The Singularities had been waiting on my bookshelf for quite some time when I finally concluded that the novel was next in line. At first I was enthralled: a narrator who is the son of a god, people who have nothing in common being linked to each other, some strange twists in time and several interestingly sounding plots. This was going to be good fun.
Alas, you might have guessed: my pleasure in reading The Singularities evaporated with the pages. The main reason: the narrator kind of disappeared, interesting elements and plots just faded away, having the novel depend on its characters and writing.
To start with the last: there is no denying that Banville is a good writer. His thoughts are well formulated, his sentences often complex though perfectly put together. They are a joy to read. So if you are one of those people for whom excellent writing suffices, this is one to read. Banville’s The Singularities will make your day.
In The Singularities several characters make an appearance. Apparently some of them recurring from older Banville novels. Unfortunately I am not one of those people who can remember all the protagonists in all the novels they’ve read and who will immediately recognise a familiar one. As far as I was concerned all of them were fresh and new. References to a ‘past’ I did not recall becoming more and more annoying..
The first main character who makes an appearance is Freddy Montgomory aka Felix Mordaunt. He is just released from prison and returns to his ancestral home, only to find the people living there, the Godwins, claiming the house has been in their family for generations. The first sign of something called the Brahma theory, a mathematical concept developed by Adam Godwin predicting that there are multiple universes and allowing for Freddy and the Godwins to have the same ancestral home.
The Brahma theory is mentioned often, sometimes an example of its consequence is given. Unfortunately the Brahma theory is not exactly worked out any further in the novel, there are mere referrals to the world changing due to the theory. Referrals that are left slightly hanging about, leaving me to wonder why Banville added them in the first place. One of those plots just melting away.
The other characters might not have been in prison for murder, they do all appear to be troubled. Being the wife of an unfaithful man, not being able to bear children, being the ordinary son of a brilliant scientist, being a mediocre scientist having a crush on women who are beyond his league or someone dying from a mysterious disease. Elements that could have led to interesting plots if it were not for Banville’s choice to not embroider on the plots he introduced earlier. Leaving the reader with interesting characters left to their own devices. The novel ending somewhere in the middle of a birthday party exemplifies its plotless existence.
As you might have figured I do like my novels to have a basic plot, definitely not to tempt me with plots that are left dangling. I can face a plotless novel, I do not care for novels that – for whatever reason – abort their plots and leave them to fade away. The Singularities turned out to be hard work for me; I found myself getting more and more bored with the interaction between the characters, despite those interactions being perfectly worded.
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