LitPicks - February '08  

Magical Realism: a prose style that strikes a realistic surface tone but weaves in fantastic and supernatural events—in such a way that they seem natural and unforced. All three books use this technique to sometimes humorous but always compelling effect.

A Lighter Touch | Wonderfully Written | Great Works 




Garden Spells
Sarah Addison Allen, 2007
304 pp.

By Molly Lundquist
This is a sweet book—pretty thin, even predictable. But if you're worn down by tackling dense, darker works, this may be the tonic you need.

Garden Spells offers an easy introduction to magical realism. Claire Waverly has a secret garden in which she grows flowers and herbs for her catering business. Everyone in town knows about the garden—it's legendary—but few have ever stepped foot inside. Claire won't allow it because the apple tree, the centerpiece of the garden, is enchanted. It pitches apples at characters to entice them to take a bite. But if they do...well, that's part of the story.

(Probably some Genesis allusions going on here...forbidden fruit, tree of knowledge sort of thing. You could play with that. If you want to get literary.)

The tree is a character in its own right—like a recalcitrant pet. Here's a scene in which Claire and her sister Sydney have set up a table in the garden for a dinner party:

[The tree] had actually gotten a branch wrapped around one of the table legs and was trying to pull it nearer. "Psst," [Sydney] whispered .... Stop that." The table stopped moving and and the tree's branches bounced back into place. It stilled immediately, as if to say I wasn't doing anything.

The plot has revolves around two sisters who must work to put their past behind them before they can move forward. There's love and jealousy and even a villain or two. Yes, it sounds sappy, I know. But sappy feels nice sometimes, and it was hard not to like this book.

The only problem is I'm not certain the book will stimulate a vibrant discussion—it's engaging, but just not that deep. On the other hand, maybe you all need a break from each other...something simply to enjoy and make you smile.

Also, see our Reading Guide for Garden Spells.

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The House of the Spirits
Isable Allende, 1985
433 pp.

By Molly Lundquist
I'd forgotten how much I like this book—having just re-read it after 18 years. The three generations of women who populate the story and the eponymous house of spirits are fascinating and compelling characters.

The story begins with the death of the beautiful and unearthly green-haired Rosa, the only woman in the book whose name refers to a color. Her sister Clara (clear) eventually marries Rosa's fiance, Esteban Trueba, and thereby begins the line of women, Blanca and her daughter Alba (white and white).

Hot-tempered Esteban directs most of the action of the book and, to a large extent, the plot concerns how each of the three women react (or refuse to) under his control. It's very much a feminist work as we watch three women empower themselves in the face of masculine authority—cultural, sexual, economic and political. Sometimes it feels a little schematic—men bad, women good—and sometimes it plunges into melodrama, but...who cares? It's a wonderful book. (Read our LitGuide for a fuller plot summary.)

Clara (the Clairvoyant) is the center of the book—and when she eventually dies, the family and house lose their vitality. The center does not quite hold without her. Gradually, the story takes on darker tones as it works toward the takeover of the country's duly elected socialist government, an obvious reference to the 1973 overthrow of Chile's Salvadore Allende (Allende's uncle). It's a gripping and frightful tale, sadly reflecting real-life events. In the end, though, redemption is achieved—and Clara's spirit returns.

House is a beautiful—and accessible—rendering of magical realism, and a graceful bow to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (below). If you haven't read The House of the Spirits, do.

Be sure to see our Reading Guide for The House of the Spirits.

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One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1970
417 pp.

By Molly Lundquist
This book is the granddaddy of magical realism. Written less than 40 years ago, it was recognized immediately as a classic, one of the great works of all time. So buckle your seat belts—because you're in for a ride.

Marquez has created an epic re-imagining of the genesis of life. The book fairly teems with...well, everything under the sun—which is, in fact, a major theme: the richness, amazing variety, fecundity and mystery of all of life under the sun. Marquez then infuses the story with the supernatural: magical events that continually poke their heads through life's thin crust of reality.

This is a dense work, and if you're looking for a clean-cut plotline, you won't find it here. Instead, we get a sprawling narrative—a family saga that traces the lineage of the Buendia family for more than 100 years, with one generation taking the names of the previous. Confusing, yes (I found myself constantly referring back to the family tree). But as a result, the book becomes a stunning meditation on time as it repeats and curls back on itself—until at the end, all of time exists, all at once. (Got your head around that one?)

Spellbinding, the book opens into a world of enchantment from which it's hard to emerge. And so many of the miracles are funny. One of my favorites is the young woman who, while folding laundry, is carried aloft by the wind and ascends into heaven—carrying the bed sheets along with her. Her sister-in-law...

Fernanda, burning with envy, finally accepted the miracle, but for a long time kept on praying to God to send her back her sheets.

Some may have difficulty getting all the way to the end, not because it's hard but because the characters are detached from us, making it difficult to feel engaged. Again, though, that seems to the purpose; Garcia Marquez isn't interested in character per se as much as a sweeping view of time and history—an epic of the beginnng and end of life itself.

If you do read this work, you may want to do some research. Your library will probably have the Gale Contemporary Authors Series. Start there at least.

Or check out these online sources:
   • LitLovers Reading Guide for One Hundred Years of Solitude
   • Gabriel Garcia Maquez's Nobel Lecture, 12-8-1982
   • Robert Kiely - New York Times Review, 5-8-1970
   • Ian Johnston - Lecture, Malaspina University, 3-28-1995
(From Wikipedia.)


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