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Carter Beats the Devil
Sep. 6th, 2004 09:13 pmI just finished reading the book and, along with the reader headache (480 pages over about 14 hours in 2 days), I am in awe. I confound myself that I always turn a blind mind to any fiction set in certain times and certain places, and this is such a one: almost 2/3 is set in 1923 San Francisco (ok, maybe 1/2). Blah. But, no, this book completely entranced me. I cared about Carter (the main character and a real person, who was a famous magician). The author who wrote the book wove in Carter's life in such a way that I triumphed at his triumphs, and said, "No!" outloud when I saw bad things happen.
I simply marvel at the structure of the book. The author, Glen Gold, wove the story deftly, bringing in different elements, dropping them like pebbles to pick up later. When one would resurface, it was this moment like watching a magician--I can't believe he did it!
I thought about the way, on a deeper level, the writer linked the fields of magic and technology (another "oh" moment), how he seemed to be writing, overall, a book about magic that was also about the spell of (good) writing itself. He suspended my disbelief (yeah, original, I know). He used these magic elements--misdirection, disappearance, transubstantiation. I think the reason he was able to do this was because his main character had a real gentleness overall, which I suppose stands in for the writer. He didn't make us feel like rubes, although at times I was afraid he would.
No, everything seemed to have a satisfying ending. And I know a bit more about magic, now. Plus, San Francisco in the 20s is a lot more attractive to me now (I don't know if anyone else can do it, though--how luxurious is a character who walks his lion at night--like the real Charlie Carter did?)
I simply marvel at the structure of the book. The author, Glen Gold, wove the story deftly, bringing in different elements, dropping them like pebbles to pick up later. When one would resurface, it was this moment like watching a magician--I can't believe he did it!
I thought about the way, on a deeper level, the writer linked the fields of magic and technology (another "oh" moment), how he seemed to be writing, overall, a book about magic that was also about the spell of (good) writing itself. He suspended my disbelief (yeah, original, I know). He used these magic elements--misdirection, disappearance, transubstantiation. I think the reason he was able to do this was because his main character had a real gentleness overall, which I suppose stands in for the writer. He didn't make us feel like rubes, although at times I was afraid he would.
No, everything seemed to have a satisfying ending. And I know a bit more about magic, now. Plus, San Francisco in the 20s is a lot more attractive to me now (I don't know if anyone else can do it, though--how luxurious is a character who walks his lion at night--like the real Charlie Carter did?)
