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Title: Magic Time

Author: Doug Marlette

Narrator: L. J. Ganser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-31-09

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

New York City newspaper columnist Carter Ransom returns home to Mississippi to face his difficult past, his father's unwavering disapproval, and new evidence in a 25-year-old bombing case.

Members Reviews:

The Past Is Not Even Past

I was sorry to see this book rated less than the five stars it deserves. At times the author approaches the grandeur of Faulkner. It is a three-tiered story of the 1964 Freedom Summer. (At times the tiers of time get a bit difficult to discern, especially within chapters, but the author always provides clues as to the time period--characters on the scene, places, etc.) Faulkner was forced to use italics to separate past events from present, but Marlette has learned from Faulkner that the modern, attentive reader does not need such. The book has literally everything--love, loyalty, violence, segregation, Ku Klux Klanners, generational conflict. In the end it shows a development from the South in the 1960's versus the 1990's. Black congressman are elected in predominantly white districts, then lead charges against corporate America for environmental pollution at the cost of local jobs. The central event, however, is the 1980's trial of a man who escaped conviction in the 1960's while his cronies went to jail. (This rings a bit false in that no one was convicted in the Goodman, Schwerner, Chaney murders in Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1964, a historical event this novel closely parallels and reflects upon.) There is the suggestion of blackmail in the 1980's trial, implying that a progressive judge had "let off" the current man being tried back in the 1960's. "Do you civil rights workers want THIS to come out?" The judge in question is the father of the Hero, Carter Ransom, a New York journalist sent back to Mississippi to cover the trial which could well embarass his own father to whom he is devoted. The judge owns up to his own "sin," thus defusing it as a trial issue. The man who got away for twenty years, now old and in a wheelchair, is convicted and sent off to prison where he should have been for 20 years. There is a long chapter describing what actually happened that night the Shiloh Church was burned down and four people were murdered. Marlette is clearly indebted to Faulkner, historical fact, to Diane McWhorter (Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of "Carry Me Home"), and to any number of authors who demonstrate that the past is not really past--it dominates the present. This book is worthy of the highest praise and the highest awards.

Good book. The only thing I wish was that ...

Good book. The only thing I wish was that it went straight through with the story rather than jumping back in time every few pages.

Magic Time is a MUST read

I just read Magic Time for the 2nd time. It is so well written that knowing there will be no more Marlette novel's is a sadness. Able to poke fun at the stereotypes...moon pies and coon dogs, Marlette has a great heart for the South. He understands the deep and rich soul of the Southerner. Set in the Civil rights era, no one has written about this period in history any better. Wonderful characters that remain with you long after you have turned off your Kindle or shelved the novel. The Bridge is the other Marlette novel. Don't miss these fine novels.

Held My Attention

This story held my attention throughout - I read as fast as I could to see how the story would unfold.