My stepdaughter laid this on me, from a yard sale. I had seen the trailer for the movie back there in the 70's and it looked REALLY creepy, plus this is from the author of "Marathon Man" and "The Princess Bride," among others. This tells of a failing magician, Corky Withers, who adds a ventriloquist's dummy ("Fats") to his act and therein finds success and adulation; problem is, the distinction between them becomes more vague as time goes on. Now we add a crackerjack agent who arranges for Corky to get a big time TV special; trouble is, the Network requires him to take a physical, which Corky refuses, then runs away to the Catskills, where his home town is. There Corky meets up with the girl, Peg, he had a crush on in high school, and her husband Duke ("who used to look like Elvis"), who run a failing bunch of resort cabins on a lake. Then we have a rapid descent into psychosis, violence and a BIG surprise at the end (nope, not gonna give it away). Of course, being in the psychology business, I was very interested in the descriptions of the increasingly-blurred boundaries between Corky and Fats, which I think were quite well done.This is a short (212 pages) book, but crammed with characterizations and a back story entailing Corky's family and mentor, Merlin, Jr. (who had written the booklets on magic Corky used when learning his first set of magic tricks as a kid). So here's an interesting segue: Merlin, Jr. lives in sort of a hovel and when Corky meets him, Merlin, Jr. says, "Withers--look around you. This pit is my home. The Collier brothers would be happy here, but I'm not." Well, I would never have gotten that reference had I not read "Homer and Langley," by E.L. Doctorow a few months ago. This here Goodreads has all KINDS of benefits! After reading the book, I got the movie out of the library (Anthony Hopkins in his 30's; Burgess Meredith in a bravura performance as the agent; David Ogden Stiers as the NBC representative; Ann-Margaret as Peggy and Ed Lauter as her husband Duke, and a REAL creepy Fats). While the movie is faithful to the book (OK, Mr. Goldman wrote the screenplay), it leaves out the richness of the family story, only touching on it; also the development of the with Merlin, Jr., to me an integral part of the book, as it helps the reader understand Corky better. Otherwise quite passable.
I think William Goldman is a genius of a writer for the screen. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Misery”, “The Princess Bride” and others are wonderful movies, due in large part to the man who wrote the screenplays. But I had never read him in book form (not even “The Princess Bride”—and don’t give me that look!). But probably my favorite movie of his is the 1978 film, “Magic.” "Magic" is one of those really great movies that nobody knows about, starring Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith, so when I saw that the original novel was available on Nook, I snapped it up and I was not disappointed.This is a great, suspenseful read about a magician/ventriloquist who flees fame to "get his head on straight" by returning to his childhood home. I don't want to give more away, because there are plenty of exciting surprises, but if you know the movie, you'll find it was quite faithful to the book.I would have given this five stars, but I had to take one away for the condition of the eBook. It looks as though whoever put this together just scanned the pages from the book and then didn't bother to correct the things that the computer couldn't quite make out. Sometimes the main character's name was "Corky"--which is correct--but many times, it was "Gorky." He went to the Catskills, but sometimes he was suddenly in the "CaHills". The errors were frequent enough to jog me out of the flow of the narrative.If you want a gripping, fairly quick read, you would be hard-pressed to find much better than this.
What do You think about Magic (1976)?
This is an old favourite of mine; perhaps a little dated now, but no more than, say, CARRIE (and I think that adds to its noir appeal). Sparse, punchy and peopled with the kind of characters that transfer naturally to the screen, it's a terrific piece of proto-screenwriting and a masterclass in the art of the unreliable narrator. It's also a stonking illustration of the artist's condition; his relationship with his audience; his need to be loved; his passion; that sense of weird duality all artists, performers (and writers) know. And Fats, of course, is tremendous; trollish, funny and sinister; a terrific foil to Corky's shy and adolescent act. To me, it's the same underlying metaphor as Stephen King's THE DARK HALF, but more concise, and omitting the supernatural aspect. Because, let's face it, people are far more frightening than ghosts, and the mind is a hall of mirrors darker than any carnival ride.
—Joanne Harris
This is one of those books that reveals something about 100 pages in that makes you want to flip back to the beginning in order to reread everything with that new information in mind. Which makes it a great read, but extremely hard to review without spoiling that fun for someone else. So bear with me!I picked up Magic (and Marathon Man, which I'll be reviewing later this week) after listening to As You Wish, in which Cary Elwes mentions William Goldman's other works. I've only ever read The Princess Bride, but I loved that, so I thought I'd dive into some other Goldman. I was not disappointed, although I was certainly surprised, as Magic is about as far from The Princess Bride as you can get.Corky grew up a bit bullied and unhappy, until he discovers how much enjoys performing magic. Still, he struggles with that for years, until adding a partner to his show. Then his career takes off. Still, he's never been able to get over a girl from high school. When he has an opportunity to spend a bit of time with her, he takes it -- despite the secret about his show that he's been struggling to hide for years.I know, my description could not be more vague. But it's a story best started with little-to-no knowledge of what's going to happen. And if you like suspense novels at all, you should definitely read it.
—Corielle
Corky is a ventriloquist/magician about to hit it big. Real big. But he's got a problem. He's completely and totally insane; he's got a split personality that has manifested itself in his ventriloquist dummy, Fats. Corky thinks Fats is alive, giving him advice, telling him what to do, making him do terrible things. Corky's descent into madness is pretty spooky and well-written. The ancillary characters are great, but Fats steals the show.The film version of this is really excellent. It was made in the 70's and stars Anthony Hopkins (pre-Hannibal Lecter). Like in the book, Hopkins is completely and totally upstaged by the dummy, which is freaky as all get out.
—Lindsay
