The Magic Journey

The New Mexico Trilogy #2

by John Nichols

Boom times came to the forgotten little southwestern town of Chamisaville just as the rest of America was in the Great Depression. They came when a rattletrap bus loaded with stolen dynamite blew sky-high, leaving behind a giant gushing hot spring. Within minutes, the town's wheeler-dealers had organized, and within a year, Chamisaville was flooded with tourists and pilgrims, and the wheeler-dealers were rich.

Spanning forty years, The Magic Journey tells the tale of how progress transformed a rural backwater into a boomtown. At first, it was a magic time for Chamisaville—almost as if every day were a holiday. But the euphoria gradually dissipated, and the land-hungry developers, speculators, and interlopers moved in. Finally, the day came when Chamisaville's people found themselves all but displaced, their children no longer heirs to their land or their tradition. With mounting intensity, The Magic Journey reaches a climax that is tragically foreordained. A sensitive, vital, and honest chronicle of life in America's Southwest, it is also an incisive commentary on what America has become on its road to progress.

The Magic Journey is part of the New Mexico Trilogy, which includes The Milagro Beanfield War and The Nirvana Blues.

Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Literature, Novels, Westerns, American, 20th Century

528 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1978

About the author

John Nichols is the author of the New Mexico trilogy, a series about the complex relationship between history, race and ethnicity, and land and water rights in the fictional Chamisaville County, New Mexico. The trilogy consists of The Milagro Beanfield War (which was adapted into the film The Milagro Beanfield War directed by Robert Redford), The Magic Journey, and The Nirvana Blues.

Two of his other novels have been made into films. The Wizard of Loneliness was published in 1966 and the film version with Lukas Haas was made in 1988. Another successful movie adaptation was of The Sterile Cuckoo, which was published in 1965 and was filmed by Alan J. Pakula in 1969.

Nichols has also written non-fiction, including the trilogy If Mountains Die, The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn and On the Mesa. John Nichols has lived in Taos, New Mexico for many years.

Reviews

[Ad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe this is probably my favorite book. The book is my favorite because the story reflects my society where I'm from the terrain as well is so fitting having been here for 34 years to have seen these exact changes as in john nichols fictional chamisaville. There is so much incredible depth amongst the rotation of characters. I love the main character April Delaney she's so dynamic as is the lawyer Virgil Lebya both incredible humans. I just finished this book a second time and probably will give it another in years to come because it always reminds me of life with environment,political and cultural facets where the viewpoint is from people experiencing the consequences in a lifetime. In addition to the seriousness of topics in the novel Nichols provides a humorous unbelievable side to the story with the citizens doing crazy things such as embalming a whale and putting it on display. I really like his inclusion also of deceased people or dead ex-revolutionaries acting as ghosts and omens to the living. This is a great companion to "Milagro and the Beanfield War." I think he should've stoppped there because Nirvana Blues is a dissapointment in the New Mexican Trilogy.

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Magic Journey is the second book of The New Mexico Trilogy by John Nichols. These books have been in my library for some time. In fact, the autograph by Mr. Nichols was penned in June 1992. It was perfect timing as I was able to read much of this book while we were on vacation in New Mexico and in the midst of the unparalleled southwestern beauty described.

". . . . John NIchols has all of Steinbeck's gifts, the same overwhelming compassion for people, plus an even finer sense of humor, and the need to celebrate the cause and dignity of man. . . he has left us with a classic American trilogy for our time."

---Chicgo Tribune

Beginning during the Great Depression and spanning almost forty years, The Magic Journey tells the story of how boom times came to the forgotten little southwestern town of Chamisaville in the mythical county of Chamisa County. When a dilapidated old bus loaded with stolen dynamite blew up leaving a giant gushing hot spring in its wake, it didn't take long for the town's wheelers and dealers to organize a tourist destination with hotels, shops and restaurants. Within a year Chamisaville was flooded with developers, speculators and tourists. After the euphoria wore off, the people of Chamisaville realized that they had been displaced and their children no longer heirs to their land or tradition. As the tension builds throughout this remarkable tale of American progress, it comes to an explosive climax that had been tragically ordained in this most compelling story as the southwestern landscape and its people and the situations are filled with human emotion and humour as John Nichols does so well.

"She was one of the exceptional few destined for a truly magic journey through life."

[skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartbreaker and fight-maker. An amazing novel that completely sucked me in. Actually, the first time I tried to read it I couldn't get past the first chapter. On the second try, while on a trip back to the Southwest, I got into it and couldn't stop reading it. Heartbreaking over and over and over - true stories of the destruction of the West and long-running sustainable cultures of farmers and Pueblo peoples by "progress" (greed) - and great characters. Virgil Leyba in particular has stuck with me, among the very few greatest fictional characters I know.

I look forward to reading #3 in the series and seeing what happens to Chamisaville. I may re-read "Milagro Beanfield War" first to refresh those characters before heading into the conclusion...

In some ways, this trilogy reminds me of Cormac's "Border Trilogy" - two novels with different casts, amazing Southwest border lands. Will the third novel also bring the two first together?

[Coalbanks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed both books - The Magic Journey & The Milagro Beanfield War. I could see that what had happened to Chamisaville was happening to my province of Alberta as the oil/gas/coal/real estate interests took over & ran the gov't, the economy & anyone who needed a job. Locals were co-opted into doing "the right thing for the community", used when they useful to the ruling class, discarded when they had served their purpose, rewarded or punished by those in power, public input requested, manipulated & discarded if it did not toe/tow the party line. It was the handwriting on the wall for me, especially in the influencing of local politics to produce the goods and the steady erosion & reduction of the individual's rights & liberties in favour of corporate needs & power. Been going on long before I started squalling & will likely be going on until "the last politician is hanged with the guts of the last lawyer." Ha Ha !

[John Orman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this heartbreaking chronicle of life in a small southwestern town, there is a disturbing commentary on where the road to progress has taken America.

Because of a freak accident, Chamisaville goes from sleepy backwater to tourist destination town. Then the greedy outsiders take over, and the townspeople are on the outside looking in.

Chamisaville is drawn from Nichols' hometown of Taos, NM, but this is not a regional novel, but a metaphor for life even in the big cities of the US. Nichols notes that this is his favorite book, and that it "depicts the advance of climax capitalism in the twentieth century as an ongoing ecological and human disaster."

A moving pastiche of the glorious past, difficult present, and intimidating future.

[lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is blowing my mind. topical, well written. a knock out of a book.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

For sheer quality of writing, for poetic imagination and unforgettable, complex character development, the book gets 5 stars. Many of the other reviews here are concerned with the politics of the book and its geographical location, or the fact that it is not happy! I would not recommend it to just anyone, but should a book appeal to everyone? It is a multigenerational epic in the style of magic realism, but I don't see it as derivative of Marquez. And I DO see its place within the overall trilogy.

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fifty-year transplant to NM I decided to read this because the late John Nichols thought it was his best work. What an amazing and beautifully written epic tale of the Southwest. Do read it!

[Rosco Betunada · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Whew! Where to begin?)  it’s like I’ve been living another life besides my own this past 566 pages. There’s now a brief void to fill in my day for the short time before I decide on what book to immerse myself in next.

Mr. Nichols does an amazing job of not only promulgating (okay, that word may be a trifle extreme and invalid) the life history of the transition of a place, a town, a region from a bucolic “laid-back” (but by no means lackadaisical) close-to-the-land life and ethic to a glitzy touristy leaning-towards-upper-scale economy – while intertwining the stories and lives of the main characters. 40+ years of history is inscribed in these 566 pages.

Magic Journey takes place (mostly) in Chamisaville – which is close to where the author lives (Taos,N.M.). I’m only superficially familiar with that region. But I used to be in awe, aware of the nearness of adjacent dimensions, slightly more-dimly cognizant of some immense Nagual aspect, when on trips down from Colorado through that area. Ojo Caliente, Tres Piedras, finally Española, by-passing Taos en route to Santa Fe. So, I have advice for my future (and/or alternate-dimension selves) – early in the book the “lay of the land” is detailed, laid-out. I should have sketched a map, so I could reference (as – numerous times later in reading the book I would have felt better-grounded) where the main landmarks and towns and such were with respect to each other. Also, darn it, (a big chore, but …) a note-pad with NAMES OF THE PLAYERS, with the relationships to each other, jobs, where they lived, etc., to refer to later – because there are many. Many dozens – there could be over 100 characters and players to keep track of. What keeps it easy is that there are a few (perhaps 10 or less) which are easy to keep track of …

Again, the story of how a bucolic idyllic location transitions from an out-of-the-way region where everyone has been there for generations, not much more than living-off-the-land – to what we Coloradans might call the “Aspenization” (or just about any other ski town – Steamboat? Summit County?) of the place. Detailed. Inning-by-inning. It ain’t pretty.

Nichols inserts the threads (or should I say “wisps” and “etheric force-fields” and such) through-out the story – massaging the reader’s understanding with the underlying currents. Emotional currents, the dead are restless (not entirely nor totally ‘dead’ – they appear on occasion, so to speak, as if you’re attached to the land, perhaps you can never really leave), spiritual malaise, and yes, frequent moments of absolute joy and wonder. Not to last. The battle never ends. Guess I should read book-3 of the series – Nirvana Blues.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hoped this book would be as good as Milagro Beanfield War, but it has disappointed.

There's all kinds of interesting anthropological type of stuff about all the characters who live in the little town of Chamisaville, but there's no discernable plot or even a protagonist. I suppose the community itself could be construed as the protagonist, but it's difficult to relate personally to anyone. It reads like a well-written news article, not like compelling fiction.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Settings are vivid and rhythmic, affirming that the mystical New Mexico desert and its people have been there since the beginning of time. Uses of allusion, metaphor, paint a lore with figures that ghostly move through life's desert in a lively interplay, even while the plot trudges along in a desert of its own. It's worth the read, but I found myself ditching paragraphs of setting description. Nichols is a master of observation, though he uses example to a fault here.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for all Taosenos (People who live in Taos NM). A scathing indictment of the new American frontier.

[Chanita · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Nichols is a genius.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent up to the very end. Humorous and captivating. A pleasure to read.

[Abby Dommer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal and heartbreaking. storytelling on par with the unapologetic prose of John Steinbeck and magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

[Greg Kerr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Depressing and Disappointing

About 260 pages into the book, which totaled 516 pages, I had no idea where the story was going. There were numerous long rambling conversations, dreams and reminiscences filled with unhappy depression and remembrances of more and more deceased characters; some of whom roamed the village for decades. Everyone was drinking, smoking, sleeping with other people, and stealing property from the Pueblo natives and long-standing Hispanic communities. I jumped ahead 170 pages and read the last three chapters without loosening any of the story line.

I had a personal reason for reading this trilogy. My fifth great granddad traveled from Mexico City with Diego de Vargas in 1692 to put down the Pueblo Revolt and found the settlement of Santa Cruz northwest of Santa Fe. In the mid-1920’s my grandfather passed away leaving my grandmother with 5 children, and was ultimately forced to abandon NE New Mexico due to Anglo progress. Joining the Great Western Sugar-beet migration, the family settled in Denver where she met and married my step-granddad.

Milagro Beanfield War had a purpose and a conclusion but this book felt like a prequel. The battle continues?

[John Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw an interview of John Nichols and he considered this long (516 pages) book as his best book. It is the second book in this New Mexico Trilogy, after the MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR, which I read many years ago. It tells the story of the fictional town of "Chamisaville" over 40 years from the 1930s through the 1970s. It seems to be based on Taos, NM, where John Nichols lived until his death several weeks ago. The strength of the book is in its larger than life characters and the fight between the Anglos on the Chamisaville Betterment society and those who want to keep it a good place for the Hispanos and Pueblos to continue to live. The book centers on the people who keep fighting for social justice. Justice seems very far away for the whole book and so the arc of the story feels to go around in circles as they continue to fight. However, the larger-than-life, but flawed, people who continue to fight for social justice, stories make you care for them and the people they are trying to help.

[podrozdzial · Rating 2 out of 5]

w gimnazjum zaczęłam czytać znalezioną w antykwariacie amerykańską serię „nex mexico” opowiadającą o życiu i problemach mieszkańców prowincjonalnego miasteczka. czytałam ją na wyrywki tak bardzo, jak tylko się da, bo zaczęłam od ostatniego tomu, a skończyłam na drugim i to blisko dekadę później. sięgając po „magiczną podróż”, która miała dopełnić miłe wspomnienia związane z tą serią nie spodziewałam się, że aż tak źle zestarzeje się ona w moich oczach.

dziś widzę to dokładnie — wszystkie trzy książki to typowe i chłopackie pisanie kojarzące mi się z hłaską. narracja pod płaszczykiem nonszalancji przemyca obleśnie rubaszne i mizoginistyczne żarty, a postaci - zwłaszcza kobiece - zostały rozpisane chwiejnie i płasko. choć w przypadku „magicznej podróży” podobał mi się wątek miłości w obliczu nieuleczalnej choroby, a rozważania moralne i egzystencjalne niektórych bohaterów były mi wyjątkowo bliskie, całość wypada blado.

[John Seymour · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would have made three good novels...

... instead, it is one novel with too many characters to keep track of, with too many storylines, and too many different moods. Nichols could have spun off one excellent novel that is a snarky caricature. Another great tale of greed and lust and bigger-than-life noble heroes trying to tackle the bad guys. Or... I dunno... I'm sure there is another story. I wish I could have read those stories one at a time. I kinda lose the taste of snarky humor when people star getting killed, you know?

[Roger Bradbury · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having grown up along the Front Range of Colorado, any story about the edge of mountains interests me. But, this may be the worst novel I have ever read. Apparently the early reviewers thought so too, because the publisher has used the same quote from the Chicago Tribune on the back. Absolute drek.

[Stan Pedzick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The weakest of the New Mexico trilogy, but still enjoyable.

[Mark Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining story of corruption and human values in the 20th century southwest.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a huge book and filled with flaws, but I feel like Nichols put it all in here.

[Arthur J]

I loved every word of it.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Magic Journey is a frustrating novel because the last third has so many true character developments rarely written elsewhere. But the first half of the novel rarely captured me with the humanity of Milagro Beanfield War.

The title comes from the development or “betterment”of Chamisaville: “The valley was perched on the brink of magic journey” (37). A magic journey is also taken by April McQueen, daughter of Rodey McQueen, the land baron set on bettering Chamisaville (79). As families go, so goes the land…to a point. April does not share her father’s ambition for transforming the agricultural valley into a resort area, and author John Nichols probably gets the most drama from this conflict.

Magic Journey is like a Capra fantasy with a cohesive community than a classic hero’s odyssey. Chamisaville also divides community, but too many characters emerge to cohere (What is a community if not populated with diversity?). From reading so many classic narratives, I find myself growing weary when a novel moves into the realm of ideas without round characters, even when the characters are engaged in political skullduggery that comes closer to reality than most of neo-westerns.

Moe Stryzpk is the land developer who knows the municipal, state and federal government so well that he can manipulate any competition out of business with total legality (95). Moe talks free enterprise but lives oligarchy. Yes, Moe becomes a paraplegic and that gives him a social shield regardless of the damage he does to Chamisaville. But the accident happened during the heat of swinging a deal with nasty details. In some ways, Moe is like Capra’s Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life. Nichols writes a much different ending, though.

Another character more interesting for the ideas he embodies than for the life he lives is Icarus Suazo, a pueblo Indian who goes into business with Moe, Rodey & Co. for a keep-your-friends-close-your-enemies-closer reason: Icarus wants to return sacred land to his tribe and will sell his soul if it saves his tribe. “There are laws,” Icarus says, “however, there are other laws” (124). What follows is one of the more trenchant speeches on how genocide by land acquisition has been accomplished in the U.S. But it is a speech punctuated as dialog. I probably wouldn’t have liked it so much if Nichols hadn’t plotted it into the mouth of a character.

Don’t get me wrong; few novelists write speeches as good as the one Chamisville’s dirty mayor J.B. LeDoux delivers behind closed doors when the tax-exempt leaders propose public spending to subsidize their development (276-279). Magic Journey might have been published in 1978, but its mood is pure October ’08, which seems bent on repeating itself.

But it is April’s amazing life that seems to serve as an objective correlative for the valley. April’s liaisons make her a kind of mother figure to the world. It is with some irony that she never practices birth control, has a couple of abortions and a couple of children and never consciously considers how rising population contributes to the cultural genocide of the valley she loves. I mean, the most revolutionary step would be to connect the nexus between rising population and overwhelmed social systems. Defunding Planned Parenthood when employment hovers near 10% is like shutting off the water to your next door neighbors’ burning house because you think a double crisis will inspire them dig a well quick and build moral fiber in them.

The magic realism in Magic Journey isn’t very real. Some of this comes from Nichols’ commitment to articulating political ideas: while we never miss his point, the poetic symbolism of Marquez or Allende does not appear. Perhaps everyday magic can’t survive north of the U.S.-Mexico Border. But using religious hucksterism to describe the initial Cipi Garcia Shrine denies it any eternal force. If the opening magic is characterized with cynicism, it makes it difficult to accept the spiritual forces near the end of the book. To be honest, some of the suicides near the end of the book seemed a bit death ex machina.

But perhaps I’m not giving enough credence to April’s notion that we are all on a magic journey whether or not the local angels speak to us or not. Perhaps I’m relying too much on the novelist to characterize the angels for me.

[Paul Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in the New Mexico trilogy and I did enjoy the historical perspective, spanning about 3/4 of the 21st century, into the 1970's. There was the Native American/Latino/Anglo angle, the agricultural economy passing into the service economy (bypassing the manufacturing economy in this locale) and, of course, the Capitalist/Socialist struggle all intertwined in the plot.

The writing had it's moments of near brilliance, but very few, and the characters lacked that personal appeal that allows one to really empathize with them.

I will read the 3rd book (The Nirvana Blues) because I have it on my shelf, but am in no rush to get to it.

[Tim O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

2nd in the New Mexico Trilogy with a vast array of characters notably April McQueen/Delaney, Virgil Leyba and host of others. Small town and surrounding area loved by locals as it is but greed and progress of Anglo powerbrokers want to change it for their benefit at the cost of its Mexican culture.

[Eldaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though all the books I enjoy do not necessarily have to have a happy ending, I generally enjoy happy books. This is not a happy book. It's a good book. But it's a sad book and I wouldn't say I enjoyed it. Though it is worth reading.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takes place in the same location as the Milagro Beanfield War, but after a few years have gone by. It's a little bit more sarcastic, desperate, and serious than the first book, but the style stays mostly in tact. Just as good as the Milagro Beanfield War, but with a little less time for whimsy.

[Jessica Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

not a bad story