Winner of the 1983 American Book Award: In the shadow of the Holocaust, a young girl discovers the power of magic.In the schoolroom of a simple European village, Kicsi spends her days dreaming of the lands beyond the mountains: Paris and New York, Arabia and Shanghai. When the local rabbi curses Kicsi’s school for teaching lessons in Hebrew, the holy tongue, the possibility of adventure seems further away than ever. But when a mysterious stranger appears telling stories of far-off lands, Kicsi feels the world within her grasp.
His name is Vörös, and he is a magician’s assistant who seems to have powers all his own. There is darkness growing at the edge of the village—a darkness far blacker than any rabbi’s curse. Vörös warns of the Nazi threat, but only Kicsi hears what he says. As evil consumes a continent, Vörös will teach Kicsi that sometimes the magician’s greatest trick is survival.
Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review.
I really, really wanted to like this book, but I couldn’t.
In fact, I
was honestly expecting to love it. I mean, magic during the Holocaust… right up
my alley. How can you go wrong with that?
The problem
was the fact that it wasn’t done as I imagined. For that same reason, I have a
lot to say about this book, so sit tight.
It had such an incredible and intriguing
premise. A girl meets a magician that foresees the Holocaust. I was genuinely excited.
But, as soon as I started, I realized this was not going to be the book I initially thought, at all.
Now, before I start with what I didn't like about The Red Magician, I should say that I did enjoy Lisa Goldstein's writing. It was simple but used very good descriptions. But that was it.
It took me so long to get through a 127-page story because, the entire time, I felt so disconnected from everything. I didn't get to know the characters enough to care about what happened to them and I found most of them to be particularly unlikable. Their decisions, what they said, what they though... it was all so unrealistic and two-dimensional, I felt I was watching everything happen underwater. I was outside and I felt bored while being there, to be honest.
Some parts just dragged on and on and on and on, while others suddenly stopped, and when it restarted, a year had gone by. The big laps in time, as well as the inconsistency between them let me feeling like I was reading 5 different short stories. The atmosphere, the plot, the feelings it gave me, everything felt as though it had been written by very different authors for very different books.. very confusing books.
I need to mention the main characters: Kicsi and Vörös. On one side, Vörös felt as though he was written to be that one very likable character, that we were supposed to love. The wise magician. I just disliked him, because, being a magician, he could have done so much more to help the situation, but instead he just disappeared in random and very inconvenient moments in time. And although I did dislike him, nothing compares to Kicsi. She was such an annoying character. I found myself wanting to shout at her most of the time. Not wanting to spoil anyone, I need to mention this particular case: when the Germans arrived and Kicsi's family and friends were taken, she just accepted the fact that her parents and siblings were dead... she just cared that she might never see that random older guy that appeared midway through the story (and to whom she had told her biggest secret), the one she had met the previous year for two days and fallen in love with (particularly bad case of insta-love). And whenever she tough about how so many people had died, she immediately though of him, she never mentioned the family she had lived with for 11 years.
Now, I could have lived with how unrealistic the whole thing was, how bad guys immediately turned good if you just talked to them, because you 'couldn't' have done that before everyone was dead. What I couldn't deal with was the fact that the main thing that drew me to this book, the Holocaust, was only a very small part of the book. It was barely mentioned, and when it did happen, it just went by in 20 pages.
In the end, I just thought this book was trying to be a very emotional Holocaust book and it ended up being the only Holocaust book I disliked.
The ending kind of redeemed the rest of it and kept me from giving this 2 stars, but still, I really, really didn't want to have to write this review.
But, as soon as I started, I realized this was not going to be the book I initially thought, at all.
Now, before I start with what I didn't like about The Red Magician, I should say that I did enjoy Lisa Goldstein's writing. It was simple but used very good descriptions. But that was it.
It took me so long to get through a 127-page story because, the entire time, I felt so disconnected from everything. I didn't get to know the characters enough to care about what happened to them and I found most of them to be particularly unlikable. Their decisions, what they said, what they though... it was all so unrealistic and two-dimensional, I felt I was watching everything happen underwater. I was outside and I felt bored while being there, to be honest.
Some parts just dragged on and on and on and on, while others suddenly stopped, and when it restarted, a year had gone by. The big laps in time, as well as the inconsistency between them let me feeling like I was reading 5 different short stories. The atmosphere, the plot, the feelings it gave me, everything felt as though it had been written by very different authors for very different books.. very confusing books.
I need to mention the main characters: Kicsi and Vörös. On one side, Vörös felt as though he was written to be that one very likable character, that we were supposed to love. The wise magician. I just disliked him, because, being a magician, he could have done so much more to help the situation, but instead he just disappeared in random and very inconvenient moments in time. And although I did dislike him, nothing compares to Kicsi. She was such an annoying character. I found myself wanting to shout at her most of the time. Not wanting to spoil anyone, I need to mention this particular case: when the Germans arrived and Kicsi's family and friends were taken, she just accepted the fact that her parents and siblings were dead... she just cared that she might never see that random older guy that appeared midway through the story (and to whom she had told her biggest secret), the one she had met the previous year for two days and fallen in love with (particularly bad case of insta-love). And whenever she tough about how so many people had died, she immediately though of him, she never mentioned the family she had lived with for 11 years.
Now, I could have lived with how unrealistic the whole thing was, how bad guys immediately turned good if you just talked to them, because you 'couldn't' have done that before everyone was dead. What I couldn't deal with was the fact that the main thing that drew me to this book, the Holocaust, was only a very small part of the book. It was barely mentioned, and when it did happen, it just went by in 20 pages.
In the end, I just thought this book was trying to be a very emotional Holocaust book and it ended up being the only Holocaust book I disliked.
The ending kind of redeemed the rest of it and kept me from giving this 2 stars, but still, I really, really didn't want to have to write this review.
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