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The Confabulist (2014)

by Steven Galloway(Favorite Author)

3.46 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0307400859 (ISBN13: 9780307400857)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Knopf Canada

review 1: Galloway did a masterful job of blending the facts of Houdini's incredible life with fiction. We switch from the third person narrative of Houdini's career, affairs, and political intrigues to the first person narrative of the man who killed him (twice) and is now losing his memory in his old age (his memory is being replaced by confabulations, memories that never happened). Martin Strauss' narrative isn't nearly as strong as Houdini's throughout, and though the ending (that Martin has projected all the failures of his life onto Houdini's life, and his confabulated memories are the real ones) provides some food for thought, Martin's telling could have used a lot more depth, much more of why he cares so much about the people he has repressed because he can't handle his own ... morefailures. As it is, Strauss' life is conspicuously blank throughout the book, and I predicted the ending before the big reveal.
review 2: There's some really beautiful writing here, and the last 1/3 of the novel is where the ball really starts rolling. Up to that point, it felt like just a rehash of all the things Galloway had learned from bios about Houdini (and if you love reading about Houdini like I do, then it really does feel like reading stuff you already know). The Strauss sections are better, and that's where the real power of the novel comes from -- those reflections on memory and love and responsibility and absence. BUT those sections aren't enough to redeem the other 2/3 of the novel where nothing new takes place. less

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