Customer Reviews

The Illusionist

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

 

 

How surprising that the author of this provocative novel was only 19-years-old. How does a 19-year-old gain such experience, such insight, such maturity? Exceedingly well-written, intense, psychological, dark, lovely. The reader is captured, held hostage to the story.

I don't know what I expected, maybe something more evocative of the place and time. It's a very "told" story, not shown, lacking in convincing detail. It may well be an impressive accomplishment for a nineteen-year-old author, but that is not saying much. The first person narrator is a sheltered girl of fifteen to sixteen, and the narrative is predictably dull as a result of her naivete, and of the remove. It was a waste of time for me, perhaps interesting as a period piece. Not entirely without insight, but there are so many better books.

What a fascinating study in relationship power dynamics -- in dominance and submission, in experience corrupting the loving and vulnerable.

This isn't just a book for lesbians. It's a book for anyone who has ever had their heart on a leash held by someone removed and narcissistic enough to relish the power.

Of course, the treatment of broke, artistic independence vs. domesticated stability is still relevant. It's especially interesting to see how this conflict influences a lesbian love affair. Virginia Woolf would have enjoyed this book with a glass of wine or two, I have a feeling.

A few passages were indulgent in their descriptions and twice as long as they needed to be, but almost every author steps in that pothole once or twice.

Overall, I am gratefully amazed that a publisher in the 1950s was bold enough to invest in the sexual insights of a precocious 19 year old writing about a lesbian relationship, which included a character who was really just a dominatrix in plain clothes.

I'm surprised it took me this long to hear about "The Illusionist." In terms of sexual and romantic insight, it was so far ahead of its time. I suspect people weren't and maybe still aren't ready to appreciate it.

I'm giving this book 2 stars, there is good writing. The story itself is rather dark, and you'd make a mistake if you were led to conclude that a nineteen-year-old author in 1952 cannot be all that bad of a read (as I thought). The story centers around a 15-year-old girl who is left alone at her home much of the time. Her mother passed away when she was younger, to young to remember, her father has his own business and is a workaholic. The service personnel try to tend to her as best as possible, but most of the time, the girl is bored. Her father tells her about a mistress he has in town, hoping to avoid her finding out in a more unsavory way. She's intrigued. One day her father asks her to call the mistress and deliver an excuse for him, that he cannot see her til later in the evening. He adds the woman's address thinking it is not out of place that she have it should an emergency arise. The girl decides to deliver the excuse in person and runs across the neighborhood to reach the woman's apartment. That is the beginning of what I can best describe as a sordid relationship. There is physical abuse, mental manipulation, distasteful handling at a woman's bar, etc. I was quite surprised by the story, to say the least. The writing was good, however with such a story I will not add this to my bookshelf.