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The Man from Beyond
From the winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, a debut novel featuring Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is April 1922. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle arrives in New York on a spiritualist crusade. To packed houses at Carnegie Hall, he displays photographs of ghosts and spirits; of female mediums bound and gagged, ectoplasmic goo emerging from their bodies. In the newspapers, he defends the powers of the mysterious Margery, one of the most famous mediums of the day. His good friend Harry Houdini is a skeptic, and when Doyle claims Margery's powers are superior to Houdini's, the magician goes on the attack. Into this mix of spirit-chasing celebrities enters Molly Goodman, a young reporter whose job is to cover the heated debate. As she wanders into this world of spooks and spirits, murder and criminal frauds, Molly discovers herself: her true love, her place in the world; even her relationship to her beloved dead brother, Carl.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 25, 2013
Uninspired. The impression I had is that the author was enchanted by the possibilities of the friendship of Houdini and Doyle but the expected chemistry never quite happened. This leaves the reader slogging through lengthy descriptive passages of Houdini's magic (which would be amazing were Houdini actually in front of us doing them, but as words on a page...???), clumsily sexualized encounters with phallic ectoplasm, and tedious visits to the spirit world.
Nothing happens in the course of the novel that is not anticipated by the alert reader several pages before, although I will say here that keeping alert was a considerable challenge.
Not worth the effort.
Nothing happens in the course of the novel that is not anticipated by the alert reader several pages before, although I will say here that keeping alert was a considerable challenge.
Not worth the effort.
August 9, 2007
I am about 100 pages in to this one, and its pretty good so far, however I am a little disturbed because this is the 3rd book in as many months I have picked at random that deals with psychical/mystic topics and involves stories about William James and Conan Doyle.
WEIRD
This is a good book.
I liked reading it.
I did not however rush home to place my face in it.
Nor did I wonder what would happen next.
It was predictable, even though it seems contrived to say that about a book that's main characters are Sir Conan Doyle and Houdini.
I dunno...
not bad for a library book pulled quickly off the shelve and into the stack in my hands
WEIRD
This is a good book.
I liked reading it.
I did not however rush home to place my face in it.
Nor did I wonder what would happen next.
It was predictable, even though it seems contrived to say that about a book that's main characters are Sir Conan Doyle and Houdini.
I dunno...
not bad for a library book pulled quickly off the shelve and into the stack in my hands
April 18, 2021
Brownstein's strengths in this book were his descriptions of New York, his dialogue, and his detail of the life of Molly Goodman. His portrayals of Houdini and Doyle were weak until the end, where the character of Houdini comes to life even as his presence in the book fades. And the ending? A disappointment.
December 20, 2020
Too much irrelevant story, felt like a heavy read. Wasn't interested in finishing
May 23, 2021
Out-of-this-world. Might just be my favorite historicalfiction novel.
January 9, 2012
Hot on the heels of last year's ARTHUR AND GEORGE readers are faced with yet another highly fictionalized account of an episode in the life of Sherlock Holmes' creator Arthur Conan Doyle. Set against the backdrop of the much-publicized 1922 press battle between Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini over the question of Spiritualism, Brownstein weaves an oddly multi-layered story that deftly blends questions of religious belief, real historical events and characters with a pointlessly contrived murder mystery thread involving the medium Margery and an attempt on Houdini's life. To guide us through this strange mish-mash, and complicate the narrative with a sub-plot exploring the social life of stereotypical `Golden Ghetto Jews', we have young reporter Molly Goodman. Covering the story of Lady Jean's automatic writing episode in Atlantic City, Goodman finds herself drawn into the Spiritualist debate, gaining the confidence of both Houdini and Doyle, giving her fledgling career a much needed boost. The medium Margery, and her husband the enigmatic Dr. Sabatier, are introduced into the mix creating even greater conflict between the supportive, and gullible, Spiritualist crusader and the skeptical magician. Things come to a head when Houdini is believed dead after a stunt promoting his new film "The Man From Beyond" goes horribly, and inexplicably wrong; allowing both Doyle and Molly to play detective.
The Man From Beyond can be a rather confusing read for those familiar with the actual events and people that form the backdrop to this entirely fictional story. To emphasize the fictional nature of the tale Brownstein has made some strange alterations: Doyle has two children named Timothy and Joanna, the medium Margery is here renamed Mary Twist instead of Mina Crandon, her husband is named Dr. Hugo Sabatier instead of Dr. Le Roi Goddard Crandon, psychic investigator J. Malcolm Bird becomes Dingwall Bird and is given some odd experiments as a sideline, and so on... To complicate matters further Houdini did in fact investigate Margery, but not until 1924-1925, and at no time did he and Conan Doyle attend her séance together. However, there are some wonderful real incidents effectively covered in the book including a faithful account of the Lady Jean automatic writing incident and Conan Doyle's stunt-showing of The Lost World footage at a meeting of the The Society of American Magicians. While Brownstein takes Houdini and Conan Doyle down some rather strange paths during the course of the novel, he is remarkably successful in creating very credible and authentic portraits of each man.
Bottom line: A largely appealing read that unfortunately works best as a character study of Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini rather than as a cohesive fantasy thriller. While time, place, characters and certain events are vividly recreated, the fantastical mystery elements and Molly Goodman thread sideline the strengths leading to an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion.
The Man From Beyond can be a rather confusing read for those familiar with the actual events and people that form the backdrop to this entirely fictional story. To emphasize the fictional nature of the tale Brownstein has made some strange alterations: Doyle has two children named Timothy and Joanna, the medium Margery is here renamed Mary Twist instead of Mina Crandon, her husband is named Dr. Hugo Sabatier instead of Dr. Le Roi Goddard Crandon, psychic investigator J. Malcolm Bird becomes Dingwall Bird and is given some odd experiments as a sideline, and so on... To complicate matters further Houdini did in fact investigate Margery, but not until 1924-1925, and at no time did he and Conan Doyle attend her séance together. However, there are some wonderful real incidents effectively covered in the book including a faithful account of the Lady Jean automatic writing incident and Conan Doyle's stunt-showing of The Lost World footage at a meeting of the The Society of American Magicians. While Brownstein takes Houdini and Conan Doyle down some rather strange paths during the course of the novel, he is remarkably successful in creating very credible and authentic portraits of each man.
Bottom line: A largely appealing read that unfortunately works best as a character study of Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini rather than as a cohesive fantasy thriller. While time, place, characters and certain events are vividly recreated, the fantastical mystery elements and Molly Goodman thread sideline the strengths leading to an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion.
May 9, 2009
An entertaining fictionalization of the dispute between Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle over the validity of spiritualism, as depicted by a young female reporter. Key events are fiction, but the story, and atmosphere of 1922 is well captured in this quick, fun read.
October 7, 2009
I found Brownstein's writing a bit of a wade, and this was the second book I'd read with Houdini as a character (which is why I got the book). I disliked the character of Houdini so much, I think it colored my opinion of the book.
August 17, 2008
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I hadn't just read a Houdini biography. As it was I was very aware of which bits were real and wich were very, very fictional.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews