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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Surreal sliding through Minneapolis and Rome, June 10, 2008
This review is from: The Magician and the Fool (Paperback)
Jeremiah Rosemont is a far-fallen academic star, an art historian with specialized knowledge of--and uncanny experience with--tarot decks. Having exiled himself from the United States, he finds his wanderings through Nicaragua interrupted one night by the mysterious delivery of a plane ticket to Rome. There, he stumbles into a maelstrom of occult forces and figures gathering around a deck of uncertain origin and powers. Another figure with links to the deck is the Boy King, a vagrant in Minneapolis with strange and formidable talents. The chapters alternate between Rome and Minneapolis, while the story meanders through time and space, until the lives of Rosemont and the Boy King finally dovetail with surprising consequences.
This is Mr. Anderson's second novel, and in it he displays prodigious gifts, seamlessly blending items such as transcripts of interviews, faxes, and redacted government letters with amazingly vivid descriptions of surreal events, such as this scene from a festival in Rome: "A crowd of men in gas masks were playing sanders, drills, and one man with a whining electric saw was pressing it against an iron slab, sending up rooster tails of sparks over the crowd, all of which turned upon multifold Moroccan rhythms and the singer's reverent, warbling voice." (p. 197) (The use of mirrors in Rosemont's first key romantic liaison and the conclusion is also noteworthy.) On the other hand, he refuses to spoon-feed the reader with "what's really happening" behind the viewpoint character's immediate thoughts and perceptions--leaving enigmas such as the identities of minor characters unresolved--and the result is a post-modern fever dream that feels longer than its 290 pages and should captivate a reader who lets him/herself succumb to it, but that is unlikely to enlighten or educate (with the exception of tarot lore, but even there, one struggles to separate fact from myth from fiction).
Overall, this should be a fascinating library loan for mature fans of modern or literary fantasy (but to this reviewer, it was much lighter and less rewarding than Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco, for example). Its card is ... the Three of Stars.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
exhilarating convoluted thriller, March 28, 2008
This review is from: The Magician and the Fool (Paperback)
Disgraced as an academia art historian Jeremiah Rosemont fled to remote areas to just get away from the treachery of his peers. He is currently hiking through Central America when a stranger informs him he has been summoned to Rome; the man gives him a plane ticket and leaves.
Rosemont flies to Rome and enters through a back door a hotel where he sees some sort of weird gala occurring; filled with people he once knew. At the same time that Rosemont is left bewildered, two killers in Minnesota pursue Boy King, a dumpster driving tarot card reader. They seek a legendary ancient pack that they believe Boy King owns; that same pack is why Rosemont has been brought out of self exile; disgraced or not he is expected to affirm its origin. If he is able to do so it will change recognition of this thought to be pseudo science into something valid and acceptable.
This is an exhilarating convoluted thriller that is not going to allow readers to remain in their comfort zone. Instead THE MAGICIAN AND THE FOOL is a well written complex tale that questions what is real in a singular and collective sense and is the singular real normal if it differs from the collective. Fans looking for something radically different and not easy to comprehend will relish Barth Anderson's atypical tale that will either turn someone off early or have them re-read immediately to gain additional nuances and perspectives.
Harriet Klausner
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
literary catnip!, March 27, 2009
This review is from: The Magician and the Fool (Paperback)
it's not easy to find books this well-written, smart, and compelling. i found it addictive. i was so engrossed i wanted to call in sick, turn off the phone, and stay up all night. i didn't want to to do anything except keep reading. and then, when it was over and i emerged from my trance, i wished i had savored it and made it last longer.
the story is mysterious and multi-layered, fast-paced and exciting. it grabs you by the throat from the get-go and doesn't let go, well, ever. it sticks with you long after the last page. it's the kind of book that you *want* to read again right away. partly because it's hard to leave this world and these characters behind; but also because it's such a page-turner, you get swept up in the action and it can be hard to s-l-o-w down to process information or look for clues, even though you sense there are many more layers there to explore. but that's okay, because the second reading is even more rewarding than the first.
it's true that anderson doesn't spell it out for his readers, but all the pieces are there and it's fun to turn them over and fit them together. he does not insult your intelligence but instead weaves it all together in an elaborate tapestry that makes closer scrutiny enjoyable and rewarding.
if offers the sweetest kind of reading pleasure -- a world where you can happily lose yourself, a story that won't let you go, and mysteries that your mind keeps turning over and over like a toy. it's like catnip for your mind.
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