The Trick

The Trick by Emanuel Bergmann, 375 pages.

Two parallel stories, one of the Great Zabbatini, a Jew performing in a European circus as World War II looms, and the second concerning a ten-year-old boy name Max in present day California. While the story of Zabbatini, his childhood, his fleeing towards the circus and his time trying to pass as a Persian magician while living in Nazi Germany was well done. The present day story lacked a  single sympathetic or likable character, Max and his parents seem not to posses a single redeeming feature between the three of them. Zabbatini is still haunted by the war, but this haunting manifests itself in his being a giant asshole to everyone he meets. The plot never really clicks either, Overall, not my favorite.