Customer Reviews

Magic Man

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

 

 

I found this book by accident and it definitely surprised me. I enjoyed the main character though he was a little naive, but had so much heart. This book kept me interested the whole time, with classic movie stars, princesses, mobsters, murder, family tragedy an magic! I would recomend this to anyone who likes a little suspense an getting personal with the past.

I enjoyed this book. Makes you think about the mysteries of life in a way. The characters were interesting and the backdrop of late 1920's Hollywood was interesting.

Every so often, a mysterious novel comes along that no one has ever heard of or seldom remembers. I found this book right as I was about to walk out of a Borders bookstore. It was in the bargain box, only two copies, with a hard black cover and purple writing. Knowing nothing about the author, I decided to flip through this one. When I read I like to be tugged into a book. I can't stand it when the story doesn't get going until page 200. This one surprised me from the first line to the last. Just standing there, engulfed in the story, I began to realize that this book was making me tone out my surroundings. After flipping through five pages, I bought the book.

Magic man is the story of Brae Orrack, a supposedly forgotten hidden man in Hollywood, dying of a mysterious curse set upon his head, whose manuscript of his adventures was discovered in a soundstage on a famous studio lot. His introduction is crisp and intriguing. His humor is dry and engaging. And the voice in which he tells the story and paints the picture is one that stands on it's own. His adventures, as a magic man, takes him to seedy hotels, glorious neighborhoods bumping shoulders with and having eccentric run-in's with George Raft, Garry Cooper and Clara Bow at a time when the film industry was changing in 1928. When the pictures made the transition to sound, that's when all this hidden, poignant chaos began. It has car chases, romance, mysterious characters and unforgettable scenes with dialogue that will keep you glued to your seat almost breathless by the time you reach the next chapter.

This lost treasure of a book is one I would read again and recommend to others for just a good old fashioned story. It seems that this is the first and only fictional tale Ron Base chose to right. Well, one thing is for certain, it certainly left an impression . . . and made me believe in magic once again.

This book seems to have no point. It starts out to be about movie-making, maybe, what with Gary Cooper and George Raft being brought in. But then it seems to be more about the title character chasing a girl, since he thinks he has to fall in love or he'll die from a curse his father put on him. Whatever it's about, it isn't funny or all that clever, and eventuates in nothing much.

And there's a business about turning stones into bees. The hero seems capable of doing this, but then it seems as if he's just a sleight-of-hand practitioner who's able to make other people think he can. Finally, it seems that he's suffering an affliction that makes him the one being fooled. Turning stones into bees doesn't come up all that often, but often enough that you want to know the truth of it. And it's about the only trick in the book on which to base the title.