The Art of Disappearing: A Novel [Hardcover]

Ivy Pochoda (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2009

How do you know if love is real or just an illusion?

When Mel Snow meets the talented magician Toby Warring in a dusty roadside bar, she is instantly drawn to the brilliant performer whose hands can effortlessly pull stray saltshakers and poker chips from thin air and conjure castles out of the desert sands. Just two days later they are married, beginning their life together in the shadow of Las Vegas, where Toby hopes to make it big. Mel knows that magicians are a dime a dozen, but Toby is different—his magic is real.

As Toby’s renown grows and Mel falls more and more in love with his wonderments, she starts to realize that Toby's powers are as unstable as they are dazzling. She learns that he once made his assistant disappear completely, and couldn’t bring her back. And then, just as Mel becomes convinced that his magic is dangerous, a trick goes terribly awry during his Strip debut.

Exiled from the stage, Mel and Toby flee the lights of Las Vegas for the streets of Amsterdam where a cabal of old-time magicians, real magicians like Toby, try to rescue him from his despair. But he’s haunted by the trick that failed, and obsessed with using his powers to right his mistakes, leaving Mel to wonder if the love they share is genuine or merely a fantasy, conjured up by a lost magician looking to save himself from being alone.

Ivy Pochoda’s spellbinding and cinematic storytelling seamlessly fuses timeless magic to modern-day passion. Haunting and beautiful, The Art of Disappearing is an imaginative and captivating love story destined to enchant readers for years to come.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A terrific page-turner about a stage magician and a traveling textile designer who meet in Vegas and marry two days later, and all the mystery and mayhem that ensues.” --Elle

 

"A lyrical novel that will enchant you with a love story and with poetic, evocative prose." --Shelf Awareness

 

"An uncommonly good first novel about the unlikely love between a lonely woman and a most unusual magician. It's a magical story, full of passion, heart break, and wonder." --Peter Hedges, author of What's Eating Gilbert Grape
 
"In this beguiling first novel, Pochoda brings an acute eye and vivid imagination to the ordinary details of life.  The result is magic itself." --Rebecca Johnson, author of And Sometimes Why
 
"Ivy Pochoda's language is hypnotic, her story refreshingly original.  Most important of all, the characters she conjured made me ache. Prepare to let go of the mundane and embrace the fantastical in this well-imagined debut.  It is utterly spellbinding." --Amy McKinnon, author of Tethered
 
"Ivy Pochoda's brilliant first novel convinces us of the magic of reality, and the reality of magic. A seductive delight for all the senses, not least, the sixth."--Galt Niederhoffer, author of  The Romantics

About the Author

Ivy Pochoda graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Classical Greek and English. She was a champion squash player and a six-time member of the United States Women's National Squash Team. She was the Spring 2009 James Merrill House Writer-in-Residence. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. This is her first novel.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (September 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312385854
• ISBN-13: 978-0312385859
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,562,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ivy Pochoda is the author of the novel The Art of Disappearing, which was published in September 2009 by St. Martin's Press. Her writing has appeared in HOW Journal and Canteen. She is a contributor to the books section of the Huffington Post.

Ivy graduated from Harvard College in 1998 with a BA in Classical Greek and English Literature. She lived in The Netherlands for many years where she worked as a magazine editor, freelance journalist, as well as playing professional squash. Her articles have appeared in Time Out New York, House & Garden, The Amsterdam Weekly, not to mention Maxim and Butt.

Ivy currently lives in Los Angeles but misses Brooklyn, her hometown. She is hard at work on a second novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Illusion of Love May Be More Real Than Realized..., September 28, 2009

By 

Glenda A Bixler "Glenda" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Art of Disappearing: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is not the usual romance novel. Ivy Pochoda in The Art of Disappearing presents a fascinating escape into a different world. Whether it is real or imagined is unimportant. It is in the events, the drama, that we find ourselves hoping...

Mel Snow is a textiles consultant; she works with fabrics but also floor coverings, etc., in recommending and designing spatial areas. Her talent is superior; in fact, she selects her materials, often by the song they sing to her. Sometimes the materials call to her and her favorite place is to visit second-hand stores where each costume shares their own individual story. I highlight her story first because once you begin to read, you will be caught up into the magical life surrounding Toby Warring. But, in my opinion, this is really Mel's unique story. Some of us will recognize it as our own; others will simply enjoy it! But either way, you will remember and once again be caught up into the mystique and love that was there.

Mel Snow met Toby in a dingy bar. He said he had been there before, looking for someone for whom he could buy a drink, as he had just done for Mel. It wasn't hard for Mel to fall in love at first sight. And when it was suggested later that they had just won enough money to get married, that is what they did. Two days had past.

Toby's dream is to perform his magic in Las Vegas and since Mel could find work anywhere, they were quickly on their way there. Toby told her that she had brought new life to him and it looked that way, because he was quickly finding a following, mostly women, who had found him in the seedy part of town where gambling was most important to the male customers, but the wives found alternative entertainment. Soon they followed him around, stuffing money in his pockets, buying him drinks. He in turn would grab a bottle and start pouring from that bottle anything that the woman wanted--gin, vodka, scotch--it appeared in their glasses.

It wasn't long after they were married that Toby had confessed that his magic was--different, his magic was real. He used space in other dimensions through which he worked to create his illusions. But when a rabbit disappeared into his top hat, it never came back. One time, many years ago, his beautiful assistant had "disappeared" also. His kind of magic could be dangerous.

Quite a number of individuals also pointed out the danger--pointing out that the danger could involve Mel. They urged her to never become part of one of his magic tricks!

But the excitement, the wonder of his magic drew Mel and she loved the private shows out in the desert, where he used the sand and other earthly elements to perform just for her.

If a fan, a teenager had not fixated on becoming his new assistant, even though she knew that his former one had disappeared, it might have been a happily ever after marriage. But when the fan jumped in between a bullet and the magician and was accidentally killed, Toby realized that his career there was over. Unless...

Travel to Amsterdam with Toby and Mel to possibly start their life over. You'll have to decide whether you risk a return to Vegas, with the magician's latest trick.

A uniquely different illusion of love! Read about Toby and Mel's magical lives in The Art of Disappearing by Ivy Pochoda. You won't be sorry!

G. A. Bixler

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Disappearing, September 27, 2009

By 

Erin Jackle - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Disappearing: A Novel (Hardcover)

Mel Snow is a traveling textiles consultant, working in Las Vegas, when she meets a magician in a diner. They are married almost instantly. Toby, though, isn't your usual card trick magician. His magic is real. I'm not talking about the wand-waving, Harry Potter style of magic. Toby's magic is the old, ancient magic of a true magician. Someone capable of conjuring from thin air...and someone capable of losing into thin air.

While Mel in enchanted by Toby, she comes to realize that he is haunted by a trick gone wrong. When things start to go wrong again, Mel and Toby flee Las Vegas and take up with some stodgy, old magicians in Amsterdam. It's there that the real journey of Mel and Toby begins. Toby becomes consumed by his magic, and Mel wonders about her place in his world. In the end, Toby and Mel each have a choice to make. But, of course, I'm not going to give that away.

The Art of Disappearing: A Novel is a lovely, enchanting, and haunting read. Ivy Pochoda has a true magic of her own in her writing style, and she weaves her own gorgeous tapestry of a story. Her descriptive use of language combined with the complexity of her storyline make for a truly remarkable read. For me, it's something like a cross between The Time Traveler's Wife and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel. Definitely a unique combination of reality and fantasy that doesn't disappoint. I very much enjoyed this book, and I definitely think it's worth checking out!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magically Written, August 27, 2010

By 

WEB - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Disappearing: A Novel (Hardcover)

The voice and style of The Art of Disappearing are remarkably mature for a debut novel. The writer never intrudes, and the images appear with no effort on the reader's part. The book has two contrasting settings--Las Vegas and Amsterdam, both evocatively drawn. But for all the craft and artistry of it, the writing is not the main accomplishment. The central character, a woman who has lost a brother and who meets a magician in the Nevada desert and marries him two days later, provides a point of view that raises big questions--like whether love is real or illusion, whether you can ever hold onto the people in your life, and which is more important--the magic you do or the magic you find in others.