Customer Reviews

The Art of Disappearing: A Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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!

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.

After Mel Snow, the engaging protagonist of Ivy Pochoda's "The Art of Disappearing," marries stage magician-cum-authentic conjurer Toby Warring in a quickie Vegas ceremony, this gem of a debut unfurls seductively, asking some big questions along the way: how do we let go of that which cannot return, and, perhaps more importantly, how do we remain connected to other people when they can disappear so easily in the first place? It's not easy. As Mel puts it, "It was hard, I learned, to create an engaging routine out of absence--out of the phone that didn't ring, the mail that didn't come, the empty bedroom that never creaked" (p. 220).

Like her husband, Mel has magic of her own: a textile designer, she has her own relationship with her craft that enters numinous territory. From the claustrophobic casinos of Las Vegas to the romantic and haunted canals of Amsterdam, the author deftly conveys the physical and emotional landscapes of her star-crossed lovers, and the power struggle that follows them, even as they seek solace.

Though the novel is poetical in terms of language and sensibility, it consistently utilizes, explores, and then explodes conventional means of storytelling, akin to Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind. There are shades of Hitchcock as well--not so much The Lady Vanishes as Vertigo--insofar as nothing truly disappears forever, only returning in different form. It's the rare book that gets better as you go, and I'm looking forward to Pochoda's next. Highly recommended!

I loved this book - an unusual love story. This novel features Mel, a textile artist who falls in love with Toby, a magician. I finished this book in one sitting - I found myself rooting for Mel and Toby, through the twists and turns of their love story. I really enjoyed the author's detailed way of writing, truly a good read!
Here is my blog review: [...]

This book forced me to suspend my definition of "real'. The book runs a fine line between reality and fantasy, needing you to believe The Magician's magic is real, yet taking place in a world seemingly just like ours. In a way it reminded me of The Time Traveler's Wife, which I read several years ago as well as Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. While at first I was unsure, having trouble coming to grips with our very different ideas of reality, it didn't take long for me to get wrapped up in the book and not want to put it down.

It will definitely require your full concentration. Virtually every detail in the book is crucial to the plot in some way, shape or form and if you read while distracted you may miss something. It has great imagery and a really interesting plot! Definitely worth a read if you enjoy a journey into the realms of magic...

I really enjoyed this book. I loved how descriptive the author was with her words. She really helped you feel what the characters were feeling. The author really captivates you and you don't want to leave their world. I'm anxious for Ivy's second novel to see what other story her mind conjures up.

Toby Warring and Mel Snow have a relationship that began unconventionally - having met in a desolate diner in a small town in Nevada, just outside the circle of the Vegas lights then married within 48 hours upon arrival in Sin City (sober, I'm compelled to add). Toby is not merely a magician who pulls rabbits out of hats, but has the ability to create his own magic not relying on illusions and tricks of the eye. Mel accepts Toby's abilities/magic without reluctance (I'm a big fan of magic myself, but this was more than mind tricks and into the realm of paranormal - I would definitely have been a little more freaked out about his abilities - except white wine to red and vice versa sounds fun).

The paranormal comes from more than just Toby's abilities. Though he has no malicious intent (no black magic here), he doesn't always have control over his abilities. Most notably, he lost his past assistant and girlfriend Eva in the middle of a magic trick. Though Mel's career seems more grounded in reality (less "woo woo," as Catherine Coulter would say), she can hear fabrics sing to her.

A little odd right? A magician with real abilities and a consultant who can hear fabrics sing. A story that may have unraveled or gone up in smoke (lame puns intended), debut author Ivy Pochoda has a way with words that keeps the story moving. She lyrically and poetically describes magic in a way that makes this novel less paranormal and crafts into a love story grounded in reality... if you're willing to bend your imagination to contend with hidden "pockets" in the air, into which people and objects magically appear and also hide.

I think the characters were drawn together over shared loneliness. Both were haunted by happenings in their past - Toby his missing assistant along with the tragedy that happened in Vegas, and Mel with her brother that feel too deeply in love with water. I wanted more between the characters - it never clicked to me as to why they were together; what compelled them to love the other. And maybe that's why it ended the way it did (I don't want to ruin anything - read it yourself!) - because it was more a relationship of timing and the shared need to shed loneliness than a real partnership.

Pochoda's writing was gorgeous and I would definitely read future books from her, though I hope she decides to go either to the paranormal or stay in the reality realm - the mixing of the two wasn't convincing to me.

Magical is right. What a beautifully written, touching and elegaic book. I'm not quite finished and I can't wait for her to write the next one. Can't say enough about it.

Ivy weaves an elaborate tail of magic, serendipity, time travel (sort of) and love. Mel Snow is a fabric consultant on a job in Vegas when she meets Toby in a dirty roadside bar. Toby is a true magician and due to some interesting turns of events, they end up married within a few days. She gets a job at the reopening of a hotel and Toby's debut show at the opening of the hotel goes terribly wrong. They end up in Amsterdam where a group of real magicians whose magic has faded draw Toby to a picture of what could be. Mel is left behind trying to decide if their love is real or just an elaborate illusion.

Is love real or just an illusion? I've heard this line for many books, but none have done it quite the way Ivy Pochoda does in The Art of Disappearing. I thought that every story that exists had already been written. I suppose if you boil it down enough, it has, but no one has ever done it quite like this. It is an entertaining read that keeps you interested, but doesn't move so quickly that you miss things. I greatly enjoyed reading this book. It was quite clean with minimal sex/swearing and nothing vulgar or graphic. Overall, I would say this is a well-written, spellbinding story and highly recommend it.