Subject: Review: WALKING THE LABYRINTH by Lisa Goldstein

From: [email-masked]
Date: 18 Sep 1996 17:15:37 -0400

WALKING THE LABYRINTH by Lisa Goldstein
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1996 Evelyn C. Leeper

     Lisa Goldstein is an author who does not follow the more heavily
traveled roads of fantasy, but tends to set off in her own direction,
sometimes along a lesser-known path, sometimes blazing her own trail.  So
the title of this work is perhaps as descriptive of her work as a whole as
of this work in particular

     Molly Travers is a modern woman with modern concerns until she
discovers that her family were a vaudeville act in the 1930s, doing magic.
And not just illusion, it seems, but real magic.  Molly travels to England
to find out more, where she discovers hidden books, secret relationships,
and, in the basement of an English country house, a labyrinth that is more
than it first appears.

     My main complaint with the book is not even anything Goldstein had
control over: the typeface.  It's a thinner line than the "standard"
typeface, hence lighter appearing and, for me at least, harder to read.  It
did have a light fantasy feel, probably the idea, but ....

     Now, given that is my main objection, you can guess I liked the book.
Goldstein's work has often been called "magical realism," and I guess that
description is as accurate as any.  WALKING THE LABYRINTH is set more in
real places--London, Oakland, and so on--than her works set in the mythical
land of Ahaz.  That is, unless you agree with Gertrude Stein about Oakland:
that "there is no there there."  But it still has that feel of being just
slightly askew from reality that one finds not only in her other works, but
also in those of Garcia Marquez and Amado.  I am not saying she is their
equal--that would be like comparing a playwright of today with Shakespeare.
But she seems to be their quite worthy literary descendent, and I recommend
this highly.

     That STARLOG magazine can say, "Goldstein's work does *not* remind the
reader of other books: it is truly original and has a clear, distinct voice
of its own," would seem to indicate more the narrowness of the books STARLOG
knows about than Goldstein's position in literature.  That she is part of
such a rich literary field as magical realism is not to be considered at all
a bad thing.  After all, it is not just in science that "standing on the
shoulders of giants" is the way new accomplishments are achieved.

%T      Walking the Labyrinth
%A      Lisa Goldstein
%C      New York
%D      June 1996
%I      Tor
%O      hardback, US$21.95
%G      ISBN 0-312-86175-3
%P      254pp

Evelyn C. Leeper    |  [email-masked]
+1 908 957 2070     |  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824
"El sueno de la razon produce monstruos."
--caption to plate 43 of Goya's "Caprichios"