Kelly Link (Author)
First Edition
Original Language: English
Publisher: Small Beer Press
Format ebook
Publication Date: 2005
Page Count: 272
Synopsis
Magic for Beginners is Kelly Link’s eagerly anticipated and critically acclaimed follow-up to her beloved debut, Stranger Things Happen . “Cumulatively weirder and wiser” ( The Believer ), this new story collection riffs on zombies, marriage, witches, superheroes, haunted convenience stores, and weekly apocalyptic poker parties, among other things. Link’s work is truly unique. Time Out New York called her stories “cross-genre gems,” and her admirers in the literary community—from Peter Straub and Karen Joy Fowler to Alice Sebold and Michael Chabon—reflect the amazing range that makes her style so special. Call it kitchen sink magical realism: Fantastic and bizarre but funny and down to earth, there is something for everyone in Magic for Beginners .
Review
Magic for Beginners is Kelly Link's second collection of short fiction, following her debut collection Stranger Things Happen. The new volume brings together a number of stories that have already seen publication in various venues over the last couple of years, as well as a few original, previously unpublished stories.
Magic for Beginners is a collection of short stories full of magical realism (as the title infers) and surrealism. My favorite was the Stone Animals. This story has touches of Gulliver's Travels and psychological thrills as some of the characters slowly are removed from existence. Another is Grandma's magical purse, The Faery Handbag and what powers does it really hold? The Lull has stories within stories, you go forwards and backwards and travel through time. If you enjoy magical realism and a good story this is a book to read.
This was a book of imagination, flights of fancy that were both full of whimsy and yet tailored to a darker audience. There’s plenty of blood and gore, violence and zombies, and yet equally a lot of talk of bunnies and pyjamas and cats and kids. It’s all quite odd, so that you have to just go with it.
I can’t work out whether I actually enjoyed this or not. It was an experience, and I’m glad that I read it, but I still do wish there had been more of the first story.
Summary
They're interesting short stories and I don't regret reading them but they were just not me. They fall more into the magic realism end of the fantasy spectrum than the urban fantasy that I enjoy reading, and skate the border of horror as well.
Reading level
Adult
Rating
3 stars
