Book Tamers| book reviews

The Magic Toyshop is a descriptive novel rather than a dynamic one. So descriptive that I could say the minute descriptions spread on about half of it. The effect is a positive one though, and I would go even further, believing that it is the one expected by the author, but I will talk about this later.

Melanie’s life, the main character, seems taken from the Before and After column of a women’s magazine. Except that instead of the make-up session or the facial lifting there is her parents’ death. Before is a luxurious life, with daily bathing in hot water, perfumes, dresses and a beautiful house; an elegant mother, a little eccentric father, but reckless enough not to save any money for their children. A happy, careless life, which ends just about when Melanie was beginning to discover herself, at the age of 15. After is a life in a gruesome house, miserable, with a rusty boiler which is an adventure to turn on, with a little piece of home-made soap and fuggy air.

Things wouldn’t be so terrible, if the inhabitants didn’t make up a ”nuthouse”. The house belongs to her uncle, the owner of the toyshop, which he manufactures together with his apprentice. However, he is a terrifying presence, a violent and masterly man of whom everybody in the house is afraid and who has decided to erase from Melanie and her brother and little sister any resemblance to their father, whom he couldn’t stand. Aunt Maggie, who became mute her wedding day, and her brothers, Francie and Finn are the uncle’s puppets. They always obey him and are as odd as the rest of the house.

What becomes clear is that the three have a secret. As time goes by, the reader learns about them through Melanie’s eyes, who observes every detail, while they become close to her, Finn more than the other two. All these details make up an oppressive, overwhelming atmosphere, above which there stands the presence of the uncle, and as the pages become less, one can tell that the disaster is near. This is the effect I was talking about in the beginning. Looking from this perspective, all those descriptions are not as boring as one would expect.

The disaster occurs, the secret is revealed, but the ending is disarming. It is mute to the same extent to which the characters’ souls are explored. It is obvious that the only magic the toyshop ever made is forcing Melanie to become mature, but could this maturity already had turn into indifference?

Seeing Melanie’s terrified face expression, which pictures the apogee of the book, the moment when she plays Leda in her uncle’s sketch, I realize I have finally found a cover connected to the book. However, I cannot catch a glimpse of the resigned girl in the end. If only there had been another page…

Written by Raluca