Review: John Banville’s “Doctor Copernicus”

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John Banville is perhaps Ireland’s greatest living novelist, but his works often take a bit of a trudge to get though (Booker winner The Sea was worth it, but it did feel like the author was more interested in the words than the story at some points.)

Well, Doctor Copernicus, now 35 years old, shows this is not some relatively recent affectation on the author’s part. Certainly do not make the mistake (as I did) of expecting that, as Banville has also written of Kepler and Newton, this will consider the science as well as the man.

I do not want to be too negative, the book was a decent enough way to pass the time. But if you want something really juicy to read try “The Sleepwalkers” instead.

Related articles

• Can Pulp Win the Booker? (thedailybeast.com)
• For Copernicus, A ‘Perfect Heaven’ Put Sun At Center (npr.org)
• A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionised the Cosmos by Dava Sobel: review (telegraph.co.uk)
• Alok Jha meets Dava Sobel to discuss her new book on Copernicus (guardian.co.uk)
• Mikołaj Kopernik (projecteureka.wordpress.com)