one/seventy-five

Well, if we ignore the pesky fact that this isn't technically the first book I read this year, I can say that the new year started off right. I love Ann Patchett's writing. She always chooses the perfect word, the perfect phrase, the twist in the storyline that's exactly right.

The Magician's Assistant starts off with a death, that of a magician named Parsifal, and follows his assistant, Sabine, as she struggles to make sense of it all. It's full of dream sequences and flashbacks and it's a little hard to get into all the dreaminess at first, but when you do, it all clicks together and the book seems almost . . . magical. It's like fantasy, but not. It's beautiful.

I read some reviews on Amazon that reflected disappointment in the story's outcome, but I think it was just right for the story. Everything doesn't have to be tied into a perfectly clean bow at the end of a book for it to be good. I enjoyed the potential, the way it was left open, the way almost anything could happen.

Yeah, it's safe to say I recommend this one.