The Disapparation of James [Paperback]

Anne Ursu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 28, 2004

The Woodrow family is at the circus to celebrate Greta's seventh birthday. When a clown asks for a volunteer from the audience, the parents are shocked when James, their extremely shy five-year-old, raises his hand. James thrives in the spotlight, and as the clown leads him through the routine, the parents glow with pride as the audience cheers for their son. The cheers turn into thundering applause as the act culminates in spectacular fashion, with James vanishing before their very eyes. The trouble is that James really does vanish -- poof -- into thin air.

As the police and media descend on the Woodrows, they feel that the laws of the universe have shattered. How can you solve a puzzle with no logic? As young Greta sets out to discover what really happened to her brother, each family member grapples with the joys and perils of loving, the persistence of loss, and the magic of everyday life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Alternative realities and parallel plot lines coexist in Ursu's surreal but psychologically acute second novel (after Spilling Clarence), in which a boy chosen from a circus audience to disappear during a clown's magic act really does disappear. Hannah and Justin Woodrow bring their daughter, Greta, to the circus for her seventh birthday, along with her five-year-old brother, James. Greta is outgoing, quick-witted and full of energy, while James is so quiet his mother plans to bring him to a specialist for tests. Both parents thrill when James is selected from the audience and responds charmingly to the clown's every request. Then, suddenly, James is gone. The police assign someone to watch over the family, but the officer turns from friend to aggressor while Mike the Clown is transformed from suspect to victim. Hannah dissociates, Justin obsesses and Greta does research. The child is the only one who is able to confront the loss directly. Ursu mixes realistic depictions of police interrogations and domestic tensions with fantastic interludes like a chapter imagining the day after James's disappearance as it would have been if the disappearance had not occurred. She delicately probes the worry and longing, guilt and rage, protectiveness and resentment that characterize parental love. James's "disapparation" is even more a mystery at the end of the novel than at the beginning, but it doesn't seem to matter, since Ursu wins the reader over with her humane wisdom and charming vision of the limitless possibilities of a child's imagination. One only wishes that Greta-the novel's pivotal character-were not quite so cloying.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Hannah and Justin Woodrow are enjoying a night out at a circus show with their two children, Greta and James. They are celebrating Greta's seventh birthday, and she is popping up and down in her auditorium seat unable to control her excitement over the impending show. This is not unusual for Greta, but five-year-old James, who is usually reserved and self-contained, is equally restless, and the Woodrows are quietly pleased by his recent burst of animation. When Mike the Clown makes his way onto the stage for the grand finale, he asks for a volunteer, and James surprises the Woodrows again by eagerly raising his hand. The clown chooses James to help him with a disappearing trick, and before the crowd's disbelieving eyes, little red-haired James Woodrow evaporates into thin air. Ursu maneuvers her characters through the stages of parental grief in a credible and insightful fashion, but does not support James' disappearance with physical or esoteric information, which leaves a void in what is otherwise a very innovative work of fiction. Elsa Gaztambide
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (January 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786886633
• ISBN-13: 978-0786886630
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #819,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written, hearbreaking fairy tale., December 29, 2002

By 

M.J. Rose "mjroseauthor" (Greenwich, Ct USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Disapparation of James (Hardcover)

I read Ursu's book in two days, the whole time torn between wanting to put it down becuase it was painful, but being unable to.

I could see it all unfolding, hear it all. The details, the scenes and the dialog are expertly drawn.

But ultimately it is Ursu's themes - the randomness of loss, the chaos of a world where it takes so much courage to hold onto faith, and the risk we take when we love deeply - that makes this book a memorable one.

The Disapparation of James is a beautifully written and heartbreaking fairy tale for the times we live in.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a moving story, June 16, 2003

By 

Lisa "eggplantia5" (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Disapparation of James (Hardcover)

This was a wonderful book. I did not really like Anne Ursu's first book, Spilling Clarence- but I did think she has a wonderful writing style. Here, her lovely, almost dream-like sentences serve the story well, and her characters are all very realistically drawn.

It's an unsettling story, with multiple points of view, and multiple realities. James, is a shy, quiet little boy, who is enthralled with the idea of seeing this magician. His parents and sister are delighted when James is brought to be on stage with the magician, and reveals an outgoing, cheerful side of himself. All is well until James really does disappear.

We see this nightmare through the eyes of everyone involved. We feel the mother's and father's separate terrors and pains, we see the sister's valiant attempts to figure out how to find James, we feel useless along with the detective assigned to watch over the family, and we see the bewilderment of the magician, himself. Where did James go?

Now, that in itself, could be a story unto itself, but Anne Ursu chooses instead to focus on the drama at home. The fact that she doesn't really explore what did happen to James is a bit of a disappointment, but the story she does tell is amazing by itself.

It's a story full of very quiet terrors, humors, and the unsettling notion that life can not only change at any second, but we may not even realize it when it does. Her writing style may be a little disorienting at first, but I think that once you start reading in earnest, it would be hard to put this book down.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tale Of Magic, Magically Done, April 6, 2003

By 

Louis N. Gruber "Author of Jay" (Lexington, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Disapparation of James (Hardcover)

Little James Woodrow was so shy and self-absorbed that his parents were about to take him in for testing; then, when they bring him to the circus for his big sister's seventh birthday, he actually volunteers to take part in a magic act. And, at the climactic moment of the act, he disappears. Really disappears into thin air. Poof! And his family is devastated.

So how do they cope? How do they change? Will things ever be made right? The author looks deeply into each of the characters--the father, the mother, the big sister, the clown who set it all in motion, the policeman who is supposed to guard the family--and explores their inner worlds. How will they deal with grief? What childhood demons still pursue them? What are their dreams and hopes? And what fantasies of magic and power do they still hold dear?

A profoundly psychological study of loss, grief and coping, magic is the metaphor that holds it together. Magic as illusion. Magic as escape. And the ever-haunting question--is there real magic? Author Anne Ursu writes extremely well, in lucid and simple prose. She draws you in quickly and engages you so that you can't stop reading. The characters soon become real and you care what happens to them. Well, yes, it is a bit overdone at points, a bit too sentimental, but it works well. I recommend this one highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.