Title: The Art of Disappearing
Author: Ivy Pochoda
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication September 28, 2010
Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN: 978-0312650995
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

How do you know if love is real or just an illusion?

When Mel Snow meets Toby Warring in a dusty roadside bar, she is instantly drawn to the brilliant magician who can pull roses from thin air and conjure castles out of desert sands. They marry two days later, and begin a life together in the shadow of Las Vegas, where Toby hopes to make it big. Mel knows that magicians are a dime a dozen, but Toby is different—his magic is real.

But as Toby’s renown grows and Mel falls more and more in love with his wonderments, she starts to realize that Toby’s powers are as unstable as they are dazzling. She learns that he once made his assistant disappear completely, and couldn’t bring her back. And soon she begins to wonder if the love they share is genuine or merely a fantasy, conjured up by a lost magician looking to save himself from being alone.

Ivy Pochoda’s spellbinding and cinematic storytelling seamlessly fuses timeless magic to modern-day passion. Haunting and beautiful, The Art of Disappearing is an imaginative and captivating love story destined to enchant readers for years to come.

My Review:

A hauntingly beautiful debut novel, The Art of Disappearing by Ivy Pochoda delves into the lives of Toby Warring and Mel Snow, a magician and a traveling textile consultant who meet and marry two days later in Las Vegas. Pochoda has Mel narrate the novel and in so doing, this becomes Mel’s story, one filled with love, illusion, magic, and deep longing. Pachoda’s novel is eloquently written and in such a profound manner that the reader will fly through the book, metaphorically speaking. What is love, what is illusion and how can one know? These are central points to ponder throughout The Art of Disappearing. I was first drawn into the story by the witty narrative and the unusual storyline, but I do not often read about traveling textile merchants meeting and marrying magicians, yet soon found myself immersed in the lives of Mel and Toby, each filled with their own secrets that haunt them. Pochoda creates a rather unique protagonist and manages to describe the story with deft and vivid details making it quite easy for the reader to envision the surroundings, take in the details, and become a part of the story. The Art of Disappearing is far more than a love story, asking the readers to think outside the box, to determine what is real and what is a mere illusion. I would recommend The Art of Disappearing to my readers and think it would make a fun and lively discussion group pick.

About the Author:

Ivy Pochoda was raised in Brooklyn and now lives in Los Angeles. This is her first novel.

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I received a complimentary copy of The Art of Disappearing by Ivy Pochoda from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.