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In Search of the Magic Theater
Why, the rather staid young cellist Sarah wonders, should her aunt rent their spare room to the perhaps unstable Kari Zilke? Like the nephew in Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf , Sarah finds herself taking an unexpected interest in the lodger, but she is unable to stop at providing a mere introduction to Kari’s narrative of mid-life crisis and self-discovery, and develops her own more troubled tale of personal angst and growth, entwined with the account Kari herself purportedly left behind. Generational tensions, artistic collaborations, and even a romance steeped in Greek myth follow as Kari and Sarah pursue their very different creative paths in theater and music. And while Kari seems to blossom post-divorce, Sarah must grapple with the question of what the role of mothers, fathers, aunts, mentors, and male collaborators should be in her life as a young musician.
- GenresFictionLiterary Fiction
254 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2022
2 people are currently reading
2447 people want to read
About the author
Karla Huebner
7 books99 followersKarla Huebner's short fiction and articles have appeared in many places over the years. Her novel In Search of the Magic Theater (Regal House, 2022) won a CIBA Mark Twain first prize and her collection Heartwood was a 2020 Raz-Shumaker prize finalist. Her monograph Magnetic Woman: Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020) won the Czechoslovak Studies Association book award.
She has lived on a boat and worked in factories, offices, theater, publishing, oil refineries, private investigation, and adolescent drug rehab; she eventually became a professor emerita of Art History specializing in Czech modernism.
She has lived on a boat and worked in factories, offices, theater, publishing, oil refineries, private investigation, and adolescent drug rehab; she eventually became a professor emerita of Art History specializing in Czech modernism.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 11, 2021
Two women, a generation apart though their lives intertwine, tell us in their most intimate voices of their quite different, sometimes comical and mostly but not always disappointing adventures with men. And careers, and cellos, and dope. When the quest for satisfaction of the elder and more pro-active of the two takes the stage, we are treated to a simultaneously comical and erudite 'magic theater' production, in which we see their present dilemmas as repetitions or reflections of the ancient myths of Endymion and the goddesses, with pictorial and poetic references through the ages.
In this short tale of two women, in which the men are also treated very sensitively, Karla Huebner calls on her deep knowledge of European classical paintings and verse for a story of desire denied, delayed, and sometimes precariously fulfilled.
Full disclosure: Karla is a long-time friend whose scholarly work on art and art history I have often found as clever and entertaining as her fiction.
In this short tale of two women, in which the men are also treated very sensitively, Karla Huebner calls on her deep knowledge of European classical paintings and verse for a story of desire denied, delayed, and sometimes precariously fulfilled.
Full disclosure: Karla is a long-time friend whose scholarly work on art and art history I have often found as clever and entertaining as her fiction.
Currently reading
May 20, 2023First prize, 2022 CIBA Mark Twain award!
"A well written, unique and unusual novel, which will appeal to readers who enjoy theatre, music, art history and classics." -Readers' Choice
"Karla Huebner’s IN SEARCH OF THE MAGIC THEATER is a well-told, bittersweet tale that evokes the certainties and uncertainties of youth, as well as the regret at the missed opportunities of middle age, and the possibility of redemption." ~Craig Jones for IndieReader
Order direct from Regal House (https://regal-house-publishing.mybigc... for paperback, ebook, and special edition hardback!), or from your favorite bookstore.
"A well written, unique and unusual novel, which will appeal to readers who enjoy theatre, music, art history and classics." -Readers' Choice
"Karla Huebner’s IN SEARCH OF THE MAGIC THEATER is a well-told, bittersweet tale that evokes the certainties and uncertainties of youth, as well as the regret at the missed opportunities of middle age, and the possibility of redemption." ~Craig Jones for IndieReader
Order direct from Regal House (https://regal-house-publishing.mybigc... for paperback, ebook, and special edition hardback!), or from your favorite bookstore.
May 6, 2022
Through the voices of two women, one younger than the other, In Search of the Magic Theater offers up sharp observations and prolonged meditations on art, sexuality, relationships, and grief.
As the women go on their journey of self discovery, we travel with them, with Sarah's chatty voice and the older, more refined, poetic Kari. The tension between the two voices, and the two women with their contrasting views of life kept it interesting.
I enjoyed the flow of the narrative, and only wished for certain events that took place near the end to have occurred sooner.
If you're interested in cogitations on art and culture, as I am, you would love it.
As the women go on their journey of self discovery, we travel with them, with Sarah's chatty voice and the older, more refined, poetic Kari. The tension between the two voices, and the two women with their contrasting views of life kept it interesting.
I enjoyed the flow of the narrative, and only wished for certain events that took place near the end to have occurred sooner.
If you're interested in cogitations on art and culture, as I am, you would love it.
November 3, 2021
A wonderful read!
April 28, 2022
In Search of the Magic Theater details the awakening journeys of a repressed young cellist and a divorcee twice her age. Told in rotating POVs, the two women connect when an adrift Kari moves in as a boarder with Sarah and her aunt.
They don’t become friends. But as Kari opens to embrace a much younger man and an experimental theater production, Sarah shares clinical observations of the changes she sees in her. Though she doesn’t realize it, the influence appears to broaden her own narrow, ordered life. The novel’s description compares Sarah to the nephew in Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf, setting an expectation of tone and form for readers who appreciate his work.
In Search of the Magic Theater releases June 1 with Regal House Publishing. The literary fiction debut also is laden with elements of Greek mythology and art, befitting of an art history professor. Karla Huebner previously had published a fiction work, Magnetic Woman: Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic.
They don’t become friends. But as Kari opens to embrace a much younger man and an experimental theater production, Sarah shares clinical observations of the changes she sees in her. Though she doesn’t realize it, the influence appears to broaden her own narrow, ordered life. The novel’s description compares Sarah to the nephew in Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf, setting an expectation of tone and form for readers who appreciate his work.
In Search of the Magic Theater releases June 1 with Regal House Publishing. The literary fiction debut also is laden with elements of Greek mythology and art, befitting of an art history professor. Karla Huebner previously had published a fiction work, Magnetic Woman: Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic.
June 27, 2022
Please follow the link to my blog for the review.
https://polymathtobe.blogspot.com/202...
https://polymathtobe.blogspot.com/202...
July 8, 2022
A very enjoyable and layered book: I especially liked its depiction of creative partnerships, which are a major element of the text. Their inclusion caused me to reflect on my own creative partnerships, some great, some tragic, some just non-creative. I also appreciated the author's presentation of the Muse in a male persona, rather than the traditional female one. This is original and refreshing.
Read
May 30, 2022Thanks to NetGalley and RegalHouse for the arc
In Search of the Magic Theater weaves the lives of Sarah, a very particular Cellist, and Kari Zilke, her aunt's new lodger. Sarah is at first resistant to the presence of Kari but before long she finds herself taking an interest in her life and their lives become unexpectedly intertwined. Sarah has been hiding behind her music, whilst Kari avoids her theatrical past, but both women will find their lives disrupted by a new presence..
This is a novel of self-discovery. It's clever, it's layered, it's fun. Heubner gives us a real sense of the generational tensions, from Sarah's feeling towards people her own age, to Kari slipping through the gaps of time. The story is drenched in theatre, art and music, and we even get a glimpse into the theatre piece at the end.
I'll be thinking about this one for a while.
In Search of the Magic Theatre is out on June 1st
In Search of the Magic Theater weaves the lives of Sarah, a very particular Cellist, and Kari Zilke, her aunt's new lodger. Sarah is at first resistant to the presence of Kari but before long she finds herself taking an interest in her life and their lives become unexpectedly intertwined. Sarah has been hiding behind her music, whilst Kari avoids her theatrical past, but both women will find their lives disrupted by a new presence..
This is a novel of self-discovery. It's clever, it's layered, it's fun. Heubner gives us a real sense of the generational tensions, from Sarah's feeling towards people her own age, to Kari slipping through the gaps of time. The story is drenched in theatre, art and music, and we even get a glimpse into the theatre piece at the end.
I'll be thinking about this one for a while.
In Search of the Magic Theatre is out on June 1st
July 25, 2022
In this original and erudite novel we follow the fortunes of two women embarking on their individual creative journeys, Kari in theatre and performance, Sarah in music with her cello. Their paths increasingly overlap and intertwine, not least because Kari becomes a lodger in Sarah’s aunt’s house. It’s an intellectual novel, constantly referencing art, music, literature, mythology and the creative process, and it’s an insightful exploration of artistic striving and integrity. The chapters alternate between the points of view of the two women. A novel of ideas and I didn’t find myself particularly engaged with the characters. I was interested in them but didn’t relate to them, especially as the narrative style is somewhat detached. We observe rather than enter their lives. However, I did enjoy joining them on their quests plus the wide-ranging cultural references.
June 22, 2022
In Search of the Magic Theater is a sort of left-handed coming of age story in which Sarah's young adulthood is influenced by her observations of her aunt's boarder, Kari, and older woman who arrives with a box of LPs (odd when almost all of us switched to CD's decades ago) and a record player to listen to them with.
Told in alternate POVs we see Sarah, who "plays the cello and reads books like Jane Eyre," broaden her own world view as she watches the older woman, Kari's, interactions with a younger man and experimental theater change her as well.
Sarah's story really resonated with me, as I was once a young woman who read classic novels (I still do) and played the cello (I only noodle at home now). I didn't have a Kari in my life, but my mother, only twenty years older than I am, has always been freer and bolder than me.
I enjoyed the author's writing voice a lot, and appreciated the contrast between both women.
This is a fast read, but a surprisingly meaty one, with lots of details about Greek mythology and art history.
Goes well with: baked brie and hard cider.
Told in alternate POVs we see Sarah, who "plays the cello and reads books like Jane Eyre," broaden her own world view as she watches the older woman, Kari's, interactions with a younger man and experimental theater change her as well.
Sarah's story really resonated with me, as I was once a young woman who read classic novels (I still do) and played the cello (I only noodle at home now). I didn't have a Kari in my life, but my mother, only twenty years older than I am, has always been freer and bolder than me.
I enjoyed the author's writing voice a lot, and appreciated the contrast between both women.
This is a fast read, but a surprisingly meaty one, with lots of details about Greek mythology and art history.
Goes well with: baked brie and hard cider.
August 9, 2025
Really neat, delightful story of a few characters whose lives are intertwined with one another, circulating around the worlds of classical music and art / theater. The story concerns on the one hand, Kari, an erstwhile publications editor who later in the book with her young lover Endymion produces a play that also served as a cornerstone event to support the revival of a historic playhouse. Kari lives as a renter at Sarah's aunt's house. Sarah is a budding early-20s classical musician, who reflects with regret having been raised by typical hippies who were into alternative commune living, having joined the counterculture. In her early 20s she ruminates on early adulthood, searching for her way in life as typical of persons her age. Sarah develops a friendship, possibly crush for another musician, Joey. Joey's elder jazz musician friend Julio also makes an appearance.
The writing is delightful, playful in creative ways, a mix of straightforward earnestness mixed in with a more highbrow literary sensibility, constantly referencing visual art (older and more contemporary), classical music, and theater (including Greek tragedy).
The personalities of Sarah and Kari are extremely appreciable; we hear their interior voices rather effusively; they're not afraid to share what they are thinking. Sarah's self-conscientiousness becomes overbearing at times, but justified given her difficult parental upbringing.
Much of the novel seems driven by day-to-day and smaller moments of interaction, though in the last 40 pages things come to a head in more unexpected ways!
The writing is delightful, playful in creative ways, a mix of straightforward earnestness mixed in with a more highbrow literary sensibility, constantly referencing visual art (older and more contemporary), classical music, and theater (including Greek tragedy).
The personalities of Sarah and Kari are extremely appreciable; we hear their interior voices rather effusively; they're not afraid to share what they are thinking. Sarah's self-conscientiousness becomes overbearing at times, but justified given her difficult parental upbringing.
Much of the novel seems driven by day-to-day and smaller moments of interaction, though in the last 40 pages things come to a head in more unexpected ways!
Read
March 30, 2022Inspired by Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf but featuring dual female narrators from different generations, with strongly contrasting points of view on music, theater, and life in general!
June 24, 2022
I liked how both female protagonists were on similar journeys to rediscover themselves, though one in midlife and the other as a young 20-something. References to art, music, and theater permeate the pages of the story, and I appreciate what Huebner did there. Obviously, she knows her stuff!
The voices of both Kari & Sara felt detached in a way that made it difficult for me to understand them or connect with the story. The writing takes an analytical bent at times, and that created some distance from it for me. The chapter about Sarah’s experience on peyote was fantastic. I wanted more of those moments! #InSearchOfTheMagicTheater
Thank you to @tlcbooktours,
@karlahuebnerwrites, and @regal_house_publishing for my review copy 💕
The voices of both Kari & Sara felt detached in a way that made it difficult for me to understand them or connect with the story. The writing takes an analytical bent at times, and that created some distance from it for me. The chapter about Sarah’s experience on peyote was fantastic. I wanted more of those moments! #InSearchOfTheMagicTheater
Thank you to @tlcbooktours,
@karlahuebnerwrites, and @regal_house_publishing for my review copy 💕
January 26, 2023
The voices of two narrators on overlapping journeys are deftly intertwined in this unusual novel. Plot connections gradually emerge with the skillful pacing of the story. A most enjoyable read.
March 17, 2023
I really enjoyed ready this.
February 3, 2023
This is one of the most unusual novels I’ve read in ages! Hard to describe but absolutely engrossing and memorable. The main characters are two unique and fascinating women, crashing through their disparate lives full of music, theater, art, lovers in a wild plot of discovery. If you’re tired of the same old types and themes in novels, this is the one for you.
October 8, 2023
A sharp and witty intergenerational tale that feels very of the moment. highly recommend!
April 27, 2022
Plot Summary
In Search of the Magic Theater follows two women as they embark on parallel journeys of self-discovery, with each chapter alternating between their perspectives. Sarah is an uptight cellist in her early twenties, grappling with the repercussions of a traumatic childhood. Kari, recently divorced and at an age where she attends more funerals than weddings, craves adventure after years spent in an unhappy marriage. Where Kari and Sarah’s lives intersect, we are exposed to nuances of generational divide, particularly how it embeds itself in art – in short, In Search of the Magic Theater is a meditation on what it means to be an artist.
Review
This is a difficult book to review, as while it didn’t work for me as a novel, Huebner’s approach to the tension between reason and passion at the core of In Search of the Magic Theater could be more successful in an academic context. What I wanted was for this tension to exist not only in the abstract but in the relationship between Kari and Sarah, but both characters came across as flat: analytical to the point of inaction, they may state their thoughts on hypotheticals, but the conclusions they come to have no impact on their own arcs, leaving the reader to wonder what the point was. If I were to have approached the book as a series of philosophical meditations, I may have been able to appreciate the findings as they stand, but I was always looking for something more, something that would make me understand why we were reading Kari and Sarah’s stories as opposed to anyone else’s.
This is not to say that there is no narrative plot; there is, but I think the event that should have been the beginning of the novel doesn’t happen until you’re 85% of the way through. It’s a strange sprint to the finish in which points that I thought were pivotal to certain characters were addressed “off-screen” or not at all, and which wavered between a payoff that didn’t live up to its buildup, and a deus ex machina that came out of and lead to nowhere.
It’s one thing to go into a novel with no expectations, and another to go into it with the wrong ones, and I think the fact that it was the latter seriously inhibited my enjoyment of it. But if you’re aware of the ways that In Search of the Magic Theater diverges from conventional narrative structure, and are interested in any of the ideas that it discusses, be sure to give it a try when it’s released on June 01, 2022!
#InSearchoftheMagicTheater #NetGalley
In Search of the Magic Theater follows two women as they embark on parallel journeys of self-discovery, with each chapter alternating between their perspectives. Sarah is an uptight cellist in her early twenties, grappling with the repercussions of a traumatic childhood. Kari, recently divorced and at an age where she attends more funerals than weddings, craves adventure after years spent in an unhappy marriage. Where Kari and Sarah’s lives intersect, we are exposed to nuances of generational divide, particularly how it embeds itself in art – in short, In Search of the Magic Theater is a meditation on what it means to be an artist.
Review
This is a difficult book to review, as while it didn’t work for me as a novel, Huebner’s approach to the tension between reason and passion at the core of In Search of the Magic Theater could be more successful in an academic context. What I wanted was for this tension to exist not only in the abstract but in the relationship between Kari and Sarah, but both characters came across as flat: analytical to the point of inaction, they may state their thoughts on hypotheticals, but the conclusions they come to have no impact on their own arcs, leaving the reader to wonder what the point was. If I were to have approached the book as a series of philosophical meditations, I may have been able to appreciate the findings as they stand, but I was always looking for something more, something that would make me understand why we were reading Kari and Sarah’s stories as opposed to anyone else’s.
This is not to say that there is no narrative plot; there is, but I think the event that should have been the beginning of the novel doesn’t happen until you’re 85% of the way through. It’s a strange sprint to the finish in which points that I thought were pivotal to certain characters were addressed “off-screen” or not at all, and which wavered between a payoff that didn’t live up to its buildup, and a deus ex machina that came out of and lead to nowhere.
It’s one thing to go into a novel with no expectations, and another to go into it with the wrong ones, and I think the fact that it was the latter seriously inhibited my enjoyment of it. But if you’re aware of the ways that In Search of the Magic Theater diverges from conventional narrative structure, and are interested in any of the ideas that it discusses, be sure to give it a try when it’s released on June 01, 2022!
#InSearchoftheMagicTheater #NetGalley
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews