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kellylacey's review
4.0
The Magic Places by Elizabeth Jenner is filled with exactly that. What I appreciated most, as a reader, was that I got to decide if the magic places were actual, metaphorical, or both. Part mystery, part romance, part fantasy, the book might not please purists of any of these genres, but for lovers of good fiction, this book has it all.
The novel follows the story of Clare and Marcus whose paths cross after many years apart. Clare was childhood friends with Marcus’ son who disappeared on a joint family vacation when
Clare was young. As the story unfolds (all from Clare’s perspective), time hopping back and forth between the present and that fateful vacation, the reader learns all that happened to bring the two families together and then to bring Clare and Marcus together again.
While there are many heartbreaks in the story, there is also hope and love. Without these the book might well have been depressing, and the colour I would attribute to it would be dark gray. By the end there was certainly closure that did not leave me disappointed. If you know my writing you know what this means, but I will leave it at that.
The novel follows the story of Clare and Marcus whose paths cross after many years apart. Clare was childhood friends with Marcus’ son who disappeared on a joint family vacation when
Clare was young. As the story unfolds (all from Clare’s perspective), time hopping back and forth between the present and that fateful vacation, the reader learns all that happened to bring the two families together and then to bring Clare and Marcus together again.
While there are many heartbreaks in the story, there is also hope and love. Without these the book might well have been depressing, and the colour I would attribute to it would be dark gray. By the end there was certainly closure that did not leave me disappointed. If you know my writing you know what this means, but I will leave it at that.
abbieheadon's review
5.0
I always feel tongue-tied when talking about novels, and worry that I won’t be able to find the ‘right’ language to describe my thoughts, but The Magic Places spoke to me in a way that’s so direct and true that I will do my best.
Viewed from one angle, there’s a certain arresting simplicity to the story: a woman and a man meet twenty years after a tragic event that scarred and united them, and we discover both what happened then and what will happen to them now as they reconnect. But the twist in this tale is that something magical and strange did actually happen - and maybe is happening still. And the tension between a reality we can easily recognise and an unexplainable possibility that exists at the edges of perception is one of the intriguing and magnetic elements of this powerful debut novel.
Elizabeth Jenner has a remarkable skill in observing those silences and hesitations that build and break our everyday conversations. The moment before a greeting becomes a hug of welcome. The pause while everything is still all right. The unspoken currents of desire and pain that underlie so many human interactions. While reading, I felt again and again, ‘Yes, I know this - I can see this - I have felt this’, and yet I know how hard it is to reveal these onion-layers of communication with such clarity and poise.
I recommend this book highly and I hope to read more from Elizabeth soon.
Viewed from one angle, there’s a certain arresting simplicity to the story: a woman and a man meet twenty years after a tragic event that scarred and united them, and we discover both what happened then and what will happen to them now as they reconnect. But the twist in this tale is that something magical and strange did actually happen - and maybe is happening still. And the tension between a reality we can easily recognise and an unexplainable possibility that exists at the edges of perception is one of the intriguing and magnetic elements of this powerful debut novel.
Elizabeth Jenner has a remarkable skill in observing those silences and hesitations that build and break our everyday conversations. The moment before a greeting becomes a hug of welcome. The pause while everything is still all right. The unspoken currents of desire and pain that underlie so many human interactions. While reading, I felt again and again, ‘Yes, I know this - I can see this - I have felt this’, and yet I know how hard it is to reveal these onion-layers of communication with such clarity and poise.
I recommend this book highly and I hope to read more from Elizabeth soon.
kjcharles's review
I loved this book. It's magical.
It's about the spaces between 'secret' and 'solitary' and 'lonely', and about when love works and doesn't, and how we go back and forth between the states. It's about childhood magic, as well--the magic is there, though never quite explained, coexisting with a very realistic story of a solitary woman in a relationship with an older married man. The writing is absolutely beautiful.
There's a piece of seaglass mentioned in the book, and that's what this book reminds me of. Broken and sharp-edged things turned into something beautiful by contact. And like seaglass it's entirely self sufficient, not making great state-of-the-nation points, just quietly there. Related to which, Clare is a brilliant portrait of an introvert. I have rarely felt so much kinship with an MC.
A joy to read. Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: The author is a friend, but I didn't read the book in its gestation period and came to it entirely as a reader. I am friends with a *lot* of authors, it's an inevitable consequence of my line of work, and I don't ever give rave reviews unless I mean them.
It's about the spaces between 'secret' and 'solitary' and 'lonely', and about when love works and doesn't, and how we go back and forth between the states. It's about childhood magic, as well--the magic is there, though never quite explained, coexisting with a very realistic story of a solitary woman in a relationship with an older married man. The writing is absolutely beautiful.
There's a piece of seaglass mentioned in the book, and that's what this book reminds me of. Broken and sharp-edged things turned into something beautiful by contact. And like seaglass it's entirely self sufficient, not making great state-of-the-nation points, just quietly there. Related to which, Clare is a brilliant portrait of an introvert. I have rarely felt so much kinship with an MC.
A joy to read. Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: The author is a friend, but I didn't read the book in its gestation period and came to it entirely as a reader. I am friends with a *lot* of authors, it's an inevitable consequence of my line of work, and I don't ever give rave reviews unless I mean them.