Trader [Paperback]

Charles de Lint (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2005

A novel of loss, identity, and, in the strangest of places, hope.

Leonard Trader is a luthier, a maker of guitars. Johnny Devlin is chronically unemployed. Leonard is solitary, quiet, responsible. Johnny is a lady-killer, a drunk, a charming loser.

When they inexplicably wake up in each other's bodies, Johnny gleefully moves into Leonard's comfortable and stable existence, leaving Leonard to pick up the pieces of a life he had no part in breaking.

Penniless, friendless, homeless, Leonard begins a journey that will take him beyond the streets of the city to an otherworld of dreams and spirits, where he must confront both the unscrupulous Johnny Devlin and his own deepest fears.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When a mischievous spirit grants loser Johnny Devlin's wish for someone else's life, luthier Max Trader wakes up in Johnny's body, surrounded by the emotionally vacant shambles Johnny has left behind, bankrupt and farther down in the world than he has ever imagined being. Jarred from his complacent, self-contained path, Max has only his inner resources for both emotional and financial support. He wants his life back, but, as he struggles for it, he realizes that he will no longer be satisfied with things as they were. Fans of de Lint's previous work will enjoy this gently didactic story set in the fictional town of Newford's thirtysomethingish community of arty waifs and folk musicians. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A master of urban fantasy returns with one of his finest works. One morning, a quiet, responsible luthier (guitar-maker), Leonard Trader, wakes up in the body of charming ne'er-do-well Johnny Devlin. At the same time, Devlin takes over Trader's body. Devlin starts cutting a swathe through the money, women and liquor in Trader's circle, while Trader has to struggle for survival on the mean streets while trying to figure out what happened to him and what he can do about it. This quest takes him (as such quests have taken many of de Lint's characters) into what is in, in effect, a marvelously wrought land of Faerie. De Lint (Memory and Dream, etc.) builds his story from a succession of well-chosen and well-expressed details. He eschews herding his lead characters into some grand, eternal arena; nothing is at stake here except their personal fates. Devlin and Trader are made so sympathetic in de Lint's seasoned hands, however, that the lack of a cosmic stage for their drama doesn't detract one bit from their wholly engaging adventures.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Orb Books (February 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765302969
• ISBN-13: 978-0765302960
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,020,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles de Lint and his wife, the artist MaryAnn Harris, live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His evocative novels, including Moonheart, Forests of the Heart, and The Onion Girl, have earned him a devoted following and critical acclaim as a master of contemporary magical fiction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fair Exchange, July 21, 2005

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trader (Paperback)

Max, you've gone too far this time! Though he doesn't know why, one day Max Trader wakes up and realizes that he's been transported into the body of a homeless derelict, Johnny Devlin, who's now all showered and shaved and living in Max's very nice lifestyle. The two men are at a standstill, and Max realizes how tough it is to be homeless and yet, we all of us can do something to change our life, even if our "trading partner" (Johnny) isn't quite ready to give us back our own life yet. TRADER shines with all of Charles De Lint's trademark magic and color. His town is like one designed by Thomas Kinkade, the "painter of light," if Kinkade had been a Canadian citizen; you will feel you're at home right away, even if your own life has been very different than that of the perplexed, bewitched characters of Ontario.

Do you remember THE IVORY AND THE HORN? In that book Coyote descsibres the mystic little flute player, the trickster, and he says, "He's a fertility symbol, now, very mythopoetic and all, but it wasn't always that way. Used to be a trader, a travelling merchant, hup-two-three. That hunched back was actually his pack of trading goods, the flute his way of approaching a settlement, tootle-toot-toot, it's only me, no danger, except if you were some nubile young thing." I think perhaps for De Lint the concept of the "trader" was percolating in his mind lo, these many years, and only now has he expanded it into novel length. He has drunk deep from the wells of Northrop Frye and Lord Dunsany and he has fermented his own bubbly brew of identity and inspiration.

If you are looking for a place of nature inside the city, come to the world of TRADER and lie back and see the stars through the neon.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I LOVED it., September 7, 2006

By 

Ana Q (Oregon, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trader (Paperback)

Although I can understand the other reviewers' points of view, I have to disagree. I loved this book. This is the first book I have ever read by Charles de Lint, but I thought it was entertaining and a really good read. I would definitely give it a try.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasing as always..., February 22, 1999

By 

Addison Phillips (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trader (Paperback)

I like De Lint's work. It's always fresh and fun. The ideas are well handled and the characters (usually just a couple of them) are well honed. Like so many of his other books, this one is set in the semi-Faeriefied "urban folklore" style he's known for. This book is sometimes tedious, but there's so little like it that you'll enjoy yourself (especially if you enjoyed any of his past works).