley is a techie geek, smarmy and derisive; the type who graduated from ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ to real-life electronic cloak-and-dagger stuff without fully realising the physical threats.
Banville/Black seems to have most fun in this novella with names. Glass is, despite his reputation as a world-class investigative journalist, quite clueless. My immediate impression was not that he was Irish, but rather Jewish—an impression no doubt derived from the famous family featured in most of J.D. Salinger’s fiction. The “Wild Bill” connexion is, as mentioned, obvious; the Mulholland may be a nod to the neo-noir film Mulholland Drive. A single reference to Mulholland’s first wife, a film actress of the ‘40s named Vanessa Lane, seems to evoke Veronica Lake. The police captain leading the investigation into the “Lemur’s” death is named Ambrose, like the former light-ship which stood off the entrance to New York harbour, guiding generations of mariners to safe moorings. And finally Mulholland’s protégé and secret saviour Charlie Varriker made me think of the Irish physician-turned-politician Leo Varadkar, recently elevated to a Minister in the current Fine Gael/Labour government.
Ultimately, as the details of the cover-up which required the Lemur’s murder unfold, Glass realises that he completely missed the point; that he “lost the plot” as the Irish say. He’s reminded, as we are, of the advice John Huston gave him years ago in wilds of the West of Ireland: “If you don’t know who the patsy in the room is, it’s you.”
July 24, 2015
Ενδιαφέρον, μικρό και ευκολοδιάβαστο.
Περιγράφει έναν εγκλωβισμένο ήρωα, βολεμένο στην πλούσια καθημερινότητα του από την οποία επιχειρεί να τον αποσπάσει ο Λεμούριος του τίτλου.
Και ενώ ο Λεμούριος αποχωρεί από το προσκήνιο, ο ήρωας μένει να ξετυλίξει το κουβάρι της ζωής του, των υπαναχωρήσεων και των συμβιβασμών του, οδεύοντας σε μία αμφιλεγόμενη κάθαρση.
Οικογενειακές σχέσεις διαμορφωμένες από σωρεία μυστικών, επιλογές με γνώμονα το προσωπικό συμφέρον, την κοινωνική επιτυχία και το χρήμα και τέλος ξεπούλημα των ιδεών και των πιστεύω χάριν της ανόδου και της οικονομικής εξασφάλισης.
Το τελικό δίδαγμα είναι ότι ο φουκαράς ο Λεμούριος ήταν ο μόνος χαμένος, πιστός σε ό,τι υποσχέθηκε σε έναν κόσμο που πληρώνει για συγκάλυψη όσων υποτίθεται θέλει να έρθουν στο φως.
Περιγράφει έναν εγκλωβισμένο ήρωα, βολεμένο στην πλούσια καθημερινότητα του από την οποία επιχειρεί να τον αποσπάσει ο Λεμούριος του τίτλου.
Και ενώ ο Λεμούριος αποχωρεί από το προσκήνιο, ο ήρωας μένει να ξετυλίξει το κουβάρι της ζωής του, των υπαναχωρήσεων και των συμβιβασμών του, οδεύοντας σε μία αμφιλεγόμενη κάθαρση.
Οικογενειακές σχέσεις διαμορφωμένες από σωρεία μυστικών, επιλογές με γνώμονα το προσωπικό συμφέρον, την κοινωνική επιτυχία και το χρήμα και τέλος ξεπούλημα των ιδεών και των πιστεύω χάριν της ανόδου και της οικονομικής εξασφάλισης.
Το τελικό δίδαγμα είναι ότι ο φουκαράς ο Λεμούριος ήταν ο μόνος χαμένος, πιστός σε ό,τι υποσχέθηκε σε έναν κόσμο που πληρώνει για συγκάλυψη όσων υποτίθεται θέλει να έρθουν στο φως.
December 19, 2023
***-1/2 rounded up to 4*
This was a quick read on audiobook while I decorated my Christmas tree and house today, Dec. 2023! I enjoyed the writing and some of the characters, but I wish they were more deeply explored and defined more deeply. Still, it was interesting from a US and Irish standpoint from a very, very privileged background.
This was a quick read on audiobook while I decorated my Christmas tree and house today, Dec. 2023! I enjoyed the writing and some of the characters, but I wish they were more deeply explored and defined more deeply. Still, it was interesting from a US and Irish standpoint from a very, very privileged background.
August 10, 2011
The hero of The Lemur is John Glass, a one-time investigative journalist who has grown soft through his marriage into money. His wife, whom he married for love before the love wore off, is the daughter of William ‘Big Bill’ Mulholland, an Irish-American electronics billionaire. Big Bill has commissioned Glass to write the ex-CIA man’s authorised biography. Not wanting to do too much donkey work himself, Glass hires a researcher – the eponymous Lemur.
The Lemur is a very tall, very thin young man with a head too small for his frame and an adam’s apple the size of a golf ball. His none-too-clean tee-shirt bears the legend Life Sucks And Then You Die. Pretty soon, the Lemur does indeed die, and the last person he called before being shot in the eye with a small calibre bullet, probably a Beretta, is John Glass. ‘That,’ Captain Ambrose from the NYPD tells Glass, ‘makes you the last one to talk to him alive.’ When Glass says, ‘You mean, the second last’, Captain Ambrose grins. ‘Yeah. Right.’
End of chapter.
Ordinarily, this would lead to a certain amount of dramatic tension, a hero desperate to prove his innocence, possibly a cliffhanging ending. But Glass has a cast-iron alibi, and it’s an alibi the police readily accept. So who did kill the Lemur? What does it all have to do with Big Bill Mulholland? Who cares? None of the characters are particularly likeable, and most of them are either clichés, cardboard cut-outs, or both. The story moves along to its unsurprising conclusion in a way that suggests even Banville is bored with Black’s latest offering.
I read somewhere (I can’t remember where) that Banville was specifically commissioned by the New York Times (I think) to write a Benjamin Black crime serial. This is the result. Described on the dust jacket as ‘a contemporary thriller’, The Lemur is a story in 15 episodes without a single thrill. If you want a taut thriller, don’t buy this book.
But if you are a die-hard fan of John Banville’s writing, and are in the mood for a quick light read that is enjoyable while never taxing, this one’s for you. The writing is a step or two above the usual standard of prose in genre fiction and there’s just about enough narrative drive to keep you interested, if not riveted. And it’s very short. I bought it because I had nothing to read on a bus journey, and I had nearly finished it by the time I reached my destination an hour or so later. When I did finish it, the final twist turned out to be very limp indeed.
The Lemur is a very tall, very thin young man with a head too small for his frame and an adam’s apple the size of a golf ball. His none-too-clean tee-shirt bears the legend Life Sucks And Then You Die. Pretty soon, the Lemur does indeed die, and the last person he called before being shot in the eye with a small calibre bullet, probably a Beretta, is John Glass. ‘That,’ Captain Ambrose from the NYPD tells Glass, ‘makes you the last one to talk to him alive.’ When Glass says, ‘You mean, the second last’, Captain Ambrose grins. ‘Yeah. Right.’
End of chapter.
Ordinarily, this would lead to a certain amount of dramatic tension, a hero desperate to prove his innocence, possibly a cliffhanging ending. But Glass has a cast-iron alibi, and it’s an alibi the police readily accept. So who did kill the Lemur? What does it all have to do with Big Bill Mulholland? Who cares? None of the characters are particularly likeable, and most of them are either clichés, cardboard cut-outs, or both. The story moves along to its unsurprising conclusion in a way that suggests even Banville is bored with Black’s latest offering.
I read somewhere (I can’t remember where) that Banville was specifically commissioned by the New York Times (I think) to write a Benjamin Black crime serial. This is the result. Described on the dust jacket as ‘a contemporary thriller’, The Lemur is a story in 15 episodes without a single thrill. If you want a taut thriller, don’t buy this book.
But if you are a die-hard fan of John Banville’s writing, and are in the mood for a quick light read that is enjoyable while never taxing, this one’s for you. The writing is a step or two above the usual standard of prose in genre fiction and there’s just about enough narrative drive to keep you interested, if not riveted. And it’s very short. I bought it because I had nothing to read on a bus journey, and I had nearly finished it by the time I reached my destination an hour or so later. When I did finish it, the final twist turned out to be very limp indeed.
September 1, 2008
John Banville’s alter ego, Benjamin Black, returns with this slender novella that was serialized in The New York Times earlier this year. Unlike Christine Falls and The Silver Swan, The Lemur doesn’t feature the dour Quirke, but instead dwells on John Glass, a one-time intrepid, passionate journalist, now burnt-out, living in Manhattan, and commencing work on the authorized biography of his father-in-law, William Mulholland. (With a name like that, Mulholland is, of course, a billionaire entrepreneur and former CIA agent.) Glass ropes in researcher Dylan Riley to help him and it’s when the latter is found dead with a bullet in his eye that a Pandora ’s Box of family secrets is unlocked.
Though there isn’t as much depth as in the other Black novels, the prose is crisp and elegant, and things move at a fast clip -- interspersed by apt (and sometimes wry) descriptions of people’s appearances, their motivations and the geography of Manhattan and its environs. It seems clear that Banville had fun writing this one, and reading it affords the same pleasure.
-- edited from www.antiblurbs.blogspot.com
Though there isn’t as much depth as in the other Black novels, the prose is crisp and elegant, and things move at a fast clip -- interspersed by apt (and sometimes wry) descriptions of people’s appearances, their motivations and the geography of Manhattan and its environs. It seems clear that Banville had fun writing this one, and reading it affords the same pleasure.
-- edited from www.antiblurbs.blogspot.com
Read
June 13, 2017Dear Benjamin/John
When we started out together, it was spring and there was promise in the air. Then the summer came and that promise bore fruit, not all perfect but sufficiently sweet to sustain our relationship. By the fall, things had begun to over-ripen, and the rot had set in. Now that winter has come, there is nothing between us but dry dead prose.
I’m sorry, John, but the patsy in this story definitely isn’t me.
When we started out together, it was spring and there was promise in the air. Then the summer came and that promise bore fruit, not all perfect but sufficiently sweet to sustain our relationship. By the fall, things had begun to over-ripen, and the rot had set in. Now that winter has come, there is nothing between us but dry dead prose.
I’m sorry, John, but the patsy in this story definitely isn’t me.
January 18, 2016
I love books and begin each one with a sense of optimism and anticipation. This book, unfortunately, was a huge let down. I found the characters not only unlikeable but boring as well. I really didn't care about the mystery and I found the ending inept. I went back and read some of the 5 star reviews to see if I missed something in the book and concluded that we would just have to agree to disagree!!
March 18, 2009
John Banville writes an really tight quick mystery, the abrupt and disappointing ending kept it from being 4 stars.
May 29, 2017
I enjoyed this book; it was not long so was not full of the twists and turns of a regular crime thriller, nor were there many suspects. However I loved the descriptions and characterisations.John Glass as the once well-known journalist who has seriously lost his way was particularly credible. I particularly enjoyed the way it was left to the reader to surmise the decision Glass would make. Kept me thinking about the book long after I had finished.
June 13, 2022
Αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα απ' τον Τζον Μπάνβιλ υπογραμμένο με ψευδώνυμο. Τίποτα το εξαιρετικό. Είχε κάποιες ιστορίες στο μυαλό του ο Μπάνβιλ και νόμισε ότι όλοι μπορούν να τα γράψουν όλα. Κάποτε το κατάλαβε και σταμάτησε (αυτό ήταν το τρίτο και τελευταίο του). Μακάρι να είχε μείνει στην πρόζα στην οποία όντως είναι εξαιρετικός και δικαίως βραβευμένος.
October 15, 2025
sometimes perusing the library shelves works and sometimes it doesn't. this is a case of the latter.
September 2, 2018
Loved the prose, but the plot left me cold.
April 12, 2011
I wanted to like this book because it's got a cool cover.
I know. I know how lame that seems.
I wanted to like this book because it kept popping up at the library and Third Place Books. I kept bumping into it, and usually I interpret that as I sign I ought to read a book.
I wanted to like this book because it can be read in one sitting. I've been super into novellas lately. They're like the half-marathon for readers. I find that I am a middle-distance reader; short stories are too, uh, short, and I can't usually polish off a novel in one sitting.
I wanted to like this book because "Benjamin Black" is a cool moniker and the real author is John Banville, he of the Man Booker award and the serious Irish literary novel.
But "Lemur" failed to engage me. What do I care if personality-free Upper East Side WASPs spend their time making bitchy comments about one another? The book read in parts like a GQ magazine or something, describing in detail all these fancy restaraunts and clothes. Do I need to know that the character is wearing a tweed cape and jodhpurs? Really? How about she does something! (Novels are supposed to have action! ACTION!) Preferably she do something deliciously evil. That's what women in crime books are supposed to do: double-cross and poison and use sex to manipulate men. These characters were flat. Rich and boring and flat.
Also. The plot of "Lemur" is pretty weak. The ending of the book is unsatisfying. I felt like all the components were there to make a great story, but... somehow it just didn't pay off. The exact same story could've really shone if Chandler or Hammett would've written it. (I don't know why I even bother making that statement. It's like saying, "Look at this painting. It's a pretty good painting. But if Rembrandt would've painted it it would've been better." Well, duh. Not everyone is as great as the masters.)
I will continue to read novellas this week. For some reason I've decided to read a novella a day every day this week. I'll see how that pans out. I'll keep you posted.
I know. I know how lame that seems.
I wanted to like this book because it kept popping up at the library and Third Place Books. I kept bumping into it, and usually I interpret that as I sign I ought to read a book.
I wanted to like this book because it can be read in one sitting. I've been super into novellas lately. They're like the half-marathon for readers. I find that I am a middle-distance reader; short stories are too, uh, short, and I can't usually polish off a novel in one sitting.
I wanted to like this book because "Benjamin Black" is a cool moniker and the real author is John Banville, he of the Man Booker award and the serious Irish literary novel.
But "Lemur" failed to engage me. What do I care if personality-free Upper East Side WASPs spend their time making bitchy comments about one another? The book read in parts like a GQ magazine or something, describing in detail all these fancy restaraunts and clothes. Do I need to know that the character is wearing a tweed cape and jodhpurs? Really? How about she does something! (Novels are supposed to have action! ACTION!) Preferably she do something deliciously evil. That's what women in crime books are supposed to do: double-cross and poison and use sex to manipulate men. These characters were flat. Rich and boring and flat.
Also. The plot of "Lemur" is pretty weak. The ending of the book is unsatisfying. I felt like all the components were there to make a great story, but... somehow it just didn't pay off. The exact same story could've really shone if Chandler or Hammett would've written it. (I don't know why I even bother making that statement. It's like saying, "Look at this painting. It's a pretty good painting. But if Rembrandt would've painted it it would've been better." Well, duh. Not everyone is as great as the masters.)
I will continue to read novellas this week. For some reason I've decided to read a novella a day every day this week. I'll see how that pans out. I'll keep you posted.
June 25, 2020
God-awful. Boring with florid-flourishingly-flowing poetic writing that redeemed absolutely nothing. Its two stars rather than one because I loved the Quirke series.
December 23, 2009
In this third Simenonesque pursuit, serialised for the NYTimes Mag, John Banville (Aka Benjamin Black) takes us across the pond from Dear Dirty Dublin of the 1950s to the concrete climate of Manhattan. The story like all noir fiction revolves around a suspense mystery that Banville unfolds slowly, yet cleverly as the narration moves from page to page.
I must say I liked it better than the earlier Benjamin Blacks - Christine Falls and Silver Swan, mainly because the writing is more simenoneseque . I mean it is more noirish, more economical – more focussed on the plot than the prose, yet, has enough material to sketch the complex ambiguities of the characters. For example John Glass brooding in his failed promise of potential, his unapologetically ostentatious wife who wears Phillip Treacy Hats to hide her forlorn love are well etched yet not detailed.
Lack of detail doesn’t mean that the Banville treatment of prose is lacking. There are delightful paragraphs describing the New York setting and scapes. Vocabulary is rich and allegories memorable. The narration is smooth , though the characters are endlessly meeting for lunches or having drinks on every other page. But hey, what do you expect from Noir Irish fiction?
Negatives? I found the actual plot was a bit predictable to my taste. Perhaps that is because I’ve read a bit of noir crime. In terms of plot I found Lemur no different from an earlier Benjamin Black: a suspense leading onto catholic murder mystery buried in the past. I would like to see Banville (Benjamin Black that is) move into more commonplace characters, with more varied settings. Just imagine Banville describe a meeting between characters in rue de rivole in Paris or one of the settings in a Berlin underground club. Now, THAT would be truly Simenoneseque! Truly Noir!
I must say I liked it better than the earlier Benjamin Blacks - Christine Falls and Silver Swan, mainly because the writing is more simenoneseque . I mean it is more noirish, more economical – more focussed on the plot than the prose, yet, has enough material to sketch the complex ambiguities of the characters. For example John Glass brooding in his failed promise of potential, his unapologetically ostentatious wife who wears Phillip Treacy Hats to hide her forlorn love are well etched yet not detailed.
Lack of detail doesn’t mean that the Banville treatment of prose is lacking. There are delightful paragraphs describing the New York setting and scapes. Vocabulary is rich and allegories memorable. The narration is smooth , though the characters are endlessly meeting for lunches or having drinks on every other page. But hey, what do you expect from Noir Irish fiction?
Negatives? I found the actual plot was a bit predictable to my taste. Perhaps that is because I’ve read a bit of noir crime. In terms of plot I found Lemur no different from an earlier Benjamin Black: a suspense leading onto catholic murder mystery buried in the past. I would like to see Banville (Benjamin Black that is) move into more commonplace characters, with more varied settings. Just imagine Banville describe a meeting between characters in rue de rivole in Paris or one of the settings in a Berlin underground club. Now, THAT would be truly Simenoneseque! Truly Noir!
April 6, 2017
If you pick up this book expecting to return to Dublin in the 1950s in the company of the pathologist-detective Quirke, as I did, you may find it disorienting to realize that you’re in contemporary New York City with a wholly new cast of characters.
Quirke may not be in the picture in this short and tightly constructed murder mystery, but Benjamin Black’s trademark prose is abundant. I find it hard to resist a sentence like this one: “She was attending to her plate of greens with the long-necked, finical concentration of a heron at the water’s edge.” Or this one: “His memories of those days were all hazed over happily, as if he were looking back through a pane of glass that had been breathed on by someone who was laughing.”
The only problem with extraordinary flashes of style like these is that the author’s language sometimes overtakes the story. I become so mesmerized with the words themselves that their meaning can become blurred and the context disappear. With The Lemur, I discover as I write this review that I can’t remember much about the story, only that I enjoyed reading it!
For the record, however, as I learned upon skimming through bits and pieces of the book once again, The Lemur tells the tale of a novelist who has hired a researcher to assist him in preparing a biography his father-in-law has commissioned. The researcher, it turns out, is a lot more than the disdainful young misfit he appears to be. He is, in fact, an accomplished hacker, and in short order he turns up dead. This young man, Dylan Riley, is the lemur of the title for the resemblance his face bears to the animal. The protagonist, a transplanted Irish writer named John Glass, soon finds himself caught up in the ensuing complications of Riley’s murder. Naturally, Riley’s stepfather, the superrich “Big Bill” Mulholland, hovers near the center of the mystery.
Enough said.
Quirke may not be in the picture in this short and tightly constructed murder mystery, but Benjamin Black’s trademark prose is abundant. I find it hard to resist a sentence like this one: “She was attending to her plate of greens with the long-necked, finical concentration of a heron at the water’s edge.” Or this one: “His memories of those days were all hazed over happily, as if he were looking back through a pane of glass that had been breathed on by someone who was laughing.”
The only problem with extraordinary flashes of style like these is that the author’s language sometimes overtakes the story. I become so mesmerized with the words themselves that their meaning can become blurred and the context disappear. With The Lemur, I discover as I write this review that I can’t remember much about the story, only that I enjoyed reading it!
For the record, however, as I learned upon skimming through bits and pieces of the book once again, The Lemur tells the tale of a novelist who has hired a researcher to assist him in preparing a biography his father-in-law has commissioned. The researcher, it turns out, is a lot more than the disdainful young misfit he appears to be. He is, in fact, an accomplished hacker, and in short order he turns up dead. This young man, Dylan Riley, is the lemur of the title for the resemblance his face bears to the animal. The protagonist, a transplanted Irish writer named John Glass, soon finds himself caught up in the ensuing complications of Riley’s murder. Naturally, Riley’s stepfather, the superrich “Big Bill” Mulholland, hovers near the center of the mystery.
Enough said.
July 27, 2012
Tengo un problema con John Banville, o Benjamin Black, el seudónimo que utiliza este autor irlandés para escribir novela policíaca, y es que muchas veces me resulta inevitable imaginármelo manejando los hilos cual titiritero tras el escenario, y no hay nada peor que imaginarte a un escritor frente a su máquina de escribir haciendo su magia. La prosa de Banville es rica, sugerente, perfecta, calificativo este último que utilizan muchos de sus colegas de profesión, como Martin Amis o Don DeLillo, y es entonces cuando me viene a la mente a Banville recortando y puliendo aquí y allá hasta lograr la frase perfecta, cuando lo que yo querría es imbuirme en la historia. Pero supongo que este es un problema únicamente mío. De todos modos, no le quito mérito a Banville, porque es un gran escritor y tiene libros que me gustaron bastante.
’El Lémur’ es el primer libro que leo bajo el nombre de Benjamin Black, y la verdad es que se nota, es un Banville más ligero y menos profundo, donde encontramos al Banville más suelto. La historia tiene como protagonista a John Glass, un periodista retirado al que su suegro, Bill Mullholland, un antiguo agente de la CIA, le encarga que escriba su biografía. Glass requiere entonces de la ayuda de un investigador, Dylan Riley para ahondar en la historia de Bill. Pero en cuanto empiezan a aparecer ciertos secretos, todo se complicará con una muerte que nadie esperaba.
La novela es ágil y de lectura sencilla, aúna crimen, investigación, infidelidades y engaños, todo ello marca del género, y Banville logra mantener la atención sobre la trama, siendo lo más destacado sus personajes, pero hacia el final peca un tanto de previsible. Una novela buena, pero de la que espera mucho más.
’El Lémur’ es el primer libro que leo bajo el nombre de Benjamin Black, y la verdad es que se nota, es un Banville más ligero y menos profundo, donde encontramos al Banville más suelto. La historia tiene como protagonista a John Glass, un periodista retirado al que su suegro, Bill Mullholland, un antiguo agente de la CIA, le encarga que escriba su biografía. Glass requiere entonces de la ayuda de un investigador, Dylan Riley para ahondar en la historia de Bill. Pero en cuanto empiezan a aparecer ciertos secretos, todo se complicará con una muerte que nadie esperaba.
La novela es ágil y de lectura sencilla, aúna crimen, investigación, infidelidades y engaños, todo ello marca del género, y Banville logra mantener la atención sobre la trama, siendo lo más destacado sus personajes, pero hacia el final peca un tanto de previsible. Una novela buena, pero de la que espera mucho más.
November 29, 2011
It is a very small book but a very strong and powerful one. Although I do have to agree that at times it feels almost rushed towards the end. About half-way through the book, feeling how thin the rest of the book was, I kept wondering how Black is going to wrap up a story that seems to want to blow up, but I think the book was ended very skillfully, and I was left feeling, that feeling I get sometimes when I get to the end of a very good book, it sits around for a while, swirling inside.
I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, but I don't think it is a very conventional thriller. It leaves the reader at a very tricky place, there is no clear resolution, which I think was a really bold decision on Black's part. It really takes a very skillful writer to do that to a reader and have it work (at least for me it did). I loved where Black placed me at the end of the book.
Other than the ending, I simply love the way Black writes. He has a great sense of humor and timing. I want to go back and read it a second time. That said, I can see why some would feel dissatisfied with the book. One never gets to delve too deeply into the characters/setting/even the plot, but there is great economy in Black's writing and plot. I am quite impressed with how much Black has packed into 132 pages. It's just been such a great experience reading THE LEMUR.
And I guess I'll just end by saying that albeit the thin plot, this book is quite nicely constructed, and it did keep me in suspense.
I think this is really a great book. Atypical, because I think the moral burden of the story lies outside of the narrative. It is not laid upon the shoulder of our protagonist, but the reader. Read it, and find out for yourself!
I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, but I don't think it is a very conventional thriller. It leaves the reader at a very tricky place, there is no clear resolution, which I think was a really bold decision on Black's part. It really takes a very skillful writer to do that to a reader and have it work (at least for me it did). I loved where Black placed me at the end of the book.
Other than the ending, I simply love the way Black writes. He has a great sense of humor and timing. I want to go back and read it a second time. That said, I can see why some would feel dissatisfied with the book. One never gets to delve too deeply into the characters/setting/even the plot, but there is great economy in Black's writing and plot. I am quite impressed with how much Black has packed into 132 pages. It's just been such a great experience reading THE LEMUR.
And I guess I'll just end by saying that albeit the thin plot, this book is quite nicely constructed, and it did keep me in suspense.
I think this is really a great book. Atypical, because I think the moral burden of the story lies outside of the narrative. It is not laid upon the shoulder of our protagonist, but the reader. Read it, and find out for yourself!
December 30, 2012
I didn't really know what to expect with this book, other than "Benjamin Black wrote it" (rather than his alter ego, John Banville) and "it's standalone, not in the 'Christine Falls' universe".
At first, the "journalist writing a biography but gets sucked into a mystery" theme had me thinking Robert Harris' "The Ghost" (a.k.a. "The Ghost Writer"). However, it took a couple of turns and that image faded, totally leaving my head a little over 1/2 way through.
Some reviewers have criticized the ending, stating it was a bit abrupt. I would agree that the book DOES hit a sudden stop, BUT I didn't think it abrupt at all. The author clearly wanted the book to stop precisely at that point, leaving the reader to fill in the remaining blanks.
It's a quick read - 144 pages (or in my case, 4 CDs on audio). And I thought it worth the time.
At first, the "journalist writing a biography but gets sucked into a mystery" theme had me thinking Robert Harris' "The Ghost" (a.k.a. "The Ghost Writer"). However, it took a couple of turns and that image faded, totally leaving my head a little over 1/2 way through.
Some reviewers have criticized the ending, stating it was a bit abrupt. I would agree that the book DOES hit a sudden stop, BUT I didn't think it abrupt at all. The author clearly wanted the book to stop precisely at that point, leaving the reader to fill in the remaining blanks.
It's a quick read - 144 pages (or in my case, 4 CDs on audio). And I thought it worth the time.
August 18, 2016
I feel lazy for not having gotten around to reading any John Banville after having enjoyed The Lemur as much as I did. There is little I relish more than listening to foreign authors describe America and Americans, for all of their oddities and flaws and positive qualities; this book is a mystery set within an expatriate Irishman's privileged life in America and is full of these kinds of observations. I read that John Banville writes these Benjamin Black books much faster than his literary works (around 1,000 words per day instead of, oh, a sentence a day) yet The Lemur was as crisp and clean and elegant as anything. The plot leaves a lot to the imagination, but I enjoy quiet books. This one is short, but well-paced and pitched and finely pared. I imagine it'd be a fantastic palate-cleanser after having slogged through something long and sprawling.
June 24, 2009
aunque el final decepciona un poco, me ha tenido enganchada un par de días, no tanto por el suspense como por los personajes, el ambiente neoyorkino y el aburrimiento de las clases altas. Seguro que algun otro de Benjamin Black cae
Displaying 1 - 30 of 275 reviews