Sunday Book Club: December 15, 2013

A Bird’s Eye by Cary Fagan

The next Sunday Book Club will be on December 15, 2013 at 10:00 p.m. 
(not 10:30 as it has been previously)

The book we will be discussing is A Bird’s Eye by Cary Fagan.

This is a coming-of-age story of Benjamin Kleeman, a 14 year old growing up in 1930’s Toronto, in the Kensington market area. Like many teenagers, he yearns to escape the narrow confines of his parents’ existence. Their story, his mother a spice and grain seller in the market, and his father, a ne’er –do-well mechanical toy maker, forms the backdrop, the impetus for Benjamin to escape their humdrum existence.

He does this, unexpectedly, by sneaking into a vaudeville show with his secret girlfriend. There, he witnesses his first bit of stage magic and is totally mesmerized. Thus begins his own journey to become a magician. In his words, “Anyone can learn to dance or tell a joke, but this man broke the laws of nature. He made a tear in the world and put his hand through it”

An enchanting read as we follow his awkening.