I live in a world where the sun rises each day in the east, plants grow from seeds in a predictable manner with patience, and the stars twinkle into sight each evening like small flames being lit and fanned to life from another world. In that sense, there is magic in our everyday world, but sometimes we need reminded how what appears ordinary is—in reality—extraordinary.
The majority of books I consume deal with the happenings of a world that make sense to the logical mind. The words and stories dive into navigating what is known and understood in our daily lives, to help navigate reality through the eyes, thoughts, and actions of someone who has already endured something we have not yet encountered. Or perhaps they provide a fresh perspective about an occurrence we have run up against and experienced in a different way.
Not often, in these types of stories, do we discover stars that flash into existence spontaneously, lampposts that sprout from the ground thanks to a buried piece of metal, animals who converse with spoken words, or magic rings that transport you to other worlds. No, we are mostly confined to the three-dimensional bounds of our expectations for a predictable world, save for our imagination.
And that’s where this story shines. The way it opens one’s mind, to allow anything and everything to transpire. It’s a glorious and refreshing experience when we give ourselves the freedom to entertain the most far-fetched occurrences as feasible. When we exit—or perhaps, escape—our present reality, the creative process fueled by our imagination kicks into high gear.
I willingly succumbed to these travels from logic and reason to fanciful imagination, and the pockets of wisdom tucked between the simple language created an interesting dichotomy to the story. While the prose was straightforward and direct, the underlying messages were complex and thought-provoking.
If there was one thing that caused me some uneasiness about the way this story was shared, it was the somewhat pretentious manner in which parallels were drawn between the characters’ experiences alongside the seemingly obvious religious undertones. I had a difficult time separating the two, almost as if the story being shared was a moral parable, meant to retell one that had already been offered before.
"For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are."
These are some of the words that resonated with me most, both while reading this novel as well as after I have completed it and formulate my thoughts about it.
Everything circles back to opening up our minds, to all the possibilities, regardless of whether we’re reading fiction set in an otherworldly locale or the contemporary and realistic one we’ve come to accept as truth.
Magic, no matter how we define it, exists everywhere, if only we allow our imagination to embrace it. What a wonderful thought to allow into our lives, no matter what we’re reading, doing, or saying. And what a refreshing nudge to discover that magic through the words of a story that live on forever through blots of ink and carefully constructed letters that open up a portal to undiscovered lands, in our mind, heart, and soul.
Dave’s Rating: ☕️☕️☕️☕️
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