Customer Reviews

The Illusioniist

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

 

 

Because I already know all about the true story that inspired this novel, the book was nearly ruined for me. All eerie similarities to Brandon's real life aside (the accidental phone call and the rollerskating date, Brandon's girlfriend bailing him out of jail with a check her mother intended for the hairdresser, being put in a psychiatric ward after swallowing an entire bottle of antibiotics when his first serious girlfriend dumped him when she found out her boyfriend was really a girl...etc. ), this book is very good. You can't put it down- I read it in two days.

I was only disappointed that there wasn't even a paragraph about Brandon at the end or beginning of the book (but there was the little disclaimer paragraph that states any similarities to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.? ....or do they put that in all books?).

Like the movie "Boys Don't Cry", this book recounts the character's, in this case, Dean's, last month alive. So if the end seems rushed, it is. That's how it happened.

Proof positive, again, that truth is stranger than fiction, The Illusionist is a fictionalized version of the murder of Brandon Teena in Falls City, Nebraska. It makes for a gripping (and at times gruesome read), but the story is true -- and the subject of the new documentary movie,"The Brandon Teena Story", (produced and directed by Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir) and probably not coming to the neighborhood multiplex. The story is also proof (if incidents like the recent one in Jasper, Texas weren't enough), that sordid happenings occur in small town America just like in the big cities.

The reader must check his brains at the door to stay with this one. From the main character being referred to as Dean, Deane and Duane to flies buzzing after a holiday blizzard there are problems with this tome. The characters are hard to picture much less sympathize with and the action drags to an inevitable climax but no real resolution. It is frustrating after investing the time to read this that it leaves me shaking my head in wonder that there is no real clear ending.It was like reading through smoked glass or maybe it was censored because something is definitely missing.

... a sensual suspense that bewitches the senses, melding disorder and desire in a way that is both disturbingly keen and stunningly sensitive.

The Illusionist, apparently based on an actual news item, tells of a stranger's ensnarement of the young women of a small, decaying New England town. The illusionist's power of attraction doesn't rest with the magic tricks he performs, but in the ambiguity of his sexual identity. Strong as a man but caring and understanding as a woman: this is how Dean Lily, or Lily Dean, would like to be seen. But, a faultless interpreter of the deepest feminine sexual desires, he or she soon attracts the jealousy, suspicion, and the violent antipathy of the less complex of the town's denizens.

Dinitia Smith's novel asks whether gender is merely a physiological matter, or whether it can be the object of a private choice. Without taking a firm position, it suggests gender may be a matter of behaviour, of social acceptance, that it is in the eye of the beholder, though different beholders may reach dissimilar, or less than clear-cut, conclusions. It also paints the difficult portrait of a New England town in decline, of its in-bred and left-behind population. But it is chiefly a story of manipulation. Few, though some, of its characters are in any way admirable, yet they succeed in drawing the reader into their increasingly fraught lives. This is a dark, but effective and beguiling tale.

A young "man" comes to town and changes everyone's illusions about what they knew about love. Though the end seems rushed, this novel is mostly evenly paced. It's told from the first person of several lead characters and explores the loneliness and neediness of people in a small town with little going for it. It's sad but enlightening.

I felt chilled and disturbed throughout the reading of this book - and I couldn't put it down. Ms. Smith's dark study of life in a dreary NY town was remarkable. From the start I was captivated by the fragile characters and really cared about how they would end. I look forward to re-reading it one day

Yes, this book leaves a lot of unanswered questions that puzzle the reader. Yes, after it was all read and done, I couldn't help asking myself and the author, "But what was the point?" And yet, the book was a captivating read! The characters were fascinating, the imagery was convincing, and the prose was beautiful. So in spite of some flaws (or are they flaws in my own reading and interpretation,) I highly recommend this book. It is truly hard to put down (and I'm someone with a short attention span.) Its road may not seem to go very far, but it's an exciting ride.

The book is incredibly powerful. It deeply examines the meaning of gender in our culture.