Magic Time

by W.P. Kinsella

Magic Time is vintage Kinsella. It is a novel of hope and promise and baseball that becomes humorous, enchanting fiction.

Genres: Fiction, Baseball, Sports

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

William Patrick Kinsella, OC, OBC was a Canadian novelist and short story writer. His work has often concerned baseball and Canada's First Nations and other Canadian issues.

William Patrick Kinsella was born to John Matthew Kinsella and Olive Kinsella in Edmonton, Alberta. Kinsella was raised until he was 10 years-old at a homestead near Darwell, Alberta, 60 km west of the city, home-schooled by his mother and taking correspondence courses. "I'm one of these people who woke up at age five knowing how to read and write," he says. When he was ten, the family moved to Edmonton.

As an adult, he held a variety of jobs in Edmonton, including as a clerk for the Government of Alberta and managing a credit bureau. In 1967, he moved to Victoria, British Columbia, running a pizza restaurant called Caesar's Italian Village and driving a taxi.

Though he had been writing since he was a child (winning a YMCA contest at age 14), he began taking writing courses at the University of Victoria in 1970, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing there in 1974. He travelled down to Iowa and earned a Master of Fine Arts in English degree through the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1978. In 1991, he was presented with an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from the University of Victoria.

Kinsella's most famous work is Shoeless Joe, upon which the movie Field of Dreams was based. A short story by Kinsella, Lieberman in Love, was the basis for a short film that won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film – the Oscar win came as a surprise to the author, who, watching the award telecast from home, had no idea the film had been made and released. He had not been listed in the film's credits, and was not acknowledged by director Christine Lahti in her acceptance speech – a full-page advertisement was later placed in Variety apologizing to Kinsella for the error. Kinsella's eight books of short stories about life on a First Nations reserve were the basis for the movie Dance Me Outside and CBC television series The Rez, both of which Kinsella considers very poor quality. The collection Fencepost Chronicles won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1987.

Before becoming a professional author, he was a professor of English at the University of Calgary in Alberta. Kinsella suffered a car accident in 1997 which resulted in a long hiatus in his fiction-writing career until the publication of the novel, Butterfly Winter. He is a noted tournament Scrabble player, becoming more involved with the game after being disillusioned by the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. Near the end of his life he lived in Yale, British Columbia with his fourth wife, Barbara (d. 2012), and occasionally wrote articles for various newspapers.

In the year 1993, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2005, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia.

W.P. Kinsella elected to die on September 16, 2016 with the assistance of a physician.

Reviews

[Marvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think Kinsella phoned this one in, stringing together some baseball stories (one of which I'd read in a collection) into a larger story about an idyllic, small Iowa town that lures talented ball players with a tendency to choke to play & live where ther are no pressures. Not very challenging, but Kinsella's baseball stories are always entertaining for a baseball fan, much like a Paul Bunyan tall tale.

[Stephen Gower · Rating 3 out of 5]

I made the mistake of reading some bits of reviews of the book before I got to the first chapter, and didn't expect to like it. Overall, I thought it was a decent mystery - what was with the town of Grand Mound, and why did baseball players choose to stay there? How did the town get them to stay? It turns out there wasn't really anything insidious, but you do have to believe a few things in order to accept the final 'solution'.

Three stars for:
- At least 1-2 loose ends not really tied up in the book (Was Mike's agent, Justin Birdsong, in on the Grand Mound conspiracy?)
- There were a lot of tense changes throughout. More annoying than confusing.
- It seemed like a book that was essentially a vehicle to tell side short stories, and the "frame story" was a little on the weak side.

[Peter B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh yes. Another Kinsella full of characters and unique plot and baseball! Mike is a great second baseman and lead off man except when it counts—he chokes in the clutch. Not drafted after a final disastrous year at college he makes one more attempt with a team from Grand Mound in the Cornbelt League. It turns out that all they do is practice and work part time jobs because Grand Mound isn’t really in the league but…the reason they have been brought to town and billeted with potential young women is that the town has a plan to prevent it from becoming a little ghost town like so many others.
An awesome story whether baseball is on the agenda or not.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story!
I'm not really a ball fan, but you don't have to be to enjoy this book. I did however, think of a particular friend (Kathryn G.) who is a crazy ball fan. She'd enjoy this book for sure.
Mike Houle, in his early 20's, is sent by his agent to Grand Mound to play ball for a very different and interesting club.
There is a twist to the story, which I will not spoil.
A fun, quick and easy read.

[Liz Barlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sappiest book I have EVER read. However, it’s a bit of a page turner and there is such a fundamental, thought provoking question at the end of it all that it’s haunting. Goodness and happiness vs the cynicism which constantly bombards and undermines it ... this one is going to follow me around all day :(

[Mark Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing baseball novel comprised of a number of short stories mixed in as flashbacks. Had trouble getting past the racism (Kinsella describes the skin color of every African American in the book but fails to for the white people) as well as the drawn out physical description of every character even if they are a minor character.

[Leonard A. Chiat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another heartwarming tale by WP Kinsella.

This was a very entertaining story. W.P. Kinsella has again written about the human condition and used baseball as a vehicle to teach us about ourselves. It would probably make a great little movie.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really an extended combination of a few of Kinsella's short stories put together to form one longer story.
Well done and enjoyable.

[Matthew McDonough · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, fanciful baseball story, by one of the sport's most thoughtful writers.

[MJH · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Magic Time' is a magical read. It's storytelling at it' s best. I hate baseball, but I would of loved to watch a game with Mr. Kinsella.

[Calvin Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 3.75 Fan of Kinsella. He writes baseball with heart, captures the ordinary and makes it special, and adds fun twists.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting premise - Good characters - Baseball in Iowa seems a staple for Kinsella.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, you will have to like baseball to like this book. The author is a great storyteller, but meanders in this short novel. Nonetheless, this was a fun book that provides a slice of Americana.

[Quinn Crossley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s Kinsella’s take on Lost Horizon except it’s in Iowa and there’s a lot of baseball. I thought it was a decent read but perhaps a bit schmaltzy

[B 7Stockman · Rating 4 out of 5]

W. P Kinsella Conveys strength and hope throughout this book. There is a lot of inequality going on that changes throughout the book. When dad says, "Look at that, Mike, I look like a gorilla in a tuxedo. What do you suppose your mom ever saw in me?" (15) while they were all sitting around the table in the kitchen getting ready to eat, the reader sees that there is a lot of bad things happening in that time period, and through the voices of the characters you can tell that they all have high hopes of a new life as well as change in their future. Roger says "Throw your fastball and I'll put it in somebody's back yard," (48) as you can see there was a lot of racism in this sentence whereas white baseball players would not speak this way to one another, they had respect for each other. Overall Kinsella wants the readers to know how that time period was and the struggles African Americans had to adjust and get to where they are today through baseball.

[H · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short baseball fable for adults - I picked this up because I wanted something light, silly, and easy to read. It is an agreeable little book set in a wholesome world that seems roughly parallel to ours in time, but miles away in the innocence and sweetness of life (with a few swear words). It is a world where a small Iowa town can support a baseball team of talented players who have a habit of choking in the clutch. The players are brought in to keep the town viable with new blood, marry its lovely daughters, and take over the main street businesses. Harmless and forgettable.

[Pa · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK for a quick read. The tale of a very talented second baseman who aspires to get into the bigs, but who tends to choke at crunch time. He is invited to play for a small time Cornbelt League team in a small town in Iowa.
The story flows well and has a bit of humor. Certainly nothing deep, but an entertaining read with an interesting plot (by the author of the book on which the movie Field of Dreams is based).

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinsella cannibalized some of his short stories for use in this full novel. I'm usually not of fan of that, but he did it pretty well, weaving everything into a complete story. I'm a little conflicted about the outcome of the story, but it was still enjoyable.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baseball in the Twilight Zone. Kinsella is a great writer. Basically a long short story, well told.

[Garth Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a review, but I definitely wish there was a Great Mound I could move to. I feel like I'd fit right in.

[Tim Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinsella is a great author that can really bring a story to life, this book is no exception. If you like baseball, or more importanly folksy baseball stories, this is a must read.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feel good baseball!

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love wp Kinsella way of telling a story! This is a great read to any baseball fan!

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinsella’s fairy tales for the man-child only work when they have some actual magic to distract from pulp novel plot and characters

[Jamie]

I'd read Magic Time before, about 15 years ago, but remembered little of it, so it was almost like it was new to me reading it this time around. Kinsella is a master of baseball stories, but this one isn't as strong in my mind as some of his others. The story is interesting--about a ball player who is recruited to play for the small Iowa town of Grand Mound. But baseball is almost ancillary to the story, which is different from many of Kinsella's works.

Grand Mound was a kind of Green Town, and the story had a Bradburyesque feel to it, without the poetic writing of either Bradbury, or Kinsella in some of his other works. It was an enjoyable story, but the writing was not as strong as I remembered from some of Kinsella's other works.