The Magic Journey: A Novel

The Magic Journey: A Novel
by John Nichols

The Magic Journey: A Novel
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Book Summary Information

Author: John Nichols
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-02-15
ISBN: 0805063390
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Book Reviews of The Magic Journey: A Novel

Book Review: An essential American novel...
Summary: 5 Stars

...perhaps even the Great American novel. I agree with other reviewers who consider it underrated, even vastly so. John Nichols writes on a vast canvas, and handles his material exquisitely. For reasons known best to the author, he uses the alias of Chamisaville for Taos, New Mexico. The particulars of the novel involve the "development" of the town, largely by Anglo forces, personified by Rodey McQueen, "a sometimes prizefighter, medicine-oil hustler, cowpuncher, flesh peddler, and general all-around energetic ne'er-do-well from Muleshoe, Texas." The forces of conservation, or simply, let's let things as they are, are generally Hispanic, personified by a lawyer, Virgil Leyba, fighting the "good fight," against long odds, and generally losing. In true Greek drama style, Virgil receives assistance from nominally unlikely sources, like McQueen's daughter, April, who has embraced the "alternate lifestyle" of the `60's, and eventually comes home to Taos from NYC, to revive and publish a "communist" newspaper, i.e., one opposed to the "party line" of development is the ultimate good. Nichols style ranges from the magic realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which seems to hit the truth squarer than more prosaic accounts, to the hard-hitting muck-ranking of Upton Sinclair.

There are numerous passages that are sympathetic to the non-Anglo version of history, and are grounded in the particulars of the New Mexico environment. Consider: "Suddenly Anglos were running most grades, and children of the burgeoning white population had catapulted to the head of their class. United States history that commenced with Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the Thirteen Colonies become mandatory fare; the story of native tribes on the North American continent long before the birth of Christ was squelched: the settling of Mexico become a footnote. Indians, dubbed "bloodthirsty savages," were only mentioned in passing as the dull-witted victims of heroes like Kit Carson..." (p 65). But there are sections that clearly transcend the NM environment, and speak to the concentration of power in any society: "The `state of free competition' essential to a democratic society did not exist. An overpowering force manipulated the entire shebang with as tight a control, despite the surface chaos, as any authoritarian government ever wielded." (p333). Aside from the sharp political commentary, Nichols is also a master of metaphors concerning the human condition. On the aging process, consider: "...her hair was falling out by the handful. `Autumn in your body, kid, and you've got a deciduous cranium.'"

Each year for the past five I've been fortunate to ski for a week at Taos. A wonderful place, devoid, in particular, of those European ski lines. A blessed development? As I manage to reach the bottom of the hills, usually in the vertical, it is hard not to remember the conflict that went into its development, including the co-opting of some forestry officials, Nichol's own "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern," minor characters in the book, pawns in McQueen's game, whose betrayals of their job function ultimately benefited me. Life's sweet contradictions.

I loved Nichol's more famous "Milagro Beanfield War," but "The Magic Journey" is the culmination of his powers, a book that should be read in all the American schools, history as it ultimately was, told in a delightful, unique style.

Summary of The Magic Journey: A Novel

Boom times came to the forgotten little southwestern town of Chamisaville just as the rest of America was in the Great Depression. They came when a rattletrap bus loaded with stolen dynamite blew sky-high, leaving behind a giant gushing hot spring. Within minutes, the town?s wheeler-dealers had organized, and within a year, Chamisaville was flooded with tourists and pilgrims, and the wheeler-dealers were rich.

Spanning forty years, The Magic Journey tells the tale of how progress transformed a rural backwater into a boomtown. At first, it was a magic time for Chamisaville?almost as if every day were a holiday. But the euphoria gradually dissipated, and the land-hungry developers, speculators, and interlopers moved in. Finally, the day came when Chamisaville?s people found themselves all but displaced, their children no longer heirs to their land or their tradition. With mounting intensity, The Magic Journey reaches a climax that is tragically foreordained. A sensitive, vital, and honest chronicle of life in America?s Southwest, it is also an incisive commentary on what America has become on its road to progress.

The Magic Journey is part of the New Mexico Trilogy, which includes The Milagro Beanfield War and The Nirvana Blues.

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