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Liked It “Engaging, gripping, vivid tale about circuses, race, identity and storytelling, from the guy who brought you Big Fish.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “It was in the early 1930’s when Henry Walker was ten years old and he supposedly met the devil in person. The devil gave him the powers he would have to live with for the rest of his life. Then one day Henry’s beautiful little sister disappeared and Henry knew it had been the devil who took her....” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Wallace's Watermelon King is still my favorite -- by a considerable distance. I'd place this third after Big Fish. I enjoy Wallace's writing, but the book as a whole just didn't do enough for me to push it out of the "it's O.K." category. ”
Andrew S wrote this review Wednesday, May 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“It was in the early 1930’s when Henry Walker was ten years old and he supposedly met the devil in person. The devil gave him the powers he would have to live with for the rest of his life. Then one day Henry’s beautiful little sister disappeared and Henry knew it had been the devil who took her. Struggling through his life, motherless and living desperately with his drunken father, Henry (at the brink of being homeless) is given pigmentation pills so that he may lead a life as a Negro magician. At thirty-years-old, he becomes a magician for a traveling circus. Then, one night in 1954, he goes missing. Some circus performers, all of whom are convinced that they are Henry’s only friend, share what they have learned about Henry’s past, having been told the story by Henry himself.
GirlwiththeBraids wrote this review Saturday, January 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician, unfortunately, did not make sense to me at all. It was not only confusing, but didn’t have a point. At the last page of the book, I still didn’t know if it really had been the devil whom Henry saw. The only character I liked was Henry and in the end, it made it seem as if he was clueless and that his life was spent for nothing. It didn’t really “end”, it just stopped. The book seemed to try very hard to end on a good note and describe the setting slowly to make it seem as if it were the end, but it didn’t convince me. The only reason I kept reading the book was because I wanted to see Henry win. I was disappointed highly. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone because it did nothing for me.”
“i absolutely loved this book. the whole concept of magic being a figment of imagination that we as humans create, and how the book gives you and inside look on life in the 50s and how that was the time that real magic was becoming a big part of the entertainment industry. i would reccomend this book to pretty much anyone, because even though it has a very limited story line and plot and it is somewhat predictable, i believe that its themes and messages are very worldy and could be related to anyone, such as death, love, greed and anyones encounter with any of those things. my favorite character would have to be mr. sebastian, because even though he acts cool calm and collected, as a reader you can sense that there is a deep and underlying tone of nervousness, and what i think is cool is that he always keeps his composure. its something to admire about him. ”
LAURA R wrote this review Tuesday, January 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book was disappointing. A lot of potential, but very little forward motion, and a lot of starts without resolution. I was left feeling vaguely bored and let-down. I don't recommend it.”
Kelli P wrote this review Monday, January 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This was an awful book. I can't believe I actually finished it. The reason I picked it up was because of my love of the movie version of Big Fish (one of the only times I liked the movie more than the book - though I enjoyed the book as well). This book was all over the place in explaining the life of Henry Walker, a magician in the middle decades of the 20th century and his dealings with Mr. Sebastian - a man that may or may not be the devil.
Brad B wrote this review Tuesday, November 4 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Not recommended.”
“Um, I liked the first chapter. It was pretty much down hill for me after that.”
odd duck wrote this review Tuesday, July 22 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I found the book to be quite interesting and a fairly easy read. However, I was disappointed by the ending. It left too much up in the air for my liking.”
Sharon B wrote this review Saturday, February 9 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Engaging, gripping, vivid tale about circuses, race, identity and storytelling, from the guy who brought you Big Fish.”
Otto Z wrote this review Monday, December 24 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“The sum of “Mr. Sebastian” is better than its parts. With two chapters to go, I was not impressed. I even started wondering about the next book I would read when this one was finally over. Many of the characters were well drawn, i.e. Henry, Ossified Lady, JJ. But others had problematic motivations, i.e. Tarp, Marianne, Hannah. The chapters are told from different points of view but the voice never strays far from Daniel Wallace. The writing was good; the story adequate. But I did not find myself reflecting on bigger themes other than identity.
b.schock wrote this review Wednesday, December 5 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
However, the ending of the book resolved details in interesting ways that make you think more about the preceding assumptions. The sum of the parts is a commentary on the ruinous consequences of truth withheld. It is about the mind’s resilience to neglect and its ability to create a reason to live. It is a study of the relationships that people create out of need and of those that are forced on us by family and circumstance. When I finished, I thought, “That wasn’t half bad.”
I agree most with Mike Sullivan’s review at http://bestsellers.about.com/od/fictionreviews/gr/mr_sebastian.htm
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