Customer Reviews

The Magician and the Fool

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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

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.

I couldn't help but feel while reading this book that it was an early work by Anderson that was rushed out by his publisher to take advantage of the well-deserved acclaim for Patron Saint of Plagues, which is a far superior piece of storytelling.

The plot is summed up in the other reviews, so basically all I'll say is halfway through the book I felt like the plot was just getting started, another quarter of the way through and it felt like nothing big had really happened yet, then he quickly rushes through to the end with a sloppy climax that ties together the two story threads in pretty much the most obvious deus-ex-machina-way possible. MAGIC DID IT!

A HUGE disappointment for a HUGE fan of his previous book. Hopefully this is indeed just an early work they picked up after the success of PSOP and his future books will be up to the standard of his first.

I really liked this book, but following it can be a bit tricky. And explanations would be useful - not lots, but some terms and phrases should be in a glossary or footnoted (I had a similar issue with all the Spanish in Patron Saint of Plagues, but tarot/magic knowledge is less widely known.) But then again, it's a book about a magician (of sorts) so go in expecting some tricks and sleight of hand.
Part of the confusion lies in that the story you see first isn't really connected to what happens next. First we are introduced to Jeremaih Rosemont, an art historian who took himself out of the mainstream, away from tenure and the pursuit of his career. He winds up in Nicaragua, and displays some unusual abilities to influence people, abilities and decisions he doesn't fully understand himself. In true conspiracy cannon, he is given an envelope with a ticket to Rome by a man outside the locked gates of his hostel, addressed to him, though no one would know where he is, etc. Naturally, he goes to Rome.
We are introduced then to Boy King, a tramp/homeless man in Minneapolis with a talent for reading tarot cards. He is being pursued by an unknown agent, possibly to do with the clashings of two ancient cults who strive for legitimacy/authenticity.
It's a wild ride, and well written, but is a book you have to approach with no preconcieved notions of how the story unfolds. Ancient mythology, magic, tarot and academia all rolled into one mad package.

Anderson has taken us through the mirror and shown us that looking at our own reflections isn't as simple as gazing at an image in a pane of glass. Crafted with a prodigious knowledge of the history and workings of the tarot, The Magician and the Fool opens the doorway to a world where time folds around us, tracing the path of a secret and powerful group of people as they each search for something they've lost. Throughout it's pages, Magician reveals with painstakingly detail that the world is not a simple, predictable place, and that we often know less about the people standing beside us--and ourselves--than we would like to think.

The Magician and the Fool is a thought-provoking, unsettling, and deeply philosophical story that follows art historian and tarot scholar Jeremiah Rosemont, who is searching, he believes, for a long-lost set of tarot cards rumored to have been rediscovered. Through a tale as unpredictable and mind-bending as interpreting a tarot spread itself, Anderson shows us that the process of self discovery is every bit as much a journey as hitchhiking through Central America--and often, far more dangerous.

There is a pretentiousness suffused throughout this book that continued to baffle and annoy me as I read. I had this constant awareness of an author behind the scenes, pulling strings, setting up this elaborate structure to tell a story that didn't need to be told that way. There was too much artifice involved and too little art, in the end, to look at and appreciate.

The story is about tarot. Would I recognize depictions typically found in a standard tarot deck if I saw one tomorrow? Maybe I'd recognize three or four cards, but that's it. The book gives you a rather foggy history of tarot - and that comes in little puffs only - and does an even worse job at what should have been the easiest: "showing" the reader the cards, letting us get to know the tarot basics a little better, like "well, what do they look like?"... but no!

That is because of the artifice employed by the author. He wants us in so close to his protagonists that we're supposed to take for granted exactly what they're taking for granted. We're supposed to already know (or stop reading and go look up) what those characters already know. And, at multiple points, when a protagonist is in a perfect position to ask other characters for information - to orient both himself and the reader - the author lets the moment slide by, choosing to avoid any kind of exposition at all costs.

And, on top of that, I'd argue that both of his protagonists can squarely fall into the category of "unreliable" narrators (as you look out from their close-third points of view), so even when you think you might actually have something figured out... well... later on you find out that you really probably didn't.

There is no "sage/guide" character in this story, that's for sure! This author gives you no help at all. In fact, as I read this story, I was regularly jarred with the annoying realization that the author simply wanted to raise questions, make things mysterious, and leave things hanging, unanswered, and unresolved - at almost every possible turn.

Hope you like to feel regularly frustrated while you read.

Suffice it to say that this story, when I finished it, left me with the distinct impression - no, the absolute belief - that the purpose of the whole thing was to simply present "the mystery" that is/might be tarot. Not to put too fine a point on it, spoiler-wise, but you had better be plenty interested in star-crossed homosexual romance to get any sort of satisfaction out of this book.

Otherwise, you'll need to be (or get) somewhat educated on tarot, the Iliad, the Aeneid, ancient Roman founding history, Sumerian/Babylonian mythology, Atlantean/Lemurian speculative history, and ancient Egyptian religion to "get" a lot of what's not being explained in the story. Rest assured, though, that there will still be plenty of unanswered questions left over, even if you've done your homework!

The saddest thing is that there truly is a rich, bold story to be told here in this book... yet the author only allows us to see tiny glimpses of it. (Ever look through the wrong end of binoculars? Perhaps you begin to understand my point.)

I finished this book with an overwhelming sense of disgust - mainly at myself for wasting my money and time. I should have read several pages in the store, like I usually do. Thus I type now out of a self-inflicted pain, which I do deserve. Congratulations, Bantam Dell book cover copy writer: yours was a job well done!

Anderson is an absolute wizard of language, story, and tarot. He throws down words like cards, and the resulting patterns are rich and tantalizing in what they reveal and what they refuse to show. This is a gorgeous book.

This book is an alternate history of the Tarot, but it is so much more. It's a beautiful, gritty, and real image of life in the mundane world when you deny a huge part of who you are. It's smart and funny and sad and the ending . . . well, I'll just say this: at the end, I wasn't even sure who was who. But it was so well-written and heartrending and bizarre and gorgeous that I didn't give a damn.

WONDERFUL book. If you like books that make you think and make you feel and blow your mind, this is IT.

Just finished this and loved it, from beginning to end. Gorgeous prose, a ripping good story, delicious historical arcana about tarot, ancient Rome, and Etruscan mythology. I found myself captivated--by the narrative itself, as well as by the erudite research threaded throughout. A wonderful novel, just the right length to while away a couple of weekend nights. Anderson's got all the chops you could want from a literary writer, with the smart pacing and otherworldly dash of Dan Brown at his best. Highly, highly recommended.