Touching tale of love, loss and magic - 4/5
Ann Patchett has constructed an enchanting and touching story in the tale of Sabine, the grieving assistant to, and widow of, Parsifal, a gay magician. As she struggles to recover from losing Parsifal, Sabine finds new meaning and zest for life in the family he kept hidden from her for more than twenty years.
Patchett succeeds in vividly evoking the two contrasting principal settings in the novel - busy, hot and sticky Los Angeles, and the insular, bleak, cold Nebraska town of Alliance. Patchett's characters are intriguing and well-realised. I particularly liked the depiction of Sabine's caring and committed, if somewhat overprotective, parents - the kind of people frequently seen in real life, but rarely considered worthy of committing to fiction. They take a minor role in the story but are, like all this novel's players, utterly convincing.
This book has a few imperfections. I didn't mind the dream sequences, in which Parsifal, and his lover, Phan, who has died of complications from AIDS, visit Sabine whilst she sleeps, but I can see why some readers might feel they are a little forced. And most readers will probably guess the secret (other than his still-living family) that Parsifal has long kept from Sabine. That Sabine spends so much of her life maintaining a love for a man whom she knows could never properly return her affection in the way that she craves may grate with some. The lesbian subplot may come a little out of leftfield but sometimes life is like that. Despite its flaws, this book is exceptionally readable, fulfilling and nothing less than a delight
