From Publishers Weekly
Canadian screenwriter (Due South) and award-winning novelist Quarrington (Whale Music) poignantly uses the tacky, tricky background of Las Vegas to tell the story of two magicians who pay the price for a great and dangerous wisdom. German Jurgen Schubert and Swiss Rudolfo Thielmann (think Siegfried & Roy) are sellers of wonder--a flamboyant Vegas magic act, spawned from a seedy club in Munich. At the height of their fame, they pay $4.8 million for the much sought-after Houdini collection, which includes the Davenport Spirit Cabinet and ancient books containing history's greatest magic secrets from all over the world. Labeled showmen, not "real" magicians, by their contemporaries, towering illusionist Jurgen and animal trainer Rudolfo are compared by the World-Famous Kaz to "chimps [who] bought some books about brain surgery." Quarrington reveals the pair, often rude and showy, as having been shaped by the traumas and disappointments of their pasts: Rudolfo was a pathetically lonely child raised in an opium den in Bern, and Jurgen is still desperately trying to prove that real magic exists. Jurgen proclaims to Rudolfo and to sensuous female assistant Miranda, as well as to lovable albino leopard Samson, that he wishes to change their lucrative, successful show by the dark wizardry gleaned from the mysterious teachings of Houdini's dusty books. But Jurgen is seduced into another world through the creepy doors of the Spirit Cabinet, and a story that begins as an entertaining lark--uneven yet humorous--ends up tender and heartbreaking. As Jurgen becomes more deeply involved with his supernatural metamorphosis, he becomes Christ-like, levitating and performing miracles while he drifts irreversibly away from Rudolfo, his life partner. Quarrington gathers most of Vegas to see the duo's final act, powerfully blending tears with philosophical enlightenment in a novel to be treasured, even by those who don't believe in magic. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The eighth novel by Canadian Quarrington (who received good reviews here for Whale Music and Hockey Is a Lot Like Life) recounts the Las Vegas success of gay German magicians Jurgen and Rodolfo, whose rippling, well-oiled muscles and feats of prestidigitation won them acclaim in the louche nightclubs of Europe. They are aided by a nearly naked woman, Miranda, and Samson, an elderly albino leopard with a rich inner life who may alone be worth the read. At auction, the men acquire a collection of books and magic paraphernalia owned by Houdini, including the Spirit Cabinet, which becomes Jurgen's vehicle for transcendence. Darkly comic, deeply sad, and always ironic, this novel shows us that the difference between true magic and everyday charlatanism depends on a willingness to suspend disbelief and open oneself to miracles. Along the way, the alert reader learns some animal-taming methods, how to perform a variety of card tricks, and why Miranda is so lightly clad (largely to divert the audience from onstage stratagems). This novel will find readers in all types of libraries but with sharper editing could have been a sensation.-Judith Kicinski, Sarah Lawrence Coll. Lib., Bronxville, NY Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Jennifer Schuessler
The Spirit Cabinet falls short of wonderful, but Paul Quarrington knows some neat tricks.


From Booklist
Harry Houdini's vast estate of magic books and props is on the auction block, and the top magicians from Las Vegas and beyond hope to win it for themselves. Legend has it that Houdini went beyond the illusion and stagecraft of magic performance, that he possessed a phenomenal power--the secret to which may lie within a giant box known mysteriously as "the spirit cabinet." Meanwhile, Quarrington introduces us to a motley cast of characters. At the heart of the story are animal trainer^-magicians Jurgen and Rudolpho, apparently modeled on the real-life Siegfried and Roy. Quarrington delves into their strange, neurotic relationship. Their surreal world includes Samson, a lugubrious albino panther, the pair's star performer who has grown weary of show business and spends much of his time watching TV; and Miranda, their voluptuous assistant who dreams of starting a star career of her own. Spirit Cabinet is alternately funny and profound but in the end seems to run a bit long. Still, a strong, entertaining work of fiction. Ted Leventhal


Review
"A marvellous, funny novel." --Roddy Doyle

"A magical novel, dazzling us-- Often funny, always surprising, and ultimately profound and very, very moving. In a sense, fiction writers are illusionists, making us believe in other worlds, and Paul Quarrington is a master of that ancient craft. He is a sorcerer, and his novel is spellbinding." -Tim O'Brien

"With the possible exception of Mordecai Richler, Quarrington is probably the funniest novelist writing in Canada today. It's not surprising that one of the richest gifts The Spirit Cabinet delivers is wave after wave of laughter." -The Toronto Star





Book Description
By turns outrageous, whimsical, comic, and melancholy, Paul Quarrington's The Spirit Cabinet is a story of love, chaos, and spiritual renewal set in the carnival world of Las Vegas entertainers. Yet "this is not a book about magicians and their pursuit of magic," writes Alan Beaton in the National Post, "it is a book about human beings, and their pursuit of faith." After a long, slow climb out of the strip clubs and fleshpots of Europe, Jurgen and Rudolfo have hit the big time in Las Vegas, headlining a magic act as slick and well-oiled as their own buffed and usually half-naked bodies. Rudolfo is content orchestrating the spectacle and attempting to twin his soul with Jurgen's. But Jurgen hungers for more -- and finds it in a musty, mysterious collection of magicians' paraphernalia once belonging to Harry Houdini. With the knowledge he finds there, and his own faith in the unknown, Jurgen becomes the miracle-working saint of the Las Vegas strip. In The Spirit Cabinet, Quarrington takes dead aim at the place in the human heart that yearns for wonder and miracles.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Spirit Cabinet, set against the backdrop of the carnival world of Las Vegas magicians, follows superstars Jurgen and Rudolfo as they navigate the hilarious and painful conflicts that arise when one quits cheap illusion to pursue real magic.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Canadian screenwriter (Due South) and award-winning novelist Quarrington (Whale Music) poignantly uses the tacky, tricky background of Las Vegas to tell the story of two magicians who pay the price for a great and dangerous wisdom. German Jurgen Schubert and Swiss Rudolfo Thielmann (think Siegfried & Roy) are sellers of wonder--a flamboyant Vegas magic act, spawned from a seedy club in Munich. At the height of their fame, they pay $4.8 million for the much sought-after Houdini collection, which includes the Davenport Spirit Cabinet and ancient books containing history's greatest magic secrets from all over the world. Labeled showmen, not "real" magicians, by their contemporaries, towering illusionist Jurgen and animal trainer Rudolfo are compared by the World-Famous Kaz to "chimps [who] bought some books about brain surgery." Quarrington reveals the pair, often rude and showy, as having been shaped by the traumas and disappointments of their pasts: Rudolfo was a pathetically lonely child raised in an opium den in Bern, and Jurgen is still desperately trying to prove that real magic exists. Jurgen proclaims to Rudolfo and to sensuous female assistant Miranda, as well as to lovable albino leopard Samson, that he wishes to change their lucrative, successful show by the dark wizardry gleaned from the mysterious teachings of Houdini's dusty books. But Jurgen is seduced into another world through the creepy doors of the Spirit Cabinet, and a story that begins as an entertaining lark--uneven yet humorous--ends up tender and heartbreaking. As Jurgen becomes more deeply involved with his supernatural metamorphosis, he becomes Christ-like, levitating and performing miracles while he drifts irreversibly away from Rudolfo, his life partner. Quarrington gathers most of Vegas to see the duo's final act, powerfully blending tears with philosophical enlightenment in a novel to be treasured, even by those who don't believe in magic. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

The eighth novel by Canadian Quarrington (who received good reviews here for Whale Music and Hockey Is a Lot Like Life) recounts the Las Vegas success of gay German magicians Jurgen and Rodolfo, whose rippling, well-oiled muscles and feats of prestidigitation won them acclaim in the louche nightclubs of Europe. They are aided by a nearly naked woman, Miranda, and Samson, an elderly albino leopard with a rich inner life who may alone be worth the read. At auction, the men acquire a collection of books and magic paraphernalia owned by Houdini, including the Spirit Cabinet, which becomes Jurgen's vehicle for transcendence. Darkly comic, deeply sad, and always ironic, this novel shows us that the difference between true magic and everyday charlatanism depends on a willingness to suspend disbelief and open oneself to miracles. Along the way, the alert reader learns some animal-taming methods, how to perform a variety of card tricks, and why Miranda is so lightly clad (largely to divert the audience from onstage stratagems). This novel will find readers in all types of libraries but with sharper editing could have been a sensation.--Judith Kicinski, Sarah Lawrence Coll. Lib., Bronxville, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Melvin Jules Bukiet - San Francisco Chronicle Book Review