BOOK REVIEW: Magic for Beginners
Title: Magic for Beginners
Author: Kelly Link
Magic for Beginners is a collection of short fiction by author Kelly Link. What I find the most interesting about Link, both with this collection and other works of her's that I have read, is how her fiction seems to stand on the line where fantasy meets reality. If I had to shelve this book under a particular genre, it would be fantasy, but it's not the kind that usually comes with the typical fantasy tropes. In fact, some of the stories, if read a certain way, aren't necessarily fantastic at all. Instead what marks it as fantasy is a particularly dreamlike atmosphere where anything seems possible. So when a passive zombie walks into a shop and it seems completely acceptable to the characters, it seems completely acceptable to the reader too. This makes Magic for Beginners not only a fantasy collection, but under the sub genre of magical realism, where the fantastic doesn't require rationalization.
Before reading Magic for Beginners, I had read Pretty Monsters, Link's short fiction collection for young adults. Two stories from Pretty Monsters also appear in Magic for Beginners. Normally this repetition would have bothered me, but they're actually my two favorite stories in the collection, so I didn't mind read them again. The first story is “The Faery Handbag,” which focuses on a teenage girl and her grandmother. Grandmother Zofia owns a handbag, and inside the handbag is an entire city of people. “The Faery Handbag” shows how the people of the handbag interact with the real world, and some people of the real world interact with the handbag. The second story I had already read was “Magic For Beginners.” This story focuses on a group of teenagers who have fallen in love with a TV show called The Library, who's episodes air at random times, the side characters are never played by the same actors, and no one knows who the actors or creators are in real life. When a beloved characters dies, Jeremy Mars finds himself in shock. Meanwhile, his real life begins to crumble around him as his parent's marriage falls apart.
From the description above, you might think that Magic for Beginners is a young adult work, but, that's certainly not the case here.“Stone Animals” deal with the subject of marriage and balancing home and work lives. “Lull" stars a chorus of middle aged protagonists dealing with life and love. One other story worth mentioning is “Catskin.” Although the cat lover in me winced at certain parts, this story has a really attractive fairy tale like quality to it that I connected to quite well. In fact, I think I enjoyed every story on one level or another, the one exception being “The Cannon.” Although Link's dreamlike style doesn't lead to the most focused fiction, I just found the question and answer format of “The Cannon” to be a little too scattered for me.
Final Thoughts: If you're in the mood for some short fiction (in honestly, I would call them most of them novelettes or novellas as opposed to short stories) that flirts with the boundary between fantasy and reality, than I would recommend picking up Kelly Link's Magic for Beginners. Although I picked this book up as part of the humble ebook bundle, you can actually find it on Link's website for free, although I would urge you to find one way or another to support this talented writer. Four Stars
Author: Kelly Link
Magic for Beginners is a collection of short fiction by author Kelly Link. What I find the most interesting about Link, both with this collection and other works of her's that I have read, is how her fiction seems to stand on the line where fantasy meets reality. If I had to shelve this book under a particular genre, it would be fantasy, but it's not the kind that usually comes with the typical fantasy tropes. In fact, some of the stories, if read a certain way, aren't necessarily fantastic at all. Instead what marks it as fantasy is a particularly dreamlike atmosphere where anything seems possible. So when a passive zombie walks into a shop and it seems completely acceptable to the characters, it seems completely acceptable to the reader too. This makes Magic for Beginners not only a fantasy collection, but under the sub genre of magical realism, where the fantastic doesn't require rationalization.
Before reading Magic for Beginners, I had read Pretty Monsters, Link's short fiction collection for young adults. Two stories from Pretty Monsters also appear in Magic for Beginners. Normally this repetition would have bothered me, but they're actually my two favorite stories in the collection, so I didn't mind read them again. The first story is “The Faery Handbag,” which focuses on a teenage girl and her grandmother. Grandmother Zofia owns a handbag, and inside the handbag is an entire city of people. “The Faery Handbag” shows how the people of the handbag interact with the real world, and some people of the real world interact with the handbag. The second story I had already read was “Magic For Beginners.” This story focuses on a group of teenagers who have fallen in love with a TV show called The Library, who's episodes air at random times, the side characters are never played by the same actors, and no one knows who the actors or creators are in real life. When a beloved characters dies, Jeremy Mars finds himself in shock. Meanwhile, his real life begins to crumble around him as his parent's marriage falls apart.
From the description above, you might think that Magic for Beginners is a young adult work, but, that's certainly not the case here.“Stone Animals” deal with the subject of marriage and balancing home and work lives. “Lull" stars a chorus of middle aged protagonists dealing with life and love. One other story worth mentioning is “Catskin.” Although the cat lover in me winced at certain parts, this story has a really attractive fairy tale like quality to it that I connected to quite well. In fact, I think I enjoyed every story on one level or another, the one exception being “The Cannon.” Although Link's dreamlike style doesn't lead to the most focused fiction, I just found the question and answer format of “The Cannon” to be a little too scattered for me.
Final Thoughts: If you're in the mood for some short fiction (in honestly, I would call them most of them novelettes or novellas as opposed to short stories) that flirts with the boundary between fantasy and reality, than I would recommend picking up Kelly Link's Magic for Beginners. Although I picked this book up as part of the humble ebook bundle, you can actually find it on Link's website for free, although I would urge you to find one way or another to support this talented writer. Four Stars