Acquire Today Spoonbenders Engineered By Daryl Gregory Disseminated As Paperbound
I think at some point in life, every person has tried to find out if he/she commands psychic powers, Hasnt everyone tried to bend a spoon or move a piece of paper How about blow out a candle with your mind Psychic powers are the dreams of children, and hold fascination for adults.
“Spoonbenders” is the clever creation of author Daryl Gregory, Gregory takes a family of misfortunates with special skills and she cleverly muddles up their lives throughout the story, It begins with a con man, Teddy Telemachus who responds to an ad in the paper placed by the government at the height of the Cold War, asking for people with psychic skills to take a test.
The participant is paid for taking the test, and if picked for the study, is paid a daily stipend, Teddy is not one for work, prefers conning, His specialty is card games, but he can do a few magic tricks as well, At the testing place, he finds the lovely Maureen McKinnon, From there, he cons the US government along with the lovely Maureen, The two marry and have three children, The eldest is Irene who can tell when someone is lying, The next is Frankie who can move small objects with his mind, And the baby is Buddy who can see the future,
Gregory tells his story in bursts between history and current time, In current time, the family is a mess, Irene finds it difficult to hold a job, or a boyfriend, since she sees lies everywhere, Plus, Irene is cursed with integrity and cant be part of a business that doesnt play fair, Frankie is cursed with Teddys need for the con, or the easy way out, Hes always looking for the next big score, Poor Buddy is burdened by knowing the future, He understands if he doesnt do exactly as he sees in the future, hell screw up everyones future, Hes paralyzed by fear.
What Gregory does best is write family dynamics, This is a motley crew who cant get out of their own way, Irene does her best, and keeps screwing up, Teddy is just a scammer, And Buddy stays in the family home, barely leaving the premises nor talking to anyone, Irene has a son Matty who is comingofage and getting into teenage shenanigans while discovering a gift he possesses, Teddy is married, has twin daughters and a stepdaughter who Matty finds disturbidly attractive, Teddy is in debt with the Mob, Ah the Mob, a lovely addition to an already crazy story, The mob boss is a man stuck in thes with Elvis hair and a mean disposition, It gets complicated, but the whole family gets involved with the Mob,
Its a romp of a story, Its truly silly and fun, Its the perfect beach/summer read, Its a bit of a slow start, and then its a compulsive read, I loved it. I find it fascinating that Gregory could conjure up such a story with moving parts and almost slapstick comedy,
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review,
A fun, novel idea, propped up by some fantastic characters,
When I read the description of this book, I thought 'what's not to like' A family with psychic abilities, a runin with the mob, the usual lies, deception and angsty relationships Yeah, I can get behind all that!
For the most part, I wasn't disappointed.
The book follows the Telemachus family, three generations of them, to be precise the dapper conman Teddy, his ubertalented wife Maureen, their three kids Irene, Frankie and timetravelling Buddy, and the grandkids too, including plump, astralbody owning Matty, and the wonderfully goth 'Malice'.
Each character has their own plot thread, which is artfully woven to come to a satisfying climax at the end of the novel.
Frankie owes huge sums of money to a dangerous man, Irene is caught up in a longdistance relationship, which suffers, due to her ability to tell when people are lying to her, And poor Buddy the character I definitely felt most sorry for is cursed with the ability to see into the future, and attempt to act upon it, for better or for worse.
For the most part, I really enjoyed this book, I loved the characters, they were rounded, believable and their psychic gifts were intriguing and wellexplained though I did wonder how it came about how can one psychic family have so many different, seemingly unrelated talents However, this is me nitpicking, if you're adept at suspending disbelief, you won't have a problem here.
It took a little time to properly get going to the point where, atthrough, I was wondering whether to keep on with it, but I'm glad I did, because after that, it properly held my attention.
I do think it could have benefited from just a touch of tightening though, nothing too major,
Overall, a fun, imaginative and wellwritten book definitely one to read,.stars
This was the perfect book to follow sitelinkThe Devil All the Time because I was in desperate need of something sweet and quirky.
The story is something I could picture sitelinkJoshilyn Jackson writing so if you are a fan of this author I think you will definitely enjoy this book.
The Telemachus family is a bit of a puzzle, are they just excellent conartists or is there more to their abilities
Out of everyone that had a chance to tell their story Buddy stole my heart.
He lives in the past and future but rarely in the present, Keeping all his visions straight is so exhausting he just decided to stop talking, its safer that way,
Matty, nowis going through his own transformation, is it puppy love or the fact that he had his first taste of weed that made him believe he has out of body experiences.
. or does he actually have talent
His mother Irene is the human liedetector something every mother has a little bit of but she just wants her child to be normal, boring and have an uneventful life.
And the head of this family, Teddy, the master conman, who still mourns for his dead wife but can his sleight of hand keep the family from falling apart.
And lastly Frankie, on
the surface he is the most useless of the lot but full of big dreams and schemes.
He grew on me as the story progressed,
The more fantastical elements form a very small part of this charming book and is incorporated in such a way as to appeal to a wider audience.
Just be warned, the beginning was a bit wobbly for me and I was not sure if I wanted to continue reading but I am glad I stuck with it.
Its the prefect holiday read or when you need a bit of cheer,.stars. What's to say I loved this book, The book has a slow start, but once I had met all the members of the Telemachus family, I was totally invested in the story and loved the dialogue and the plot.
This book of psychics and maybe failed con artists was a lot of fun, with convoluted, and at times ridiculous, plots hatched by the Telemachus men, and employment and relationship struggles experienced by the sole remaining female member of the family, Irene.
The book moves back and forth in time, filling in information on motivations, and gradually exposing the grief and stresses the family has been living with since the death of matriarch Maureen years before the opening of the novel.
I loved this dysfunctional family, and though the story had a lot going on, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the Telemachus members by the end.
.