The Magician's Assistant

This is a love story, a story of loyalty and devotion, above all else. It is a story about illusion, illusions on the stage and illusions in life. Parsifal is a magician and Sabine is his assistant. From the moment she sets eyes on him, she is totally captivated by his beauty, but he has eyes for someone else. For 22 years she remained with him, as a faithful friend, and he with her, but Parsifal is homosexual and he is in a committed relationship with Phan. The three of them become like family. Sabine had believed that she knew all there was to know about Parsifal, that they had no secrets from each other, until suddenly he dies, without warning, and the lawyer tells her that he has a family living in Alliance, Nebraska, a family she believed was dead, killed in a car crash. Devastated by his loss, she is further horrified to learn that he has not told her the truth about his past, that not only have they performed illusions on the stage, they have lived it in their daily lives. Everything about him was his own creation, like the magic tricks he designed. Parsifal not only had another name, he also had a completely different life, unknown to all those closest to him. When the lawyer informed Sabine about Parsifal’s past, he asked her if she wanted to get in touch with his family, but she defers to the lawyer, informing him that he may give them her information, if they wish it. After meeting them, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to them; they seem wholesome, down to earth, warm and loving, opposed to what she had originally thought about them, believing they had abandoned Parsifal. When she travels to Nebraska to get to know them better and to attend Parsifal’s sister’s upcoming wedding, she discovers that the family was flawed in many ways, unlike the picture perfect presentation they tried to sell her, when first they met. The family had a hidden history in more ways than one. The interaction of the characters in the novel is far more complex than they first appear. Through Sabine’s dreams, the nature of her relationship with Phan and Parsifal is revealed more clearly than it was in reality. Her own feelings and thoughts are examined more closely and become more visible and meaningful to her. As the magician presents illusions to the world, Sabine learns, so do people. What seems to be true at first blush, often is not; what we accept as fact, is often fiction. By way of criticism, I found the ending disappointing.

Sabine was the magician's assistant and the magician was her longtime love, the gay Parsifal. Parsifal, Phan (his lover) and Sabine lived together in a mansion in Los Angelos. Phan is long dead when the story begins, but Parsifal is just recently deceased. Parsifal's lawyer tells Sabine that Parsifal actually had family, which was opposite his story that his entire family died when he was young. Sabine is curious to find out more about her husband so she allows contact with the family. The story arch follows Sabine as she entertains Dot (mother) and Bertie (sister) in Los Angelos (providing background into Sabine's life before Parsifal died) and then in Nebraska where Sabine stays with the Fetters. Kitty (sister), Guy (her son), How (other son) and deadbeat Howard (husband of Kitty) round out the cast. Bertie is getting married and Sabine stays out in Nebraska until the wedding. The dream sequences were beautiful and touching. Interesting to have a character who only appears in dreams (Phan). Parsifal, for all the talk about him, does not seem to deserve the attention he got. He left his family after killing his father and serving time for it and never returned. No one says that his lack of communication with a family who so obviously needed him was horribly selfish. They look the other way and lament over his loss. They watch him on Johnny Carson, the only link they have to him after 18. Sabine continues to search his old books for anything pertaining to his life, some secret message he left for her before he even knew her. It's all absurd. But in the absurdity is a reality that touches the heart and speaks from experience, a long, slow crawl through the aftermath of a tragic death. These people loved Parsifal not so much for him, but because he made them feel whole. That was his gift and that was why he was a good magician. Magic, by the way, plays a minor but important role in the book. Parsifal and Sabine insist there is no such thing as magic, but Sabine is having dreams that connect her to Phan and Parsifal with some regularity. How does she describe those times? What about when Kitty says she has the same dreams? They don't think that's magic? Sabine learns a trick that is absolutely impossible, but she performs it over and over again. Magic? It's not addressed and left for the reader to figure out, but it's not all that difficult. Mrs. Patchett is not willing to rule out magic and an afterlife, but she has her doubts. They show through in this book. The last piece I'll touch on is Kitty and Sabine's relationship. Are we really to believe that Kitty and Sabine are going to end up together? Is this woman who has spent her entire life chasing a gay man now turning gay herself? it's a strange twist that I would have avoided.

Rather depressing and a bit far-fetched. Parts of the story engaged, but overall, this was a character sketch that I found lacking. And the abrupt ending was not an ending at all. I kept looking to the next page thinking that a page or two had to be missing. Very disappointing.