Millroy the Magician - Softcover

Theroux, Paul

3.44

605 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804113114 ISBN 13: 9780804113113

Publisher: Ivy Books, 1995

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"Brilliant...Wonderful...Millroy's magic pops out at the reader from the first page."

--John Updike

The New Yorker

"PICARESQUE...ENCHANTING...Theroux is a gifted and versatile tale spinner."

--Time

Fourteen-year-old Jilly Farina was mesmerized by Millroy the Magician at the Barnstable County Fair. After all, he once turned a girl from the audience into a glass of milk and drank her. But when Jilly stepped into the wickerwork coffin during a performance, she had no idea he would transform her dreary life into something truly magical, and a touch bizarre.

For Millroy was no ordinary magician. He could smell the future, and Jilly was going to be part of it. Yet not even Millroy could foresee how far determination and a dream could take him, as he and his new young assistant hit the road--and the airwaves--to save America's unhealthy appetite and floundering soul....

"MAGICAL...[A] funny, dark satire of America's obsessions."

--The New York Times Book Review

"AMAZING...[A] STARTLINGLY ORIGINAL TALE OF PURE MAGIC... that amuses, unnerves, and captivates the reader in a spell of bewilderment, danger and awe....The reader [will] be enthralled."

--The Boston Sunday Herald

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Review:

"Picaresque ... Enchanting ... Theroux is a gifted and versatile tale spinner." -- Time "Amazing ... (A) Startlingly Original Tale Of Pure Magic...that amuses, unnerves, and captivates the reader in a spell of bewilderment, danger, and awe...The reader (will) be enthralled." -- The Boston Sunday Herald "Magical ... (A) funny, dark satire of America's obsessions." -- The New York Times Book Review

From the Back Cover:

'Brilliantly done. Theroux's best book for a very long time' Jonathan Raban, The Times Literary Supplement

Fourteen-year-old Jilly Farina walks into the tent at the County Fair and finds her life transformed. Fixing her with his hypnotic gaze, Millroy the Magician performs astonishing miracles. When she is later magicked into his trailer and Millroy promises to train her as his assistant, Jilly feels safe for the first time in her short life.

But Millroy is more than a mere stage show magician. A vegetarian and health fanatic, a possessor of healing and hypnotic powers, Millroy's mission is to change the eating habits of an entire nation. And through Jilly he has found the strength to preach his evangelical message.

With Millroy's messianic fervour ever growing, Jilly begins to have doubts - but Millroy knows that without Jilly there will be no magic . . .

'Fresh and unexpected . . . among Theroux's best' Philip Hensher, Guardian

'Magical' Daily Telegraph

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