The Angel of Forgetfulness

I did not fall in love with the plot of this book as much as I fell in love with Stern's characters. You will enjoy spending your time with them during the read and will remember them all as if you really got to know them.

Memphis and Arkansas in the 60s. The Lower East Side in the 1900s. Heaven. The depths, heights, sidespins and blind alleys of magical realism. The stage. An attic in Prague. The Catskills. Where up is down. (Somewhere else you want to go maybe? Ingrate!) I hestitate to call this the culmination of Stern's work only because that would leave him nowhere to go. His individual sentences are more poetic than most author's books. His realism is real, his magic is Magic, and his weaving of the two is seamless.

I read the other reviews and felt compelled to take the reviews down a notch. The novel works when it disquiets the reader and challenges your notions of appropriate and productive behavior. It works less well when delving into the world of fantasy. Still, one of the best reads of 2005, but be prepared to stick with it past page 200 when the more personal story tapers off and the fanciful story dominates.

Wonderful novel that will keep you spellbound. Excellent read and a book you'll want to share with others.

Steve Stern is a literary alchemist of the first water, equal parts Dickens and Cynthia Ozick, Bruno Schulz and Borges. And this is his crowning achievement, a novel as copious as a parson's barn, and as deep as the glimmering soul of a star. You can be forgiven if once you begin this magical funhouse ride you abandon all earthly duties and live between its covers for a while. And if this is your introduction to the enchantments of the Stern universe you should then start through his backlist one delicious book at a time.