2012 Puddly Awards
 
 
Follow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on Google+Follow us on TumblrSubscribe to RSS


Recently Viewed clear list


Interviews | April 16, 2012

Jill Owens: IMG Leni Zumas: The Powells.com Interview



Leni ZumasLeni Zumas's writing crackles. Her books are sharp, bleak, funny, and possibly dangerous. When her collection of short stories, Farewell Navigator,... Continue »
  1. $11.17 Sale Trade Paper add to wish list

    The Listeners

    Leni Zumas 9781935639299

spacer
Ships free on qualified orders.
$22.00
Used Hardcover
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Beaverton Literature- A to Z

eBook editions

The Magician's Assistant

by Ann Patchett

The Magician's Assistant Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

When Parsifal, a handsome and charming magician, dies suddenly, his widow Sabine — who was also his faithful assistant for twenty years — learns that the family he claimed to have lost in a tragic accident is very much alive and well.

Sabine is left to unravel his secrets, and the adventure she embarks upon, from sunny Los Angeles to the bitter windswept plains of Nebraska, will work its own magic on her. Sabine's extraordinary tale will capture the heart of its readers just as Sabine herself is captured by her quest.

Review:

"Masterful in evoking everything from the good life in L.A. to the bleaker one on the Great Plains...: a saga of redemption tenderly and terrifically told." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"This engaging, supple plot is played out against a backdrop of dreams, flashbacks, and long, elliptical conversations....With her quiet playfulness, Sabine's touch is as light and sure as that of the author who created her." Kate Tuttle, Boston Book Review

Review:

"[T]he kindliness of The Magician's Assistant is beguiling, and Patchett is an adroit, graceful writer who knows enough tricks to keep her story entertaining....The real appeal...lies in the small, accumulating ways in which Sabine and the Fetters family assist one another out of isolation and sorrow. By the end, they have all been somewhat transformed — yes, by the magic of love." Suzanne Berne, New York Times Book Review

Review:

"The [characters] have a wonderfulness that collectively can be unnerving. But mostly they ARE wonderful, as well as individual, smart and battling hard. There is something of allegory in Patchett's novel. There are times when its insistent current toward redemption risks flooding the life along the way, and there is a suggestion of the author's hand hovering at the sluice gate. Rarely does it do more than hover, though: rarely does the flood level do more than lap at the ingenious life and liveliness that Patchett has devised." Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review

Review:

"Magicians — and their assistants — may be masters of misdirection and slight of hand, but novelist Ann Patchett is the real thing. Patchett does have a trick or two up her sleeve... — her controlled, evocative prose for one; the uncanny way she makes the most surprising twists seem absolutely inevitable; not to mention the wisdom and tenderness with which she portrays the illusions that keep lovers and families together and those that rend them apart." Alix Madrigal, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

Review:

"Patchett's third and finest novel....Patchett's lush and suspenseful story is also a portrait of America..." New Yorker

Synopsis:

A secretive magicians death becomes the catalyst for his partners journey of self-discovery in this “enchanting” book (San Francisco Chronicle) “that is something of a magic trick in itself-a 1990s love story with the grace and charm of a nineteenth-century novel” (Newsweek).

About the Author

Ann Patchett is the author of two previous novels, The Patron Saint of Liars, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and Taft, which won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. She has written for many publications, including Elle, GQ, The Paris Review, and Vogue. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780151002634
Author:
Patchett, Ann
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
California
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Family
Subject:
Grief
Subject:
Gay men
Subject:
Bereavement
Subject:
Consolation
Subject:
Los angeles
Subject:
Nebraska
Subject:
Domestic fiction
Subject:
Nebraska Fiction.
Subject:
Consolation -- Fiction.
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Los Angeles (Calif.) Fiction.
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
Edition Number:
1st ed.
Edition Description:
Trade Cloth
Series Volume:
1228
Publication Date:
19971015
Binding:
Hardback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
368
Dimensions:
9 x 5.5 in 9.99 lb

Other books you might like

  1. $12.99 Google eBooks add to wish list

    Bel Canto

    Ann Patchett 9780061738883
  2. $13.83 Google eBooks add to wish list

    The Patron Saint of Liars

    Ann Patchett 9780547548401
  3. $9.99 Google eBooks add to wish list

    Run: A Novel

    Ann Patchett 9780061796050
  4. $13.83 Google eBooks add to wish list

    The Patron Saint of Liars

    Ann Patchett 9780547548401
  5. $12.99 Google eBooks add to wish list

    Underworld

    Don DeLillo 9781416595854
  6. $2.98 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Scissors Paper Rock

    Fenton Johnson 9780671795429

Related Subjects

Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
Fiction and Poetry » Science Fiction and Fantasy » Fantasy » General

The Magician's Assistant Used Hardcover
0 stars - 0 reviews
$22.00 In Stock
Product details 368 pages Harcourt - English 9780151002634 Reviews:
"Review" by , "Masterful in evoking everything from the good life in L.A. to the bleaker one on the Great Plains...: a saga of redemption tenderly and terrifically told."
"Review" by , "This engaging, supple plot is played out against a backdrop of dreams, flashbacks, and long, elliptical conversations....With her quiet playfulness, Sabine's touch is as light and sure as that of the author who created her."
"Review" by , "[T]he kindliness of The Magician's Assistant is beguiling, and Patchett is an adroit, graceful writer who knows enough tricks to keep her story entertaining....The real appeal...lies in the small, accumulating ways in which Sabine and the Fetters family assist one another out of isolation and sorrow. By the end, they have all been somewhat transformed — yes, by the magic of love."
"Review" by , "The [characters] have a wonderfulness that collectively can be unnerving. But mostly they ARE wonderful, as well as individual, smart and battling hard. There is something of allegory in Patchett's novel. There are times when its insistent current toward redemption risks flooding the life along the way, and there is a suggestion of the author's hand hovering at the sluice gate. Rarely does it do more than hover, though: rarely does the flood level do more than lap at the ingenious life and liveliness that Patchett has devised."
"Review" by , "Magicians — and their assistants — may be masters of misdirection and slight of hand, but novelist Ann Patchett is the real thing. Patchett does have a trick or two up her sleeve... — her controlled, evocative prose for one; the uncanny way she makes the most surprising twists seem absolutely inevitable; not to mention the wisdom and tenderness with which she portrays the illusions that keep lovers and families together and those that rend them apart."
"Review" by , "Patchett's third and finest novel....Patchett's lush and suspenseful story is also a portrait of America..."
"Synopsis" by ,
A secretive magicians death becomes the catalyst for his partners journey of self-discovery in this “enchanting” book (San Francisco Chronicle) “that is something of a magic trick in itself-a 1990s love story with the grace and charm of a nineteenth-century novel” (Newsweek).

spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...



Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.