The Disappearance Boy

Posted on 02 November 2018 by Neil Bartlett

A man A woman A disappearance boy This is the story of Reggie, an illusionist s assistant, and the performances that come to define him.Reggie Rainbow got his name at the orphanage He had polio as a child, and seventeen years of using crutches have given him strong hands and nimble fingers It is this dexterity, perfect for illusions, which first led Mr Brookes to hire him for the act Reggie has been a disappearance boy for years now, making a long string of alluring assistants vanish while Mr Brookes tricks and misdirects the audience.But in the spring of 1953, the public no longer seem interested in illusionists Bookings are slim, even in London When Mr Brookes gets a new slot at the down at the heel Brighton Grand, Reggie finds himself in a strange town, one full of dark and unexplored corners And it is the arrival of Pamela Rose, a beautiful new assistant, that truly turns his life upside down As the Grand s spectacular Coronation show nears, Reggie begins to wonder how much of his own life has been an act and sets out to find somebody who disappeared from his life long ago.Masterful and heartfelt, The Disappearance Boy is the tale of one young man coming into adulthood amidst the smoke and mirrors backstage world a story of love, tears, and illusion of all that stays behind the curtain. Read The Disappearance Boy – kino-fada.fr And he still thinks of sweetness as something you have to steal when nobody s lookingIt s the beautifully told story of Reggie finding himself, looking up, opening up himself and getting ready for life, for love.At first I found the voice over style of writing a bit peculiar then it became familiar Part of the story itself like I had a sort of magician Bartlett there to make sure that I saw our Disappearance Boy Reggie and I did see him He, who was so skilled in keeping his head down,And he still thinks of sweetness as something you have to steal when nobody s lookingIt s the beautifully told story of Reggie finding himse...The future, eh Here s how it s done the suspended last sentence in Neil Bartlett s wonderful novel made me feel like I was leaping into space There s a breathtaking sense of freedom and possibility that runs under the surface of Reggie s and Pam s story From the very first page in the novel when we view spoiler find a very young Reggie boldly facing an approaching train hide spoiler , his character became a vivid and powerful presence in my mind Reggie is a dodger, he keeps The future, eh Here s how it s done the suspended last sentence in Neil Bartlett s wonderful novel made me feel like I was leaping into space There s a breathtaking sense of freedom and possibility that runs under the surface of Reggie s and Pam s story From the very first page in the novel when we view spoiler find a very young Reggie boldly facing an approaching train hide spoiler , his character became a vivid and powerful presence in my mind Reggie is a dodger, he keeps himself to himself while shuffling along with his one two step but there is a deep sense of humanity and will to connect with others emanating from him His st...I read Skin Lane , an earlier Neil Bartlett novel, in June 2016 and absolutely loved it Click here to read my review Skin Lane captures vividly the atmosphere of the changing London of the 1960s, and Neil Bartlett s descriptions of the City of London itself the churches, the markets, the dark alleyways felt very accurate and tallied with my own knowledge of the area When I discovered that The Disappearance Boy was set in Brighton one of my favourite places in the 1950s one of my I read Skin Lane , an earlier Neil Bartlett novel, in June 2016 and absolutely loved it Click here to read my review Skin Lane captures vividly the atmosphere of the changing London of the 1960s, and Neil Bartlett s descriptions of the City of London itself the churches, the markets, the dark alleyways felt very accurate and tallied with my own knowledge of the area When I discovered that The Disappearance Boy was set in Brighton one of my favourite places in the 1950s one of my favourite lit...Sometimes random book selections don t quite work out Despite the striking cover and an intriguing summary, this one just didn t sing for me It s actually the sort of book that didn t work in spite of all it s positive qualities I mean it had historic London of 1953, it had magic as in magician style magic, not supernatural , the writing was quite good, but overall it fell flat Mainly due to the heavy relentless presence of an omniscient narrator It s a story that is told to readers as Sometimes random book selections don t quite work out Despite the striking cover and an intriguing summary, this one just di...An excellent novel Neil Bartlett s world often appears a little different from our own, but that is only at the outset of his stories Once we immerse ourselves in the lives of his characters it all begins to seem quite familiar Especially so if you happen to be an illusionist or one of his assistants, in this case.Reggie is the assistant to Mr Brookes, an unseen part of the act, costume supervisor and general dogsbody Sandra is currently the girl who disappears during the act, but she is An excellent novel Neil Bartlett s world often appears a little different from our own, but that is only at the outset of his stories Once we immerse ourselves in the lives of his characters it all begins to seem quite familiar Especially so if you happen to be an illusionist or one of his assistants, in this ...I can t understand why Neil Bartlett isn t aappreciated writer, I ve never read a bad book by him yet, 3 of the 4 are 5 stars, the other a 4 star read This is the book of a master of his craft A stage illusionist, two glamorous assistants and casual bed mates and his invisible in the dark male stage assistant Reggie, who Bartlett inflects with real emotions as they dance around one another in a very strange virtual alternative family unit alternative for 1953 For we are on the eve of I can t understand why Neil Bartlett isn t aappreciated writer, I ve never read a bad book by him yet, 3 of the 4 are 5 stars, the other a 4 star read This is the book of a master of his craft A stage illusionist, two glamorous assistants and casual bed mates and his invisible in the dark male stage assistant Reggie, who Bartlett inflects with real emotions as they dance around one another in a very strange virtual alternative family unit alternative for 1953 For we are on the eve of the new Queen s coronation and the illusionist manages to wangle his way on to a Variety bill to celebrate the nation s latest incarnation under it s young new queen But the Variety bill is a deeply cynical one, offering patriotism and sex, and all the performers, agents and impresarios know it They are selling the forbidden glimpse of flesh long before advertisers made it an every day thing The genius of this book is in dissecting 1953 attitudes to sex, both hetero and homo the deception practised by the i...Pretty good It s the story of an illusionist s assistant in Brighton in the summer of 1953 it ends the morning after the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II I mostly liked the time period in which the story is set, and the relationship between the protagonist, Reggie, and the female star of the show.Ugh this book I thought I would breeze through it because the description really caught my attention but boy was I wrong Took me over a week to push through it and this is a fairly short book at 250 pages.The story is set in the 1950 s and revolves around Reggie, who is a strange, young man with a limp due to polio when he was a child He works with Mr Brookes, who is a magician, as his back stage assistant Reggie is really the magician here, since he does all the work the spectators don t Ugh this book I thought I would breeze through it because the description really caught my attention but boy was I wrong Took me over a week to push through it and this is a fairly short book at 250 pages.The story is set in the 1950 s and revolves around Reggie, who is a strange, young man with a limp due to polio when he was a child He works with Mr Brookes, who is a magician, as his back stage assistant Reggie is really the magician here, since he does all the work the spectators don t see, thus making the illusion work smoothly.We also have Pam, who is the new assistant on stage for Mr Brookes Pam has had her share of bad relationships and just wants to have a stable job and dedicate some time to take care of herself.Slowly very slowly the story unfolds leading us tonothing Nothing really ever happens in this book The story is ...There are books that are character driven, books that are plot driven, and books that manage to be both This one definitely tries to be character driven, which means it should feature interesting and engaging characters with compelling stories to tell Unfortunately, I couldn t bring myself to care about any of them and found them annoying and uninteresting The second person narrative really put me off and left little room for my imagination The narrator was so busy telling me exactly what to There are books that are character driven, books that are plot driven, and books that manage to be both This one definitely tries to be character driven, which means it sh...Bought this on the strength of reading one of NB s poems, I think called Friends which perfectly evoked the concept of queer family This is the first of his novels I ve read and I enjoyed it but it wasn t...

02 November 2018

Neil Bartlett