Helpful Score: 3
Charles Carter was a real person and this historical story about him set in the time of vaudeville and swirling around President Warren G. Harding is nothing short of a fun (if a bit long) read.
Helpful Score: 3
One of my two favorite books of all time! (The other being "A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving.) I loved the characters so much that I was sad when the book ended. It is a thrilling read, very fun, good sense of humor. Astonishing that it's based in fact.
Helpful Score: 2
Wonderful, fun book!!
Helpful Score: 2
Fantastic journey to and through magic. A must read.
One of my favorite novels in recent years. This is the story of a magician (Carter)in late nineteenth/early twentieth century San Francisco. The plot flashes between the present, where Carter is suspected of having killed Warren Harding, and past events in Carter's life. Gold creates a really vivd sense of time and place, the characters are interesting, and it's just a very fun book with an engaging mystery.
Fun read and very odd. Good historical story.
Fast paced, well researched, illuminating insight into the world of magic in it's heyday in the 20's.
Excellent read. I highly recommend this book.
Terrific book! This novel caught my interest immediately and kept me riveted. Excellent character development, spot-on historical detail, fascinating explanation of vaudeville magic shows, plus the inventor of television! Great ending, too. My highest recommendation.
The thing I can say about this book is that it si a different type of writing than I expected from a fresh voice--kind of refreshing for a change. This was an interesting novel about a real person. Most parts of the book kept my attention, but I did skim across some parts that were kind of boring. I lost some interest toward the end, too. Overall, though, I am glad I read the book. This is a good one for people interested in magic shows, but it also holds some interest for history lovers as well. Anyone interested in the Vaudville era will find this enjoyable. This is actually three stories in one that are linked together. It has all the important elements of love, betrayal, sorrow, murder, etc,. This is worth the read.
Plowed through over 250 pgs and finally decided to quit as I wasn't enjoying the read at all. Not into magic or magicians, tho I loved the historical scenes in San Francisco.
