by Mark Townsend
Published by O books, 2008
Price: £9.99
SECOND REVIEW by Bish
The Wizard's Gift is written by Mark
Townsend, an ex-Anglican priest who, having recently left the church, now looks to find similar spiritual connection within the pagan traditions.
The tale has speed from start to finish, created in the main through very short chapters. The speed is entirely appropriate as the whole story runsover only eight days. It bounces between the lives of a man and a woman as they come together; the man seeking escape from his clinging fundamentalist Christian home life and the woman seeking meaning in her life after both a
professional disappointment and an abusive relationship.
The male character, Sam, meets a shaman-like figure in the woods, a seeming wizard who guides Sam through a series of revelatory experiences,while the female character Jane finds a Tarot reader who sets her off into new possibilities. The interaction between Sam, his mother and the elder of
their sect, Reverend Morris, is intense and I found it reminded me of someaspects of my own youth.
I enjoyed the book almost from start to finish. The qualification is due in part to what felt like a hasty ending – even for a short work like this (the book runs to about 150 pages) and also to one of the later chapters which leant heavily on Christian and Christian-like psalms and
quotations that abruptly pulled me out of the flow. That's down to issues in my own past and shouldn't be expected to affect other folk. I hope. The story's not as simple as my précis suggests and, being written by a practicing illusionist, one ought perhaps not to expect it to be so!
So, gentle reader I hear your question; 'a bit of a Christian book then?' I wouldn't say so. It's written by someone of a Christian background certainly. But the message of the book is very much to become fully aware, to live within each and every moment, rather than simply pass through one's life as driftwood on a river, and that's as Druid as it comes.
Review by Simon
This story is a very curious tale paced over the course of a week.The author makes a point of announcing that he is both an Anglican Christian minister and a member of
the Magic Circle - presumably an illusionist though he is coy about what his magic actually is.
The form of the novel is alternate short chapters following the daily lives of a man and a woman, both young independent adults, living in a town or city, and both tormented by their past failings and currentinadequacies. Both of them independently work their way through their issues and finally become serene and enlightened.
The whole novel is very much a male-centred world; to me at least the man comes across as the main character despite the alternating chapter format; his problems are spiritual and existential, and he is helped by the wizard character he meets in the woods who, we are never quite sure is entirely real. The woman's issues are to do with a problem relationship in the past, and a missed career opportunity; she is helped by a professional card reader (although the cards, similar to tarot, are the
main help, and the reader, who is more like a guide, is definitely a real ordinary woman). The man's enlightenment comes from observing the natural world, and from self-realisation, and also from reading a rather sweet 1930s Christian book; the woman's from letting go of her former abusive partner and finding "Mr Right".
The Christian thread is always visible; even when trying to escape the clutches of a conservative sect, no-one doubts that God and Jesus are watching over them. However it is an extremely liberal form of Christianity, where fears that the wizard's; character is some kind of devilish tempter can be dismissed without further discussion. Many of the wizard's lessons are quite shamanic and there is also a hint of eastern mysticism in there.
The denouncement is rather hastily handled and felt rushed to me,with some very unconvincing behaviour by some of the minor players,though it was genuinely exciting to read; and it does all end happily ever after.
I felt that this book seemed quite personal to the author, and woul probably be of most value to someone in a similar position - a liberal Christian feeling trapped by institutional dogma and suffering from inner turmoil,yearning for spiritual discovery and inner peace. But I think that some of its observations would make anyone stop and think a little -even if they feel they have seen it all before, it can be useful to bereminded of these things.
Available from Amazon.co.uk
Return to book reviews
