Finally Finished Another Book
Since Bel Canto became a Book Club darling, Ann Patchett's books can be found everywhere. Even in the Clearance Section for a dollar. So I picked up a few and just finished The Magician's Assistant.
Sabine's husband, Parsifal, just died suddenly. He was, among other things, a professional magician. Made a fortune selling fine rugs. The plot involves the discovery, upon reading the will, that Parsifal had a family living in Nebraska that he had lied about. But not a wife-and-kids family. A mother and two sisters family that Sabine had thought long dead.
The twisted circumstances are that Sabine was Parsifal's assistant for twenty years. Had been in love with him for that long. But had only been his wife for a year or so. Because he was gay and in love with another guy. Sabine shared a house with them both. Other guy died, Parsifal married Sabine so that she could, "Be my widow".
OK. I will buy this scenario. Because it sounds like something I'd be dumb enough to do. She says that she dated and perhaps even had a healthy sex life outside the house, but nothing stuck because she was in love with Parsifal.
So. Parsifal dies and Sabine finds out about the family. He left them some money. The mother calls Sabine and says she is flying out to CA to see her son's grave and wants to meet her. They are all instantly bonded.
They all share stories to get to know this man they shared and Sabine even goes to Nebraska and spends a few weeks. Lalala nice story. It struck me, somewhere in the last 50 pages, that there is not one second of resentment between these women. Not at the dead lying guy - whose actions they all accepted as totaly justified (and perhaps they were) and not for each other. I don't mean they should generally have resented each other. But these were grieving women and there was not one second of grief-stricken meanness between them.
Maybe I'm just mean myself.
Here's where it lost me.
Sabine and the sister were doing a kiss goodnight which accidentally landed on the lips and drew out for rather longer than necessary. And it became a thing. As if the story isn't dramatic enough. The book ended with the sister leaving her jackass husband and thinking of going back to California with Sabine. With her kids.
You know what? I remember having this problem with Bel Canto. That the characters were so well-drawn and then the plot fell apart, all anti-climactic. In Bel Canto, though, it was a function of the plot. The hostage crisis was over. This book has no such excuse.
Sabine's husband, Parsifal, just died suddenly. He was, among other things, a professional magician. Made a fortune selling fine rugs. The plot involves the discovery, upon reading the will, that Parsifal had a family living in Nebraska that he had lied about. But not a wife-and-kids family. A mother and two sisters family that Sabine had thought long dead.
The twisted circumstances are that Sabine was Parsifal's assistant for twenty years. Had been in love with him for that long. But had only been his wife for a year or so. Because he was gay and in love with another guy. Sabine shared a house with them both. Other guy died, Parsifal married Sabine so that she could, "Be my widow".
OK. I will buy this scenario. Because it sounds like something I'd be dumb enough to do. She says that she dated and perhaps even had a healthy sex life outside the house, but nothing stuck because she was in love with Parsifal.
So. Parsifal dies and Sabine finds out about the family. He left them some money. The mother calls Sabine and says she is flying out to CA to see her son's grave and wants to meet her. They are all instantly bonded.
They all share stories to get to know this man they shared and Sabine even goes to Nebraska and spends a few weeks. Lalala nice story. It struck me, somewhere in the last 50 pages, that there is not one second of resentment between these women. Not at the dead lying guy - whose actions they all accepted as totaly justified (and perhaps they were) and not for each other. I don't mean they should generally have resented each other. But these were grieving women and there was not one second of grief-stricken meanness between them.
Maybe I'm just mean myself.
Here's where it lost me.
Sabine and the sister were doing a kiss goodnight which accidentally landed on the lips and drew out for rather longer than necessary. And it became a thing. As if the story isn't dramatic enough. The book ended with the sister leaving her jackass husband and thinking of going back to California with Sabine. With her kids.
You know what? I remember having this problem with Bel Canto. That the characters were so well-drawn and then the plot fell apart, all anti-climactic. In Bel Canto, though, it was a function of the plot. The hostage crisis was over. This book has no such excuse.