The Magician's Wife (William Abrahams Book)

Rating:
Summary: Tricks, politics and religion
Review: 'The Magician's Wife' is my first Brian Moore book, and I can say it is good, but I still have mixed feelings about it. He has a good style, and is a great storyteller, but somewhere in the middle I got lost --but found again in the end. I liked the way he mixed politic and religion -- and I've read he does it in many novels, so I'll probably read another of his books sooner or later.

I liked the first part best than the second. It was very interesting to learn the traditions in that court, but I have the feeling that most characters were human types rather than human beings. Anyway, his attention to details is one of the things that makes the reading interesting. The description of lucheons, parties and huntings are very interesting.

In my view, he lost the command of the narrative in the second part, when the story is set in Algeria. Local people again seem more human types, and the narrative got a bit confusing. Nevertheless, the climax of the novel is something very interesting, and that grabs your attention, and there is one twist in the end, that makes sense.

Emmeline, the magician's wife, is an interesting character --of course, the most well developed one in the novel--, and despite some flaws she is totally believable. So are her husband and Denieu, the two other important characters.

To sum up, this is an interesting book, but not recommended to everyone. And for me, I think I should try anothe Moore novel before deciding where I place him in my taste for books.

Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: After reading reviews, I was ready for a fascinating book when I bought The Magician's Wife to take on a trip -- a trip when I knew I wouldn't be around an English language bookstore for a number of days, so it was important to take a book I'd thoroughly enjoy. I read & read, looking for depth and magic, unable to turn to anything else to read, and even in those circumstances, found nothing beyond shallow characters, fleetingly interesting physical descriptions and emotionless interchanges. Wonderful idea, disappointing execution. It was like watching a puppet show with beautiful puppets but no story, no sound. This was my first Moore book so I'll try others.

Rating:
Summary: good idea, but a very boring execution of it
Review: I had heard high praise of Brian Moore, comparing him to Graham Greene; however, I found that to be very misleading. Although The Magician's Wife does have a moral quandary, I wouldn't liken it in any other way to the writings of Graham Greene. There is one exciting, interesting scene in this novel, which doesn't happen until the near end, and it isn't worth reading the rest of this dull novel. None of the characters are fully developed. The main character is sucn a boring and emotionless woman, it is difficult to read the tale from her point of view. Three quarters of the novel is just filler, meaningless description, not even beautifully detailed description, just padding. I give it two stars instead of one because it was an interesting idea, and it does have the one good scene (the magician truly put to test). I...will give Moore one more chance. Perhaps this isn't representative of his work...