It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.
I used to see it when Judy and I ran our bookstore but only very recently got around to it.
At just over 650 pages, it is a bit of a challenge.
And it's subject matter may challenge some.
It varies between a young Jewish man making an escape from Prague just prior to the beginning of World War Two, magic tricks and escape stunts, comic book art, the unfairness of the business world, romance, homosexuality, life and death.
But I found it a spellbinder.
And mixing in familiar names like Morton Gould, Milton Caniff, Stan Lee, Harry Houdini, Scarne, Orson Welles, Dolores Del Rio and many more brought memories back to me.
I, too, grew up on comic books and magic.
With my mother's help at costumery, I sported a black cape and (cardboard) top hat as a lad to perform shows for a few friends as The Great Taylor.
I had quite a library of books by the aforementioned Scarne, Houdini, Harry Blackstone and others.
But while I did know a few card tricks, unlike the great Scarne I could never master the art of unerringly producing four aces from a deck on command.
In other words, that picture is as fake as it is fuzzy.
