Sorcerers: A novel

by Jacob Needleman

Eliot Appleman joins a club of teenage magicians called The Sorcerer's Apprentices and is swept up into a world of magic.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy

Paperback

First published November 1, 1986

About the author

Jacob Needleman is Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University, former Visiting Professor at Duxx Graduate School of Business Leadership in Monterrey, Mexico, and former Director of the Center for the study of New Religions at The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He was educated in philosophy at Harvard, Yale and the University of Freiburg, Germany. He has also served as Research Associate at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, as a Research Fellow at Union Theological Seminary, as Adjunct Professor of Medical Ethics at the University of California Medical School and as guest Professor of Religious Studies at the Sorbonne, Paris (1992).

Reviews

[Lisa Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure how I feel about this book. It was certainly compelling and it kept me guessing (usually incorrectly) all throughout. I guess my problem was that I really did not like the protagonist. The battle waged within the main character to decide what kind of magician--what kind of person--he will be is intense.

[Misha Herwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blend of sorcery, wisdom and philosophy in which Eliot Appleman searches for excitement in the dullness of his adolescent life and is faced with challenging moral dilemmas. For me this worked on most levels except for the main character's treatment of the girl Ellie.

[Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compelling premise for a story but it doesn’t really stick the landing.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE Jacob Needleman, got to hear him speak several years ago. He is a living treasure. Was so thrilled to find this work of fiction by him. It is a tale of the battle within all of us. He wrote a book called "Why can't we be Good?" and this book is the fictional realization of that. Note: I read the paperback, not the kindle, but couldn't change that...

[Karla Huebner]

Many years ago I pulled the uncorrected proof of this book down from the shelf at Black Oak, and decided to give it a try. Much more recently I took the same copy from my bookcase and thought I'd see what I thought now.

Some books lose all their charm with the passage of time; some get better; some have surprisingly the same effect on me as the first time around. This one fell into the third category. It's the story of a teenaged boy named Eliot, growing up in Philadelphia in the 1950s, who strives to learn magic. This isn't the magic of Harry Potter, or the Narnia books, or of any fantastical world; Eliot works on basic magic tricks and is accepted into the Sorcerers, a club of aspiring teen magicians. Some of the Sorcerers are adept and elegant, while others are graceless gawks. There's mystery, and to everyone's surprise, some intrusion of what might be called "real magic." On the whole, the book is best described as a bildungsroman.

It's not perhaps one of literature's great novels, but it deserves to be much better known than it is. It's subtle and unusual, with a deep understanding of humanity and spiritual development. I wouldn't say I've encountered many novels that even attempt the things this one does.

[Dean Isley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Nice Allegorical Tale of Realizing Self

This is a myth well written and deserving to be read beyond the lines. Here are examples of the Law of Three, intentional suffering and self remembering. Being and personality are at odds. Which one will prevail?