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Magic Time
1965. Alors que le mouvement des droits civiques porté par Martin Luther King s'étend dans tous les États-Unis, le pays a les yeux fixés sur Troy, une petite localité du Mississippi. Quatre jeunes activistes y ont péri dans l'incendie d'une église. Deux membres du Ku Klux Klan sont arrêtés et condamnés à perpétuité.
1990. L'un des condamnés libère sa conscience en désignant le vrai responsable du crime. Un nouveau procès se prépare donc à Troy. De retour dans sa ville natale, Carter Ransom, ancien sympathisant dans la lutte pour les droits civiques et journaliste au New York Examiner, est aux avant-postes. Son premier amour, Sarah Solomon, faisait partie des victimes et son père, le tout-puissant juge Mitchell Ransom, avait conduit le premier procès. Carter veut faire toute la lumière sur cette période qui l'a marqué à jamais. Et c'est dans le passé qu'il va devoir fouiller pour mettre au jour une vérité aussi terrible qu'inattendue.
Doug Marlette retrace ici toute une époque, trouble, pleine de non-dits, de soupçons et de positions ambiguës, mais aussi de courage, de droiture et de passion. Celle de la lutte pour les droits civiques. Avec une intrigue haletante et des personnages d'une rare humanité, Doug Marlette signe un chef-d'œuvre, à classer entre les romans de John Grisham et de Tom Wolfe.
1990. L'un des condamnés libère sa conscience en désignant le vrai responsable du crime. Un nouveau procès se prépare donc à Troy. De retour dans sa ville natale, Carter Ransom, ancien sympathisant dans la lutte pour les droits civiques et journaliste au New York Examiner, est aux avant-postes. Son premier amour, Sarah Solomon, faisait partie des victimes et son père, le tout-puissant juge Mitchell Ransom, avait conduit le premier procès. Carter veut faire toute la lumière sur cette période qui l'a marqué à jamais. Et c'est dans le passé qu'il va devoir fouiller pour mettre au jour une vérité aussi terrible qu'inattendue.
Doug Marlette retrace ici toute une époque, trouble, pleine de non-dits, de soupçons et de positions ambiguës, mais aussi de courage, de droiture et de passion. Celle de la lutte pour les droits civiques. Avec une intrigue haletante et des personnages d'une rare humanité, Doug Marlette signe un chef-d'œuvre, à classer entre les romans de John Grisham et de Tom Wolfe.
670 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
December 8, 2017
En remontant le Mississippi… En remontant le temps… Le temps où une partie de l’Amérique se complaisait et se vautrait avec délices dans le ségrégationnisme.
"Bah, on ne faisait que suivre la mouvance", vous diraient-ils pour se défendre, un peu comme ceux qui dirent un jour qu’ils n’avaient fait qu’exécuter les ordres.
Bienvenue dans le Sud profond, celui qui accroche encore des drapeau confédérés à ses murs, celui qui ne reconnait pas les droits des Noirs, celui prétend que seule la race Blanche est supérieure.
Bienvenue en 1965 : alors que le mouvement pour les droits civiques commence à s’étendre dans tous les États-Unis, une partie des états Sudistes luttent encore et toujours contre la Loi qui donne des droits aux Noirs. Le Ku Klux Klan brûle des croix, exècre les Juifs, les communistes ou font disparaître des militants des droits civiques.
La petite ville de Troy n’y fait pas exception et après la saga "Lanfeust de Troy" et celle de "Carter de Mars", voici le mélange des deux : "Carter de Troy", journaliste de son état, qui a vécu les événements de 1965, qui a participé aux mouvements des droits civiques et qui a perdu une personne chère dans l’incendie de l’église de Shiloh.
Plus qu’un retour vers le passé, c’est un retour mouvementé que va effectuer Carter lorsque l’on va ouvrir un procès après qu’un des condamnés pyromane ait dit qu’il connaissait le véritable instigateur de l’incendie. Quand l’un se met à table, se sont les autres qui ont l’indigestion.
Un procès qui ne va pas aller sans mal pour certaines personnes qui pourraient découvrir le passé peu glorieux de leurs géniteurs ou mettre la main sur des secrets pas agréables à découvrir. Personne n’est tout à fait blanc, ici.
Si vous voulez découvrir la mentalité du Sud des États-Unis, ce livre vous ouvrira des portes dont vous ne soupçonniez pas l’existence, car, au travers d’une histoire romancée, c’est tout un pan de l’Histoire sombre des States que ce livre aborde.
L’Histoire nous est contée par Carter, passant habilement du présent (1990) au passé (1965), l’auteur, au travers des souvenirs de son narrateur, ou des autres personnages, nous plonge la tête la première dans une eau boueuse et tumultueuse.
Ici, rien n’est blanc et rien n’est vraiment noir. Tout est gris et même les habitants les plus modérés ne sont pas exempts de fautes puisqu’ils ont laissés faire.
Même Carter n’est pas un militant zélé, lui qui s’est retrouvé mêlé à tout ça un peu par hasard et parce qu’il voulait devenir journaliste…
Et puis, l’amour fait parfois des miracles, transformant un petit Blanc en militant, même si ce n’était pas le plus brillant et que lui aussi avait quelques idées préconçues.
La plume peut se révéler mordante à certains moments, plus nostalgique à d’autres, notamment lorsque Carter se remémore sa jeunesse, humoristique lorsqu’il est avec ses amis de toujours ou terriblement caustique avec l’État du Mississippi et certains de ses habitants.
Mon seul bémol sera pour les quelques longueurs que possède ce roman de 800 pages (dans sa version grand format). 100 pages de moins auraient rendu la lecture plus fluide à certains moments.
Un grand roman sur le racisme crasse de certains, sur leurs préjugés, sur des gens qui ont dû se battre pour faire respecter leurs droits élémentaires, ceux que le Congrès venait de leur donner et que certains États je voulaient pas faire respecter.
Un grand roman sur des mentalités qui ne changeront jamais tout à fait, hélas… Un roman qui plonge dans le passé pour mieux éclairer le présent. Un roman dont le procès qui s’ouvre dans ses pages va catalyser tous les souvenirs de ces périodes agitées.
Un roman qui m’a remué les tripes.
"Bah, on ne faisait que suivre la mouvance", vous diraient-ils pour se défendre, un peu comme ceux qui dirent un jour qu’ils n’avaient fait qu’exécuter les ordres.
Bienvenue dans le Sud profond, celui qui accroche encore des drapeau confédérés à ses murs, celui qui ne reconnait pas les droits des Noirs, celui prétend que seule la race Blanche est supérieure.
Bienvenue en 1965 : alors que le mouvement pour les droits civiques commence à s’étendre dans tous les États-Unis, une partie des états Sudistes luttent encore et toujours contre la Loi qui donne des droits aux Noirs. Le Ku Klux Klan brûle des croix, exècre les Juifs, les communistes ou font disparaître des militants des droits civiques.
La petite ville de Troy n’y fait pas exception et après la saga "Lanfeust de Troy" et celle de "Carter de Mars", voici le mélange des deux : "Carter de Troy", journaliste de son état, qui a vécu les événements de 1965, qui a participé aux mouvements des droits civiques et qui a perdu une personne chère dans l’incendie de l’église de Shiloh.
Plus qu’un retour vers le passé, c’est un retour mouvementé que va effectuer Carter lorsque l’on va ouvrir un procès après qu’un des condamnés pyromane ait dit qu’il connaissait le véritable instigateur de l’incendie. Quand l’un se met à table, se sont les autres qui ont l’indigestion.
Un procès qui ne va pas aller sans mal pour certaines personnes qui pourraient découvrir le passé peu glorieux de leurs géniteurs ou mettre la main sur des secrets pas agréables à découvrir. Personne n’est tout à fait blanc, ici.
Si vous voulez découvrir la mentalité du Sud des États-Unis, ce livre vous ouvrira des portes dont vous ne soupçonniez pas l’existence, car, au travers d’une histoire romancée, c’est tout un pan de l’Histoire sombre des States que ce livre aborde.
L’Histoire nous est contée par Carter, passant habilement du présent (1990) au passé (1965), l’auteur, au travers des souvenirs de son narrateur, ou des autres personnages, nous plonge la tête la première dans une eau boueuse et tumultueuse.
Ici, rien n’est blanc et rien n’est vraiment noir. Tout est gris et même les habitants les plus modérés ne sont pas exempts de fautes puisqu’ils ont laissés faire.
Même Carter n’est pas un militant zélé, lui qui s’est retrouvé mêlé à tout ça un peu par hasard et parce qu’il voulait devenir journaliste…
Et puis, l’amour fait parfois des miracles, transformant un petit Blanc en militant, même si ce n’était pas le plus brillant et que lui aussi avait quelques idées préconçues.
La plume peut se révéler mordante à certains moments, plus nostalgique à d’autres, notamment lorsque Carter se remémore sa jeunesse, humoristique lorsqu’il est avec ses amis de toujours ou terriblement caustique avec l’État du Mississippi et certains de ses habitants.
Mon seul bémol sera pour les quelques longueurs que possède ce roman de 800 pages (dans sa version grand format). 100 pages de moins auraient rendu la lecture plus fluide à certains moments.
Un grand roman sur le racisme crasse de certains, sur leurs préjugés, sur des gens qui ont dû se battre pour faire respecter leurs droits élémentaires, ceux que le Congrès venait de leur donner et que certains États je voulaient pas faire respecter.
Un grand roman sur des mentalités qui ne changeront jamais tout à fait, hélas… Un roman qui plonge dans le passé pour mieux éclairer le présent. Un roman dont le procès qui s’ouvre dans ses pages va catalyser tous les souvenirs de ces périodes agitées.
Un roman qui m’a remué les tripes.
August 29, 2018
Vraiment un excellent roman, pour peu qu'on le prenne pour exactement ce qu'il est: un récit sans prétention, basé sur des évènements réels dont on s'éloigne pour se projeter dans une intrigue fictionnelle, fascinante et horrifiante à la fois. Évidemment, la lutte pour les droits civiques et "le dilemme américain" est un peu un dada personnel que je traîne depuis la rédaction de mon mémoire sur L'Amérique au jour le jour, et je pense que je ne me lasserai jamais de lire sur cette période d'ébullition, mais j'ai trouvé que cette fois-ci, on avait un récit solidement ficelé avec toutes les qualités d'un bon blockbuster. Un vrai bon divertissement.
En plus du récit mené de main de maître, la grande force du roman vient peut-être de la représentation du rôle des médias, à la fois dans la couverture du mouvement pour les droits physiques et dans le processus judiciaire mis en scène dans l'histoire, ceci découlant de son expérience du milieu, à titre de cartooniste gagnant du Pullitzer (!) pour son travail dans le Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
En plus du récit mené de main de maître, la grande force du roman vient peut-être de la représentation du rôle des médias, à la fois dans la couverture du mouvement pour les droits physiques et dans le processus judiciaire mis en scène dans l'histoire, ceci découlant de son expérience du milieu, à titre de cartooniste gagnant du Pullitzer (!) pour son travail dans le Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
November 27, 2016
I really liked The Bridge so was looking forward to reading this. But I'm about 2/3 the way through and a bit disappointed. It just doesn't flow as well for me as Marlette's first novel did. The characters bunch up and are hard for me to keep straight, and I am not as convinced of them as I was in The Bridge. I may put this aside and come back to it later. The subject is not easy but is of interest and is not what is putting me off on the book. Must just be my mood. And of course I feel guilty because just after I put it aside, the author died.
From the Publisher
A prize-winning Southern master storyteller weaves a riveting tale of love, mystery and justice
When the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette last turned to fiction, Valerie Sayers rejoiced in The Washington Post Book World: "The Bridge [is:] a great story—exuberant, proud, myth-challenging—and Marlette has a great, Dickensian time with the telling." Pat Conroy saluted The Bridge as the finest first novel to come out of North Carolina since Look Homeward, Angel. Studs Turkel called it "enthralling." Kaye Gibbons marveled at its "extraordinary grace [and:] humor." And the Southeast Booksellers Association gave The Bridge the 2002 Book Award for Fiction.
Marlette's new novel, Magic Time, is a spellbinding stew of history, murder, courtroom drama, humor, love, betrayal, and justice. Moving between New York City and the New South of the early 1990s, with flashbacks to Mississippi's cataclysmic Freedom Summer of 1964, Magic Time tells the story of New York newspaper columnist Carter Ransom, a son of Mississippi, who had the great fortune and terrible luck of falling in love that summer of '64 with a New York-born civil rights worker who wound up being killed alongside three coworkers. Carter's father, the local judge, presided over the first trial of the murders.
But now there's evidence that the original trial was flawed, even fraudulent. And the question, among many others, is whether the good judge was knowingly involved in a cover-up. Magic Time is that rare thing: a page-turner whose driving plot line is matched by the depth of its moral vision.
From the Publisher
A prize-winning Southern master storyteller weaves a riveting tale of love, mystery and justice
When the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette last turned to fiction, Valerie Sayers rejoiced in The Washington Post Book World: "The Bridge [is:] a great story—exuberant, proud, myth-challenging—and Marlette has a great, Dickensian time with the telling." Pat Conroy saluted The Bridge as the finest first novel to come out of North Carolina since Look Homeward, Angel. Studs Turkel called it "enthralling." Kaye Gibbons marveled at its "extraordinary grace [and:] humor." And the Southeast Booksellers Association gave The Bridge the 2002 Book Award for Fiction.
Marlette's new novel, Magic Time, is a spellbinding stew of history, murder, courtroom drama, humor, love, betrayal, and justice. Moving between New York City and the New South of the early 1990s, with flashbacks to Mississippi's cataclysmic Freedom Summer of 1964, Magic Time tells the story of New York newspaper columnist Carter Ransom, a son of Mississippi, who had the great fortune and terrible luck of falling in love that summer of '64 with a New York-born civil rights worker who wound up being killed alongside three coworkers. Carter's father, the local judge, presided over the first trial of the murders.
But now there's evidence that the original trial was flawed, even fraudulent. And the question, among many others, is whether the good judge was knowingly involved in a cover-up. Magic Time is that rare thing: a page-turner whose driving plot line is matched by the depth of its moral vision.
March 4, 2013
I absolutely loved this book, except for about 10 pages near the end, which were just too unbelievable and overly theatrical. If you can ignore them, I'd recommend this book. It's a shame this author died so young
October 25, 2017
after reading "The Bridge" I was anxious to read this one. Too bad this author only wrote two books before his death. I liked this one as much as the first. It is a little confusing at times when he moves between the 1990's and 1964 -- the chapter titles don't clarify that for you. But if you can get past that, the story line is very very good. Love story, court drama, civil rights history all wrapped into one. An excellent era.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Carter Ransom came to New York as a young man and has risen to become a columnist with a major city newspaper. But when his life in New York falls apart and he heads back home to recover, the still-live conflicts of his youth in the civil rights era rise up all around him again. A twenty-five-year-old murder case has just been reopened, a church bombing that killed Carter's first love. Carter's father was the judge in the case, and now there's evidence that the trial was flawed, even fixed, and the case's reopening threatens the foundation of Carter's identity, as well as his relationship to his family.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Carter Ransom came to New York as a young man and has risen to become a columnist with a major city newspaper. But when his life in New York falls apart and he heads back home to recover, the still-live conflicts of his youth in the civil rights era rise up all around him again. A twenty-five-year-old murder case has just been reopened, a church bombing that killed Carter's first love. Carter's father was the judge in the case, and now there's evidence that the trial was flawed, even fixed, and the case's reopening threatens the foundation of Carter's identity, as well as his relationship to his family.
June 5, 2021
Interesting plot, good use of actual history to provide context and setting, decent characters (though a few were a touch over-the-top). No spoilers, but the denouement was hilariously contrived and truly unnecessary.
February 26, 2022
Well-researched but bogged down with detail and became tedious in places, about 100 pages too long, all the right players in the story, replete with large doses of snarky, self-deprecation on the part of white southerners and Jews.
May 10, 2018
Civil rights movement in the sixties finally finds closure twenty-five years later. The Help meets Grisham.
June 24, 2019
A nice novel, with roots in the deep south.
August 29, 2019
This book was recommended to me and I'm so happy I read it. The 1960's were magical, but so tragic at the same time in history.
Read
October 12, 2020Very Enjoyable :-)
June 27, 2015
Magic Time follows Carter Ransom, a New York transplant and Journalist who finds himself back in his Mississippi hometown as he recovers from an emotional breakdown. While there, a brash young prosecutor reopens a decades old civil rights bombing/murder case that changed a young Carter's life forever.
The trial shines a light on civil rights era wounds that have never truly healed. A middle-aged Carter still suffers the violent and sudden loss of the woman he loved. The relationship between Carter and his father, a revered judge who oversaw the original trial, remains strained to the point of almost broken. The town walks a common line of the New South, gingerly tiptoeing around the vicious racially fueled oppression and violence that reigned in the Jim Crow years and exploded during the Civil Rights movement.
I happened to be in the middle of Magic Time right when a young white man, a white supremacist,shot nine African Americans in a historic black Church in Charleston South Carolina. The Church, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church centered and continues to center fairly strongly in the Civil Rights Movement from slavery to social justice issues today.
Magic Time explores themes of justice, redemption, reconciliation, and hope in the South. But the reality the AME church shooting brings forth is that the South and, indeed, perhaps America, still has far to go in achieving social justice and laying to rest the pain of slavery and its brother, segregation and subjugation. In using a trial, Marlette perhaps intrinsically understood that to truly heal, first a bright light has to expose the atrocities of the past. Somewhat a lancing of the boil, so to speak.
Magic Time is bookended by a familiar radical islamic terrorist bombing in NYC. Marlette deftly spins his story to show that the violence of the civil rights south; the bombings, lynchings, assassinations; are simply another face to a familiar foe called terrorism. In fact, the KKK can easily compared to a radical Islamic terrorist group such as Al Quaeda or ISIS. And we should not lose sight of that simply because one is homegrown and the other comes from without.
Overall, I found the book interesting and engaging. I must admit, it was a little hard to get into. The book is set just post 9/11 but uses frequent flashbacks to Carter's youth in the 1960's. I listened to the audiobook and found the format to be somewhat challenging to follow. Even though the format was challenging, I thought the flashbacks were much more interesting and once those got started found it hooked me.
The trial shines a light on civil rights era wounds that have never truly healed. A middle-aged Carter still suffers the violent and sudden loss of the woman he loved. The relationship between Carter and his father, a revered judge who oversaw the original trial, remains strained to the point of almost broken. The town walks a common line of the New South, gingerly tiptoeing around the vicious racially fueled oppression and violence that reigned in the Jim Crow years and exploded during the Civil Rights movement.
I happened to be in the middle of Magic Time right when a young white man, a white supremacist,shot nine African Americans in a historic black Church in Charleston South Carolina. The Church, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church centered and continues to center fairly strongly in the Civil Rights Movement from slavery to social justice issues today.
Magic Time explores themes of justice, redemption, reconciliation, and hope in the South. But the reality the AME church shooting brings forth is that the South and, indeed, perhaps America, still has far to go in achieving social justice and laying to rest the pain of slavery and its brother, segregation and subjugation. In using a trial, Marlette perhaps intrinsically understood that to truly heal, first a bright light has to expose the atrocities of the past. Somewhat a lancing of the boil, so to speak.
Magic Time is bookended by a familiar radical islamic terrorist bombing in NYC. Marlette deftly spins his story to show that the violence of the civil rights south; the bombings, lynchings, assassinations; are simply another face to a familiar foe called terrorism. In fact, the KKK can easily compared to a radical Islamic terrorist group such as Al Quaeda or ISIS. And we should not lose sight of that simply because one is homegrown and the other comes from without.
Overall, I found the book interesting and engaging. I must admit, it was a little hard to get into. The book is set just post 9/11 but uses frequent flashbacks to Carter's youth in the 1960's. I listened to the audiobook and found the format to be somewhat challenging to follow. Even though the format was challenging, I thought the flashbacks were much more interesting and once those got started found it hooked me.
June 6, 2009
The death of Doug Marlette is a real loss. He only wrote two books; this is the better one.
I don’t find myself having much sympathy with his main characters. But I do find the plot lines and issues addressed intriguing. On the surface Magic Time address civil rights and love against its backdrop. As in so many good books, personal growth and realization is also addressed.
The plot runs quickly. The characters are interesting. Marlette adroitly handles the foreknowledge that one of the main characters will die in the past during a civil rights bombing. You still don’t want her to die, even hope that she won’t.
It is sad that authors feel compelled to leave no loose ends. Certainly life is full of loose ends; can’t we readers allow a book to be that way? After all is said and done, this is a good book that I can strongly recommend. It has the taste of authenticity.
I don’t find myself having much sympathy with his main characters. But I do find the plot lines and issues addressed intriguing. On the surface Magic Time address civil rights and love against its backdrop. As in so many good books, personal growth and realization is also addressed.
The plot runs quickly. The characters are interesting. Marlette adroitly handles the foreknowledge that one of the main characters will die in the past during a civil rights bombing. You still don’t want her to die, even hope that she won’t.
It is sad that authors feel compelled to leave no loose ends. Certainly life is full of loose ends; can’t we readers allow a book to be that way? After all is said and done, this is a good book that I can strongly recommend. It has the taste of authenticity.
February 21, 2008
2/21/08 - great book! This book is both entertaining and informational about an important era of time. The love story is endearing and the strength and courage that it took to stand up for civil rights awed me.
I'm about 10 chapters into this book and I'm hooked. The book is set in the early 90's and the summer of 1964-the civil rights movement. The story is told by the main character, Carter Ransom. Cater lives in NYC, but is originally from Mississippi. You learn about the civil rights movements with a love story mixed in. So Cater's story is told in the today and in the past with flashbacks. I'm a sucker for historical romances.
I'm about 10 chapters into this book and I'm hooked. The book is set in the early 90's and the summer of 1964-the civil rights movement. The story is told by the main character, Carter Ransom. Cater lives in NYC, but is originally from Mississippi. You learn about the civil rights movements with a love story mixed in. So Cater's story is told in the today and in the past with flashbacks. I'm a sucker for historical romances.
August 14, 2012
Author Doug Marlette was/is one of my favorite authors. Having read The Bridge, I was kept alert and challenged reading Magic Time. I regret that he is no longer with us. Books offer an escape and sometimes a chance to learn, in this case about the "darker colors of history. He shows every kind of Southerner from the noblest to the worst," quoted reviewer Mark Childress on the back cover. Marlette had the capacity to apply his satire and political insight to the craft of creating a novel that takes the reader to a time in a small town's history where its residents were close knit, where the ache of a former time strikes a chord.
February 18, 2015
I loved Doug Marlette’s first book “The Bridge” so eagerly grabbed his next book “Magic Time” at a library book sale. It is about the re-opening of a Mississippi church bombing case from 1964. The story alternates between events in 1964 and the present day. The main character, journalist Carter Ransom, has returned to Troy, Mississippi to recover from a nervous breakdown. His father was the judge during the first trial of KKK members and Carter’s girl friend was one of the victims. He wrestles with all sorts of family dynamics and repressed memories as the investigation is resumed three decades later.
July 12, 2016
I tried reading this book when it first came out because I really enjoyed Marlette's first book "The Bridge." For some reason, I couldn't get into it at that point, but I picked it up again recently thinking I'd give it another shot.
It still flopped. Don't get me wrong, Marlette's writing is gorgeous and he knows how to set up descriptions very vividly, but the plot was all over the place. It kept bouncing from past to present without a smooth segue into either one, plus there were way too many characters to keep track of. I finally gave it up because it just wasn't working for me.
It still flopped. Don't get me wrong, Marlette's writing is gorgeous and he knows how to set up descriptions very vividly, but the plot was all over the place. It kept bouncing from past to present without a smooth segue into either one, plus there were way too many characters to keep track of. I finally gave it up because it just wasn't working for me.
May 8, 2007
this novel exceeded my expectations in almost every aspect. great pacing, i really moved through it. the plot was interesting -- contrasting one person's experience with modern terrorism and the terrorism of the Old South during the civil rights movement. the characters were well defined, engaging and easy to keep track of despite the large number of them. there were a few journalism faces i recognized, but i didn't feel that it detracted from the story.
my only quibble was the climax. a little too hinky for me, but on the whole, a great read.
my only quibble was the climax. a little too hinky for me, but on the whole, a great read.
May 18, 2008
I enjoyed this book. Marlette writes very simliar to Pat Conroy. This book was basised in the civi rights era, which was interesting to learn more about that era. However in the same respect it got a little cumbersome with history at times. "Magic Time" is a long book and takes a commitive reader but it does read at a fast pace and is filled with some suspence, law and rommance along the way. It has some unexpective twists and turns and definitly keeps you interested. I am looking forward to reading his other book "The Bridge" at some point.
July 31, 2010
This book was a suggested read after I completed The Help. The book goes back and forth from the present back to the mid 1960s and Freedom Summer. Carter Ransom, a journalist, has a breakdown and returns to Mississippi to heal. The wounds of his past are opened again when a civil rights murder case is reopened. The book presented a different perspective of race relations during the 1960s. The twists and turns continued to the very end. It was definitely a page turner that I did not want to put down.
June 15, 2016
A fascinating read woven around the Freedom Riders, the KKK, and the fight for Civil Rights of the 1960sas well as the threads that reach out to contemporary times across the years, Marlette's novel is detailed and well-written. This is the type of book I would usually love, but it is just a bit more history and a little too much detail to make it a rave review for me.
Still, if you are interested in the ties between today's problems with rights: racism, religion, and money--Magic Time has a lot to offer.
Still, if you are interested in the ties between today's problems with rights: racism, religion, and money--Magic Time has a lot to offer.
October 29, 2007
Disappointing. It had about eleven different stories going on at once. There was so much drama and so many characters I had a difficult time keeping it all straight. It also time-jumps quite a bit.
The underlying main story is strong and some of the passages are beautiful. It gets cluttered with extra movie-type drama though. This book needed another round of editing. Simplified, it could have been amazing.
The underlying main story is strong and some of the passages are beautiful. It gets cluttered with extra movie-type drama though. This book needed another round of editing. Simplified, it could have been amazing.
August 17, 2009
Magic Time
Doug Marlette
Carter Ransom is a NYC newspaper journalist who has an emotional breakdown after his girlfriend and her son narrowly escape a terrorist bombing. Carter returns home to Mississippi where 25 years his first love, a civil rights activist working to register black voters in 1964, was killed by the KKK. The story goes back and forth between the present and the past and was very interesting and intelligent.
Doug Marlette
Carter Ransom is a NYC newspaper journalist who has an emotional breakdown after his girlfriend and her son narrowly escape a terrorist bombing. Carter returns home to Mississippi where 25 years his first love, a civil rights activist working to register black voters in 1964, was killed by the KKK. The story goes back and forth between the present and the past and was very interesting and intelligent.
September 27, 2010
Sprinkled with flashbacks, Marlette’s story ties modern terrorism to the KKK activities of the 1960s and slowly unravels the deeper truths of Carter Ransom’s life including his loss of Sarah Solomon, a civil rights worker who happens to be the love of his life, his father’s long-ago relationship with the mother of his high school sweetheart, the tragic birth of the brother he never really knew, and the secret lives of many of Troy, Mississippi’s elite citizens.
July 11, 2012
I thought this book was very good and had a hard time putting it down--stayed up until early hours of the morning finishing it. The time shifts between a terrorist bombing in New York City back to a church burning in Troy, Mississippi in 1964. The plot centers around convicting an ex Ku Klux Klan grand master of ordering the church burning and the murders of four Civil Rights workers in that church at the time of the burning. Lots of buried secrets are dug up and exposed.
April 28, 2014
I adore this novel so much I own several different copies and loan it out to new people I meet in life. When people ask me what genre I love to read I always have a hard time answering that question. I love mystery. I love historical fiction. I love biographies. This book blends all my favorite elements into one awesome story line. I cried. I laughed. I immediately got online to find more of his books only to find out he had passed on. I highly recommend this book to anyone.
May 4, 2009
Marlette is best known for his political cartoons but I liked this novel built around a trial 25 years after the murders in Mississippi of civil rights workers during the l960's. Follows a young reporter from a small southern town who witnesses and suffers through the civil rights movement. Some interesting ideas about the "southern" mind set.
May 22, 2012
Feels like a good time to read a book about civil rights. I'm about half way through this and it is a solid page turner.
Now that I'm finished - and I did put it down a bit, I'd say it was a little predictable, and the parts that weren't' predictable were over the top implausible, if that makes sense. I don't want to give spoilers but it was "eh."
Now that I'm finished - and I did put it down a bit, I'd say it was a little predictable, and the parts that weren't' predictable were over the top implausible, if that makes sense. I don't want to give spoilers but it was "eh."
December 5, 2012
While the story reads like a romantic novel from the Old South, the story recounts a Southern town's history of the Klan and some of it's leading character's involvement in its activities. While it's an easy novel to read and has a romantic sub-plot to entice you, the main theme is the disgusting behavior of some of our founding fathers in the South.
February 14, 2019
Interesting read. The author knows how to keep your interest by adding a few twists. However, I think that some parts were not necessary. Une lecture intéressante dans l’Amérique profonde et raciste. L’auteur sait tenir son lecteur en haleine en ajoutant quelques twists. Il y a cependant certaines longueurs.
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