Book Review-In Search of the Magic Theater By Karla Huebner

This book is an interesting choice for me, mainly because this is not usually the kind of book that's on my radar. I am usually a reader of mysteries and classic literature; this is a bit out of my comfort zone. The fact of the matter is that I do not even know how to categorize the book, which is an exciting option for me. I was looking to expand my horizons and I decided to read this book.

The book is structured much like Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, one of my favorite books from my youth. There are two main characters who take turns narrating. The first one is Kari, a  middle aged, divorced woman who is looking for her former self, somebody who she was before she was diverted by a marriage that wasn't horrible, but also wasn't what she wanted

The other character is Sarah, a young woman who had just come of age, someone who is devoted to her art: the cello, but really unsure of herself, even though she stubbornly believes that she sees and knows her path.

The story revolves around art. Which is another delightful part of the book. Through Sarah’s cello playing and Kari’s experience working in the theater, the reader gets exposed to the inner workings of a musician and a theater person. It is evident that the author has great passion and knowledge about both subjects, as well as art in general, for she slowly and gently exposes the reader to many of the nuances of the arts. It was a welcomed lesson in areas that I had very little knowledge.

The story starts with a gentle pace. It introduces us to the characters and using first person narrative of the two women.  The link is that Kari is renting a room from Sarah’s aunt after her divorce. The initial narratives were the two women speaking about themselves and about their initial impressions of each other. There was judgement and descriptions of their environment in the rooming house, which gives us an idea of who each of the characters are. The story proceeds at a languid pace, which is quite welcomed, it slowly builds the characters through small and not overly dramatic revelations as the plot moves along at a comfortable pace. We learn about the two women, their inner thoughts, how they see the world, and how they see themselves in the external world.  The really clever part is that the author approaches the characters from different points of view which gives us a nice juxtaposition of the two characters, their worldview, their way of looking at their own and each other’s lives. Kari is world weary, and she's lost her compass after her divorce.

Sarah, on the other hand, is much more constrained emotionally because she's a 22-year-old reacting to her lot in life. As we progress through the two stories, they began to intertwine, and morph into a single narrative.  Upon first reading the book, I thought this two-person narrative would be a difficult constraint for the storyteller, but in fact the author did a phenomenal job of describing the two characters in each of their unique voices, giving us discernable impressions at how the  the characters saw themselves and how they saw each other as the story slowly but surely builds up momentum.

In parallel with the story, the author gives us lessons in music: both classical and contemporary music of my youth since the story is set in that particular era.  The reader also gets lessons in mythology, experimental stagecraft, philosophy, amongst many others. It was quite gently and subtly informational, the erudition kept the story going  while also keeping the readers delighted.

The story accelerates as it moves to  the reader begin to know and care for Kari and Sarah in different ways.  The individual sections begin to stop being readings and started to become  a conversation with Kari and Sarah.

The story line accelerates very quickly at the very end of the story to the inevitable and surprising denouement. It took turns where I didn't anticipate. By the time I got to the end of the story, I found myself attached to and involved with both characters as well as being surprised at the ending.

This novel works on many levels for the reader. The mix of the story, the knowledge, and the characters lead the reader into this world of the Magic Theater, where they find themselves in a most magical place.