Magic Time Signed Edition [Hardcover]

W P Kinsella (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: DOUBLEDAY (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385257384
• ISBN-13: 978-0385257381
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,366,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Home Run, January 7, 2002

By 

S. A. Cartwright "Stu Cartwright" (Wayland, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magic Time (History & Heritage) (Hardcover)

The Publisher's Weekly review above pretty much misses the central thesis: Does Mike Houle want to live an assured life "in the fairway" or take his chances that he might "drive out of bounds?" It's classic risk/reward that we all face in our lives, written eloquently in a well told tale. The mini-stories within about the conflicted slugger Barry McMartin, the rules- bending Roger Cash, and the protaganist's father Gil Houle are rich and imaginative. Between the covers, this one is better than Shoeless Joe.

[Incidently, I am a big Kinsella fan ever since he flew across the continent to appear at openning day of Pupque Park...a miniature replica of Fenway built by 2 enterprising high school boys in their backyard in Wayland, MA. A great day, Kinsella was the star of this Jimmy Fund event despite appearances by Spaceman Bill Lee and Rich Gedman. Thanks for coming,WPK!]

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting, if not a little disjointed, February 8, 2002

By 

Daniel Reade (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magic Time (History & Heritage) (Hardcover)

While I'm normally a fan of W.P. Kinsella, I found this book to be very disjointed. Its important for potential readers to know that the book is built around various short stories that Kinsella has written at various times. The central story itself is an expansion of an earlier short story, "The Dixon Cornbelt League". While I found the central story fascinating, the whole experience of the book suffered because entire chapters are devoted to old short stories that have nothing to do with the central plot of the novel. While I recommend this book, I think potential readers should beware that instead of getting an independent novel, you're getting a group of repackaged short stories.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Is This Heaven? No, It's Iowa (and a pretty good book), May 13, 2002

By 

Winslow Bunny "Winslow_Bunny" (Rockledge, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magic Time (History & Heritage) (Hardcover)

W.P. Kinsella, transplanted from Canada to Iowa, writes about two of his favorite topics in Magic Time: Iowa and baseball. As those are two of my more favorite subjects, I read Magic Time and came away a little less satisfied than I would have hoped to be. The story opens with the background/childhood of Mike Houle, hustling baseball player (in a good sense). The first few chapters are consumed with an oft-told story concerning baseball distances; if you haven't heard the story before, I won't spoil it for you except to say that it has been around and used in stories over the years. Mike goes on to make himself into a minor star in college but didn't quite have enough "talent" to be drafted into the minor leagues, to put it politely. His agent lands him a spot in the Cornbelt League in Iowa, with the Grand Mound team. The other teams in the league, spread out along U.S. 30 in eastern Iowa, also appear to draft players, give them day jobs and have plenty of time for the players to practice. Eventually, though, the secrets of the Cornbelt League are discovered: there's more sociology taking place here than league baseball games. While the book does have its moments of disjointedness and pleasure, I found the most enjoyable part of the book was in considering the notion of what the people of Grand Mound were trying to do, and what a baseball player would do in the same situation: stay or go? Accept what I was or prove everyone wrong? Having lived in a small town in eastern Iowa up the road aways from U.S. 30, and having loved living there, I think Mike was getting a heck of a deal - if he could appreciate it. But then, that's part of the fun of reading, placing ourselves in the character's position. Magic Time can certainly give you the opportunity to do that - and it does it pretty well.