Book Review: The Magician's Assistant

The Magician’s Assistant is my third Ann Patchett novel (previously read: Bel Canto and The Patron Saint of Liars). Anne Patchett is nothing if not an exceptional storyteller and skilful in character development. All of her stories could be called slow moving; they are real life stories with life shattering twists that come upon slow and soulfully, not with a head turning spin that makes the reader dizzy.

In the Magician’s Assistant, we discover Sabine, the Assistant and new wife of Magician Parsifal who has died of AIDS, preceding his lover Phan. Sabine was Parsifal’s assistant for 22 years before they were married. Parsifal was a gay man, with no living relatives, and a penchant for antique rugs. His death has caused Sabine’s life to stop moving, as she wanders the house where the three of them lived, the places they entertained people, and the only life, as she knew.

That is until Parsifal’s will uncovers living relatives … a mother and two sisters. Family he told Sabine he never had in a place he never mentioned, Alliance, Nebraska.

In an instant, Sabine’s world gets interrupted by a visit from these relatives who want to meet her and see Parsifal’s resting place. Sabine wants to know why Parsifal decided to shut away that part of his life, and who these people are and what they want of her.

The story starts in Los Angeles, CA and ends up in Alliance, NE where Sabine will go to learn the truth about Parsifal -- the man she thought she knew-- and finally become closer to him.

In the books I’ve read, Ann Patchett’s heroines are deep souls with no inclination for allowing anyone to help them or revealing too much. They seem to be helpless, bouncing around by life’s predicaments, but in truth are strong and willful. In the Patron Saint of Liars her main character--young married and pregnant-- leaves her husband and ends up in the Midwest at a Catholic Home for wayward girls. There she claims the father of her baby is dead and “begins” a new life. In Bel Canto, the opera singer is the lone female stuck in a mansion held by hostages. In this insane microcosm, she discovers what it is to be truly admired and loved, and what it means to lose it.

I didn’t feel as moved by The Magician’s Assistant, as I did about Bel Canto (but then again, I found Bel Canto to be heads and shoulders above any book I’ve read); but if you enjoy Ann Patchett, then you will enjoy this moving story.