The Magician's Assistant

Rating:
Summary: So satisfying - I'm still savoring it.
Review: I loved this book for so many reasons. I stumbled on it at my local independent bookstore and was intrigued by the premise. The characters were believable, the story well-crafted, and I genuinely felt fulfilled from beginning to end. I spent half the day at work today telling anyone who would listen about my experience with it.

Rating:
Summary: Wishful thinking and regional bias!
Review: Let me get this straight: life after death is beautiful and the dead can visit their loved ones (not to mention foreign countries) in dreams; the Midwest is the only place with child/spousal abuse; Los Angeles is a paradise and THE hope for suffering people (sunshine, ocean, tolerance, and fresh limes? Hmm, I always think smog, crime, and earthquakes.) I would not recommend this to anyone living outside of LA.

Rating:
Summary: about trying to complete the past and doing it
Review: A beautiful poetic book. Sabine's wonderful relationship with Parsifal and Phan had a gaping hole in Parsifal life. Her journey to complete the picture takes her into a totally different planet, Nebraska. Patchett's positive discriptions of LA are wonderfully opposed to her positive descriptions of the Midwest. Her relationship with Parsifal's family and the dreamlike quality of how life repeats itself hooked me. I loved all the characters.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful and engrossing
Review: I had never heard of the book or the author when I received it as a gift. The way the story unfolded and the characters developed kept me turning page after page. There is no spectacular plot here, just a snapshot of the complexities of love and relationships. It's a good vacation read.

Rating:
Summary: A journey to find the past of a dead loved one.
Review: Love this book. Have never read Patchett before and now I want to know more about her. Where has she lived, how can she write about people and circumstances so alien to me and still have them think thoughts I have had. Love the way she understands Los Angeles. I live here and love it for the same reasons she does. Her comparisons between it and white bread Nebraska I understand and even though there is no WalMart in Allaince it fits. But was confused by the last dream sequence and the end.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining.
Review: I was greatly entertained by this book. The character development and the relationships reminded me of those in Maupin's Tales of the City series. I would happily pick up a sequel book.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books of the decade!
Review: I was unfamiliar with Patchett when I picked up this book from a display table at our local bookstore. I have seldom seen language so lovingly and beautifully handled, or setting (especially Los Angeles) so lovingly rendered. As for the characters, coming to the last page felt like a wrenching farewell to much-loved friends. Buy this book. Savor every word. And be a better person for the wisdom you'll find in these pages.

Rating:
Summary: I was entranced
Review: The painfully tragic love of the main character--Sabine--is rendered so true that her pain becomes the reader's pain. For her to find resolution feels like a miracle in this emotionally charged and character-driven story. Being from Nebraska, I can't stomach the oversimplification that plains life is so stifling that it ruins beautiful people unless they can escape, yet (relative) cultural deprivation is a fact of life. And in contrast another reviewer, it doesn't matter that there is really no Wallmart in Alliance. Because Wallmart has practically overrun hundreds of plains towns and driven out competing local business, for many people it truly is the only place to go to get out of the house.

Rating:
Summary: Great rainy day read
Review: OK. So it's not "great literature". It's still a great read. It had some lovely, unexpected meanderings, nifty charaters and families that were loved and cherished even while they contributed to dysfunction.

Rating:
Summary: This book is not great but it is not bad either.
Review: This book held my interest enough for me to read it however I wouldn't call it a must read or even tell my friends to try it. The author leads you into the story with a skill level that promises a great tale. However once the main characters are introduced and the core circumstances established, a looseness develops and a subtle sense of drudgery sets in and one starts hoping for something better. It isn't the subject matter that is lacking--it's the story telling. .