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The Prestige Section Two

Part 3 - Part 4: July 12, 1900

1. Who visits the Angier family and why do they come? When Kate was two, Clive Borden visits her parents and brings Nicky, who was then two, along. The kids are shuffled off upstairs to play together for most of the afternoon while the adults talked downstairs. Because Kate was small, she doesn't know exactly what went on but she tries to piece things together. She thinks this was yet another attempt to patch things up between the two families. Clive is the great-grandson of Alfred Borden and Kate's father is the great grandson of Rupert Angier. And, later, when Kate realizes this, she realizes that makes Nick her rival. And the meeting honestly doesn't go well? By the time they all sit down to dinner, the kids aren't exactly behaving and that annoys the adults and makes them turn on each other. The kids are then shuffled out of the room again as the adults are left to fight.

2. What happens to Nicky in the cellar? So Kate's parents take Clive down to the cellar to show him Angier's machine. This was, apparently, what they'd been arguing about. So Kate's father turned it on and got in it and the lightning swirled around him and such. Well he started yelling at Clive to get in it because that's what he wanted. So Clive was holding Nicky and handed him to Kate's father. Well Kate's father ended up throwing Nicky into the machine and it killed him. Kate and her sister had snuck down after the adults and watched the whole thing. And at this point, their mother ushered them back upstairs. But they watched Clive clutching Nicky's lifeless body. So after that, the police were never called and Kate's parents told them that the police wouldn't be involved. And they never knew what happened to Nicky's body but they assumed Clive took it with them. It was only after she grew that Kate realized all of this was weird.

3. What is Nicky's relationship to Andrew? They think that's Andrew's twin. Or, rather, Andrew thinks Nicky is his twin. Kate thinks that they're somehow the same person. She thinks that Andrew is Nicky and that he somehow survived that night. But Andrew said that since he stepped foot in that house, he has felt a stronger connection to his twin. It's like his twin is somehow still there and still connected to the house. And since there's no record that Andrew ever had a twin, there might be a chance that because of the accident that night, the records were altered to erase Nicky's existence.

4. What event in Angier's life changes his circumstances? How does he retaliate? His father dies and his brother inherits the estate. Well, his brother decides to completely uproot their lives and basically kicks their mother out of the house (giving her a small cottage on the estate). He allows Rupert to stay in the rooms he presently occupies until he finishes school. Then he decides that Rupert may remain until he's twenty-one since he's technically his guardian until then. However, Rupert moves to his own lodgings but will still receive an allowance from his brother until he's twenty-one. His brother decided to keep the entire fortune for himself and basically not share it with either his mother or brother so Rupert will have to support himself after he's twenty-one. So he starts his career as an illusionist. However, it doesn't really go well until he meets a woman named Julia and she helps him with his performance. They also begin to perform a mentalist act which does help them make some money while Rupert practices and perfects his illusionist act.

5. What caused Angier's vendetta against Borden? So the Angiers discovered Julia was pregnant and by that time, they'd started conducting séances for a small fee this is where Angier's story begins to align with Bordens. So they'd started interviewing assistants to replace Julia during her pregnancy but hadn't found one suitable. So Julia was still assisting on the day when Borden appeared for the second time. During his struggle to expose Angier, Borden shoved Julia and she fell. Well she insisted she was alright and went to bed that night. But she ended up waking up bleeding and they had to rush her to the hospital where she had emergency surgery. She lost the baby and almost died herself. And, thus, Angier's vendetta against Borden began: because he caused the loss of their child. Which Borden, apparently, never even knew.

6. What makes Angier return to his diary after a ten year absence? So after Borden caused Julia's miscarriage, their feud went strong for a while but when Angier's anger eventually calmed down, he stopped fighting. But then Borden shows up at one of Angier's shows and ends up being one of the volunteers during part of the performance. It was during an illusion involving Angier being tied to a chair and six volunteers from the audience tying the knots. Angier and the chair are then lowered into a water tank where Angier is to escape. But Borden both distracted Angier and tied his knot way too tight. So Angier couldn't get out and almost drowned. Thankfully, it was realized in time and he was pulled to safety but it did ruin the show. And Angier felt that Borden tried to kill him and it renewed his anger once more and restarted the fire in the feud all over again.

7. Who is Root and what is the problem with him? When Angier replaced Borden for a booking, he read the contract and saw that a replacement act should be as similar to the act it was replacing as can be. So Angier decided he would try to incorporate Borden's Transported Man illusion. So he found a double: Root. Well, the illusion went well and for a while, it was a sensation. It was requested at all of Angier's bookings and could even double his earnings when performed. However, Root was a heavy drinker and would often show up to shows drunk. Angier tried to talk to him but it literally didn't work. Because assistants know a lot of secrets so they have a lot of power. And when Angier tried to talk to him, he ended up giving Root a raise. But then Borden went on a tour of Europe and without Borden to compete with, Angier no longer needed to include the illusion in his act so he discontinued it and fired Root.

8. How does Borden update his Transported Man illusion? So Angier started performing the illusion again but with a different double. But the audience wasn't impressed? That's when he heard that Borden had changed his act and his illusion was now much better. So Angier visited one of Borden's performances to see how the illusion had changed. Borden incorporated electricity into his act and he would grab two heavy wires and bring them together to make an electrical connection. Then he would vanish from where he was standing (the two wires falling to the floor) and instantly reappear on the other side of the stage. And then, once moved, he produces a flower chosen by an audience member earlier in the show. And Angier doesn't know how it's done but, at this point, thinks that Borden doesn't use a double.

9. What plan does Olivia propose? What is in the envelope she eventually gives Angier? Borden has been advertising for an assistant so Olivia plans to apply for the position. She means to go work for Borden, learn the secret behind his Transported Man illusion and come back and tell Angier. Because she realizes that all Angier really wants. But Olivia leaves and doesn't come back. She sends for all her things without a word to Angier. And, eventually, when she does come to visit him to explain, she tells him he must end his feud with Borden and, if he agrees, she will give him the envelope containing Borden's secret. Angier agrees and when he opens the envelope, printed inside is one word: Tesla.

10. After receiving the envelope, where does Angier go and why do you think he does this? Angier goes to Colorado Springs to meet Nikola Tesla. He goes, presumably, to discover Borden's secret for himself. But he ends up learning a lot about electricity and Tesla's contribution to it. He ends his first visit by Tesla inviting him back and Angier saying he has a proposition. So I think Angier wants Tesla to build him a machine like Borden's.

Section Two Reading Journal

Okay so. I’m still not really ~loving this book. But I’m also not hating it either. Some parts of it I think are really good but some parts just feel really unnecessary. I still really don’t like the grandkids bit. I think that feels really unnecessary. You can very easily create the same twist with the magicians, as seen in the movie.

Angier’s journals, however, are fascinating and I’ve really been loving reading them. I do like that, with the book, we get more of each magician’s side of the feud rather than just seeing the whole thing more straightforward, as in the movie. Seeing it from two different perspectives is fascinating. It feels like you get to know each of the magicians a little better.

However, there are a few very bit changes in Angier’s story. In the movie, the feud started because of Julia’s death. But in the book, Borden causes Julia to miscarry. I honestly think Julia’s death is a little more powerful?? Especially since she’s essentially what started Angier’s career since she critiqued him a lot and worked with him in the earlier stages. That’s just a personal preference but when I read that I was like ????? That doesn’t seem as powerful to me???

Also. Let’s talk about Tesla. Because now I’m super curious. I know we won’t have an answer to this until the next section but Borden also worked with Tesla??? Is he cloning too?? Because I don’t like that as much....? And honestly if that’s what’s happening here... if Angier gets a machine built that’s just like Borden’s and literally just exactly copies him and they’re both cloning, I’m honestly going to be upset. Because I don’t like that at all....? But I’ll have more on that if that’s what’s really happening here. So I guess to be continued after I read the next section.

Honestly, I think I would’ve liked this more if I hadn’t seen the movie first. But since I have, I definitely see a lot of flaws with this book and a lot of things I think the movie did better. So it’s making it really difficult for me to enjoy this book. But, as I said, I’m not hating it. I’m just not really loving it either. But I can’t wait to finish and see what happens!

#trcbooks #2015: the prestige #2015 reading challenge

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