Xtina's review
The Magician's Assistant
by Ann Patchett
Xtina's review
The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett
Xtina's review
rating:
recommended for: Angelenos considering a move to Nebraska
Pleasantly engaged in and surprised by "The Magician's Assistant," which I enjoyed *far* better than "Bel Canto" (overwrought and overpraised, in my humble opinion). A thoughtful construction puts the reader smack dab in a disconcerting and decontextualized situation--the unexpected death of the protagonist's husband. We acquaint ourselves with the dead magician in real time with his widow as she gradually learns of the dramatic former life that he had escaped and eschewed. Each development, then, is a sincere revelation both to the reader and the magician's assitant of the title. Patchett's tone gracefully keeps her subjects from escalating to soap-operatic pitch (although had I been her editor, I would have advised her to ixnay the deus-ex-machina-dream-visits-from-beyond-the-grave), and it's fun for an Angeleno (or Vietnamese or Parisien, for that matter) to imagine what one's life could have been should s/he have been born on the wintry plains of Nebraska. ...more
