Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician

by Daniel Wallace

Book Overview

Henry Walker was once a world-class magician, performing to sold-out shows in New York. But now he has been reduced to joining Musgrove's Chinese Circus (which at no point in its tour of the deep South has ever included a single Chinese person) as the shambling Negro Magician, whose dark black skin and electric green eyes bewitch most audiences. But one balmy Mississippi night in 1954, Henry disappears in the company of three rowdy white teens and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307279111
• ISBN13: 9780307279118
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.9" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A Souful Vision for a Soul-Killing World

Daniel Wallace has written his best novel. An unusual author with a strong grasp of style and narrative, here he masters the polarities of tragedy and comedy, weaving a mystifying tale of multiple realities. The story twists and turns inside out on itself, but somehow Wallace makes it easy to follow through a variety of narrators. You'll meet Bakara from the darkest Congo and Spiderella, the human tarantula; listen to the whispers of the Ossified Girl and the weeping of the Strongest Man in the Entire World; mingle with all the lost freaks who have found their home and family in Jeremiah Mosgrove's Chinese Circus. In this fiction unfolds the complex truth behind success and failure. Instead of giving us moralistic answers to the riddles of life, Wallace shows us the myths, beliefs, and desires underlying them, revealing a greater timeless existence that refuses to be easily explained or contained, where safety may be sacrificed for beauty, survival for bitter wisdom, where love is always the price of resurrection. This book moves beyond our simple civilized dreams, deep into primal joy and despair, to a transcedent ending that evokes a compassionate acceptance of our common humanity. All of this done with subtle graceful prose that makes the most surreal events seem natural and inevitable. With "Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician" Daniel Wallace has moved into the front ranks of American novelists.

Combining two old friends

In my humble opinion, mix Ray Bradbury and John Fowles (specifically THE MAGUS) and one gets Wallace (specifically MR. SEBASTION.....) For what it's worth, I loved it. Bruce Langford Professor of Music Citrus College Glendora, CA

I love it.

Daniel Wallace works his magic again. "Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician" is sure to please fans of "Big Fish"--it's just as thrilling, poignant, bighearted, and vividly visual. But it's also an extended and multilayered portrait of a fascinating group of people--circus freaks and ordinary folk struggling through the Depression and their own complex lives--and their voices are pitch-perfect. This novel is highly, wickedly entertaining, mysterious, suspenseful, and, finally, heartbreaking--but it's the kind of heartbreak that leaves you smiling through your tears. Run out and buy it, and write a letter to your favorite Hollywood director demanding the film. Work like this deserves your support.

An Epic Tale of High Adventure

Mr. Wallace takes us on a fantastic voyage through an incredibly colorful world filled with complex and fascinating characters. A poignant, thoughtful and thoroughly involving story that left me questioning my own memories as much as those of Mr. Sebastian. I've been a big fan of the author's work for years and have read all his previous books but this is by far his best. In short, a work of art.

An impressive Follow Up to Big Fish

It seemed impossible to top Big FIsh, but Daniel Wallace did it with Mr. Sebastian. It's a rich and emotional mystery full of amazing magic, epic love, undying friendship, and heartbreaking tragedy. The story unfolds beautifully, and keeps you guessing right up to the end. It's almost impossible to get into the plot without giving things away so I won't. I don't want to overhype the book, but it's REALLY good. I can't wait for the movie. Hopefully Tim Burton will do this one too. It seems right up his alley for sure.