The Magician's Assistant / Ann Patchett - 3.5***

[Book Concierge]

The Magician’s Assistant – Ann Patchett
Digital audio book performed by Karen Ziemba
3.5***

From the book jacket: Sabine – twenty years a magician’s assistant to her handsome, charming husband – is suddenly a widow. In the wake of his death, she finds he has left a final trick: a false identity and a family alledly lost in a tragic accident but now revealed as very much alive and well. Named as heirs in his will, they enter Sabine’s life and set her on an adventure of unraveling his secrets, from sunny Los Angeles to the windswept plains of Nebraska, that will work its own sort of magic on her.

My reactions:
The first book by Patchett that I read was Bel Canto , and I was struck with how masterfully she portrayed those characters. Once again, I marvel at Patchett’s skill in drawing fully realized characters. Even the deceased – Parsifal, Phan, Albert – are alive in the way they are remembered by Sabine, by Dot, or by Kitty.

The story unfolds in bits and pieces, much as it would in real life. You don’t tell everything at once to someone you’ve just met, and likewise Sabine keeps some things to herself in describing her years with Parsifal to his mother, and Dot keeps key bits of information from Sabine in relating Parsifal/Guy’s childhood. In this way, the reader feels the same hesitancy as these characters. And yet, their ultimate decisions seem correct and reasonable, even when relayed as abrupt and hasty.

I also really liked how the environment affects their actions. Sabine is a different person in sunny Los Angeles than she is in snowy Nebraska.

Karen Ziemba does a fine job performing the audio book. She has good pacing and a facility for voices that made it clear who each character was.


LINK to my review