Trader

Although I can understand the other reviewers' points of view, I have to disagree. I loved this book. This is the first book I have ever read by Charles de Lint, but I thought it was entertaining and a really good read. I would definitely give it a try.

Wonderful book. I came to the semi-painful realization that de Lint's Newford books are the only ones that I really like. Memory and Dream didn't do a lot for me. I LOVED Dreams Underfoot. And then Trader. Near as I can figure, in the Newford chronology of things, Trader HAS to come between Dreams Underfoot and The Ivory And The Horn. I really, really liked it. The back cover describes it as "an adult coming of age story," and I would agree. The characters are vivid, funny, realistic...very passionate as well, which is very important for me. While Someplace to Be Flying is definately my favorite de Lint book, Trader is really up there, too.

What would you do if you woke up in someone else's body? What if that someone did want to give you your body back, because your life was better than his? A whole lot better! What if you were now broke and homeless? How do you convince people you really are who you say you are and not just who you look like? How would you stop the person who was living in your body from ruining your life? And to top it off, what if you fell in love with a woman that despised you, or at least the person she thought you were? If magic got you into this then magic is the only way out. So where do you turn?

This is great book about a good person trying to find himself. He learns that who he is can not really be defined in the material world but rather in the spiritual world. It is a story which tells us that a person's current circumstances do not define the person. That who we are is contained within ourselves. That if one is spiritually sound then they will rise to meet all the challeges in life.

Charles De Lint has become one of my favorite authors, although I only discovered him a year or so ago. Trader drew me in and made me care about the characters, and it also gave me something to think about. Revisiting Newford, and meeting more more of its inhabitants (while styaing in touch with old friends) makes reading De Lint's stories more like receiving a wonderful, long letter from a friend.