Magic [Mass Market Paperback]

William Goldman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1978

Starting out as a boy in the Catskills, Corky develops into a brilliant and famous magician whose long-hidden secret and expert skills attract dark forces intent on destroying him.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dell (September 15, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440151414
• ISBN-13: 978-0440151418
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.4 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #874,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Goldman has been writing books and movies for more than forty years. He has won two Academy Awards (for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men), and three Lifetime Achievement Awards in screenwriting.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another lost gem!, October 6, 2000

By 

Mad Reveller "[e-mail]" (Delaware, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magic (Hardcover)

It's an injustice for this novel to be out of print. Although as one reviwer mentioned, the ending is a bit too obvious up-front, the story has many compensating qualities, especially the excellent portrayal of a good guy, Corky, plaqued by inner demons he just can't control. Thus, we have an excellent drama of the downward spiral of a character we come to like. Incidentally, the movie featuring Anthony Hopkins is even better, and it, too, was written/scripted by William Goldman. Also, maybe some of you might remember the trailer for this film in the late 70s. I was still a kid/preteen back then, and the trailer with the dummy scared me half to death, and to this day, it stays with me. Unfortunately, the video copy I have of the film doesn't contain the trailer. Anybody out there remember it, too? Anyway, if you aren't able to buy a copy of this book on an Amazon.com auction, try to get it through an intra-library loan at your local library. I think you'll be glad you did, for this is a forgotten gem from the greatest era of horror, the 70s, and it should still be in print today, because it's as good as any psychological-suspense-horror novel I've ever read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hocus pocus, Corky's sanity has lost its focus., February 27, 2002

By 

Chadwick H. Saxelid "Bookworm" (Concord, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magic (Hardcover)

Corky is the 1970s answer to Norman Bates, only with a ventriloquist's dummy instead of a mother. Author William Goldman, one of the great contemporary popular writers of the last two quarters of the 20th century, takes us inside of Corky's head as he valiantly tries to keep his sanity from whithering away completely. He escapes to his past, returning to his childhood home and searching out his teenage crush Peggy Ann Snow, now a grown woman in a troubled and rapidly dissolving marriage. In an isolated cabin rental, Corky makes his tragic last stand. A wonderful novel that manages to both be a melancholic love story as well as a harrowing psychological thriller. An essential for any William Goldman addict.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic, June 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Magic (Hardcover)

This book mirrors its name: Goldman's skill is pure magic. (Cheesy, cheesy, but true.) Corky's descent into madness is funny, painful, violent, disturbing, and so so sad. There are some fabulous kickers in here--prepare to be surprised. Found myself forgetting everything as I plunged through it.