25 March, 2002: Carter Beats the Devil
There seems be something of a fad for plot-heavy, moderately literary, not at all experimental historical novels about entertainers. The book that kicked it off was The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, about escape artistry and comic books; Elizabeth McCracken's novel of vaudeville, Niagara Falls All Over Again, is reportedly in the same vein, and if it's half as fun a read as Carter Beats the Devil, I'm going to go track it down. Glen David Gold's first novel, Carter is the story of Charles Carter, Carter the Great, a real-life stage magician from San Francisco who died in 1936. The novel manages to cram everything in: marriages, tragic deaths, a mustache-twirling villain, major roles for a few historical figures (F.M. Smith, the millionaire discover of borax; Philo Farnsworth, inventor of the television; Houdini, depicted as preening, self-promoting, a bit too sharp for anyone's comfort, and the great genius of the art of stage magic, all of which ring true; and President Warren Harding, who dies mysteriously the night after seemingly being dismembered in Carter's signature trick), murder, the mysterious workings of fate, a tough dame with a heart of gold, pirates, Secret Service agents, and a lion. It's a very conscious effort to write a good old-fashioned page turner, with more of a literary sensibility and updated for readership that likes books which are slightly more self-aware. It worked shockingly well; this is my favorite novel I've read in the past few months, and I eagerly away Gold's next.