I've said it before, and I'll say it again: "Mike Russell is a magician." This book now proves it.
I myself, am a magician. When I received my copy of this book, it came with note from Mike Russell that said, "We look forward to reading a magician's review of 'Magic.'"
As a magician, I can say I have never read anything like this before. I have read many books about magic, but this one was very different. An EXCELLENT different.
To me, this book was like if Monty Python teamed up with A. A. Milne to write a story that combined silliness, philosophy, and most of all, magic into one delicious helping. Like all of Mr. Russell's work, it was funny, strange, and thought provoking all at the same time.
This book changed for me as I read it. It was a surreal sandwich. It started out as surreal and magical. Then, it began to sound normal as the story went on. Suddenly, it shifted back into being surreal and magical again. It was truly a intense tug-of-war. In the end, though, magic won, as it should.
As an avid reader of Mike Russell's books, I noticed some echoes of some his previous works peppered into this masterpiece. It had hints of the story "Mr. Dennis and the Universe" from the book "Strange Medicine," since the main character falls "in love with the universe." I felt this book also shared some of the philosophical ideas from Mike Russell's last book, "The Exploding Book." In "Magic," we see how magical ideas and words can be to people, just like in "The Exploding Book."
This book kind of reminded me of the book "Attack of the Mutant Underwear" by Tom Birdseye becaus-, similar to Birdseye's novel- you never knew the author/main character was going to end the story. They left you in suspenseful. I didn't mind, though. I didn't want this story to end.
This book was truly magical. As a magician, I highly recommend it. This book is a combination of two of my favorite subjects: Magic and surrealism. I think anyone would enjoy this book, whether they read at home, school, work, or from their truck, I mean motorhome.
*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
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Top reviews from other countries
Amazon カスタマー
Simple, deep and entirely engaging.
Reviewed in Japan on July 13, 2020
Amazon カスタマー
Reviewed in Japan on July 13, 2020
A second reason is that MAGIC is longer so the story has a looser and more comfortable flow, we aren’t marshalled along grid lines to the inevitable check-out. And because the story is longer and more spacious, characters can expand, show themselves from different angles, catching the light in day and night, indoors and out. The story has ups and downs and the meaning and existence of magic is proven, dis-proven, and altered. This is ontology at work, a word not used, nor ever likely to be used by the characters in MAGIC. A word they may not understand. I don’t really understand it either, so I’ll exit from that particular path and start again.
Because the story has ups and downs, and because magic changes, it means that, along the way, characters can change and grow in understanding and confidence. Maybe we can, too. The main character, Charlie Watson, is a man-child – candid, innocent and naïve. This is a difficult type of character to handle but Mike Russell has the required delicacy, never naming the exact cause of Charlie’s naïveté, which gives him (Mike Russell) more leeway (in the space he’s created).
MAGIC has many of the elements familiar to Mike Russell readers: immediate immersion in a plausible but significantly other reality, very close to the reader’s own perhaps, especially if the reader lives in a medium-sized town in the South of England in about 1977, or about 27 years in the future anywhere at all, possibly an Earth-like planet in an alternate universe.
And there is the language with its precise description of events. A random (?) example: ‘He unlocked the front door, then went inside. I followed him… “What’s your name?” he asked me. “Charlie Watson,” I said.’ (Page 120.)
There is the same sans serif font, suggesting equality and balance, and openness. Take it at face value, if you wish.
And there is the precise use of numbers and measurements. ‘I arrived . . . an hour before . . . I gave her a five pound note . . . I gave him my ticket. He tore it in half, then gave me half back.’ (Pages 48-49.)
But MAGIC is different, too, because sometimes Charlie does not know the number: ‘I’m not sure how many rabbits there are in the house.’ (Page 26.) And there other things Charlie does not know. He admits it, often. This lack of knowledge suggests the Unknown – all that is unknown and all that is unknowable. Very important stuff. Disturbing perhaps, but important.
Another difference is that all main characters have names, such as Manzini the Marvellous, Barry Clark and Lilian Clark. Not just ‘the woman’ and ‘the man’ as sometimes we saw in shorter stories before.
Another difference is that Charlie sometimes addresses the reader like this: ‘Some of you reading this book might be wondering how I know about . . .’ (page 23). And: ‘If you recognised that last paragraph it’s because I copied it from what I wrote before. I thought I might as well . . .’ (Page 145.) ‘You’ll be wondering if . . . but I’m not going to tell you yet. I’m going to keep it as a surprise.’ (Page 132.) There’s a technical name for this kind of thing but Charlie doesn’t know it and if Mike Russell does, he’s too polite to mention it.
All along the journey to the centre of the world and the centre of magic and the ending of MAGIC, there is meaning and important things that are told simply and entertainingly. All this is great, and well written, too.
The ending of MAGIC is not inevitable and is genuinely surprising, I think. Maybe that’s because of all the ups and downs and roundabouts we’ve enjoyed to get there. You may be wondering whether or not I’ll reveal the ending here. Maybe I will.
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