The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett

Parsifal is dead. That is the end of the story.

Title: The Magician’s Assistant
Author: Ann Patchett
ISBN: 8790156006217
Publisher: Harcourt Brace/1997
Pages: 357

Give a brief summary of the book:

After the death of Parsifal, a magician, his wife Sabine…who was also his assistant for twenty years..is astounded to learn that the family he always denied having is very much alive. Sabine is devastated by this and triels to unravel the secrets of his life. When Parsifal’s family invite her to visit them in Nebraska, she leaves Los Angeles for the cold, bitter planes of Nebraska. And she is somehow sucked into that family, into the love they share

Likes:

Patchett manages to build up a great story. She slowly reveals the secret of Parsifal’s deception. Sabine might have married him but he has a steady relationship with someone else. His family takes some time to assimilate this. But they love Sabine for herself, not because she is Parsifal’s widow. Sabine is the magician’s assistant… a lesser known personality…but she knows about magic as much as any magician. No magician can do without any assistant.

Dislikes:

I felt it got a bit repetitive in the middle. Although I wanted to know Sabine’s feelings and emotions but somehow it was diluted by the slow pace. It did pick up in the end though.

Additional Thoughts:

Ann Patchett’s prose is good. Her thoughts are lucid. Her characters are very much real. They are endearing too despite foibles and follies. Patchett has added fantasy elements in the dream sequences. I especially liked that. Sabine can interact with those characters in her dreams. Also the fact that Sabine is practical and a realist. On her quest to find the truth, Sabine too finds herself and experiences love in a way, which had been denied to her.

Also reviewed by

Margaret of BooksPlease

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

Title: Sputnik Sweetheart
Author: Haruki Murakami

ISBN: 0375726055
Publisher: Vintage/2001
Pages: 210

Sputnik Sweetheart is my second book by Murakami. As I had liked Kafka on the Shore, I bought this book. This has been written before that and is entirely different.

The narrator, known as “K” is in love with Sumire, who aspires to be a writer. She is his best friend and she also likes him a lot but she doesn’t have any romantic feelings for him. She falls in love with Miu, an older and very sophisticated businesswomen. When Miu offers Sumire a job, she grabs it although K has some misgivings. Sumire disappears in a remote island in Greece and Miu calls K. He leaves everything to go search for Sumire. There he has strange visions reading her writings and is haunted by her thoughts. But his longings for her remain unfulfilled.

With beautiful prose, it is a meditation into the human mind, its deepest desires and longings. Love maybe unrequited but it is very much there and very much real. It gives K pain yet he considers love so beautiful. Same is the case with Sumire. She loves Miu but Miu does not return her feelings. Miu has her own demons to kill. Sputnik Sweetheart is for those who wantto dwell deep into the human psyche. Sumire is there yet not there.In other words, it is a stream of consciousness novel.

Very apt title as all three characters try to connect with each other but cannot. Isn’t it true for all of us? We are essentially all alone.

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

Title: Sputnik Sweetheart
Author: Haruki Murakami

ISBN: 0375726055
Publisher: Vintage/2001
Pages: 210

Sputnik Sweetheart is my second book by Murakami. As I had liked Kafka on the Shore, I bought this book. This has been written before that and is entirely different.

The narrator, known as “K” is in love with Sumire, who aspires to be a writer. She is his best friend and she also likes him a lot but she doesn’t have any romantic feelings for him. She falls in love with Miu, an older and very sophisticated businesswomen. When Miu offers Sumire a job, she grabs it although K has some misgivings. Sumire disappears in a remote island in Greece and Miu calls K. He leaves everything to go search for Sumire. There he has strange visions reading her writings and is haunted by her thoughts. But his longings for her remain unfulfilled.

With beautiful prose, it is a meditation into the human mind, its deepest desires and longings. Love maybe unrequited but it is very much there and very much real. It gives K pain yet he considers love so beautiful. Same is the case with Sumire. She loves Miu but Miu does not return her feelings. Miu has her own demons to kill. Sputnik Sweetheart is for those who wantto dwell deep into the human psyche. Sumire is there yet not there.In other words, it is a stream of consciousness novel.

Very apt title as all three characters try to connect with each other but cannot. Isn’t it true for all of us? We are essentially all alone.