“The Confabulist” by Steven Galloway – Illusions of Memories

As we get older, with the help of our ever-degenerating brains, memories start to become fuzzier and fuzzier, in the sense that it becomes harder and harder to tell where blanks were filled in with the power of imagination. Some would argue that this state of affairs places countless people in a terrible predicament, and they certainly wouldn't be wrong.

However, as we can see in The Confabulist by Steven Galloway, blurring the line between real and false memories can end up making life much more exciting than it has any right to be.

In this novel, we are told the life of the famous Houdini from the perspective of Martin Strauss, a man with a degenerating memory and whose fate is rather intricately linked to that of the famous stage magician.

As you can imagine, in Martin's mind all the memories he holds of Houdini he believes to be completely true... even if they tell him that he was a spy for the U.S. Government and an avid faker of his own death, amongst many other notable characteristics.

The whole novel is basically Strauss recounting Houdini's biography, throwing into the mix his own remembrances which, in the end, make the man look more like what James Bond would aspire to be.

Though the premise may sound a tad corny, especially if pulled off poorly, I can assure you that in practice it certainly turned out to be far from it. Yes, there are a few instances where the humor feels a bit pushed and a bit overdone, but that is where the annoyances ended, at least for me.

As Strauss recounts various events from Houdini's life, he has a tendency to start off with pure facts and then slowly stray further and further into the realm of fiction. However, what really holds this whole work together is the way in which it is written; fact and fiction are seamlessly interwoven, to the point where the reader often wonders what is what.

Even those who are familiar with Houdini will find themselves questioning their own knowledge of his biography, and that I believe is one of the great successes of this book. This is because it largely explores the idea of memory's unreliability in chronicling life, and the idea that fiction is is used to muddle factual knowledge people can hold demonstrates it in itself.

Going beyond the food for thought and all the philosophies, I have to say that entertainment-wise, the book went by a bit too quickly. There are always interesting events taking place with layers upon layers of subtleties which only serve to enrich the reader's experience and help them immerse themselves in the story.

Houdini's life feels like an unstoppable rollercoaster that is bound to soar to unspeakable heights, and it hurls you along with it wherever our curious and lovable narrator has it thrown.

All things considered, The Confabulist is certainly an entertaining novel, there is no denying that, with all of its unusual happenings, and of course, Houdini's innate magical atmosphere.

However, it manages to become much more than that by simultaneously being an in-depth exploration of memory, the only thing we are left with in the very end really.

If you enjoy some intellectual complexity with your thrilling entertainments, and enjoy the idea of a novel based around Houdini, a wholeheartedly recommend you check The Confabulist out.

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Steven Galloway Steven Galloway is a Canadian novelist who is also an associate professor and Acting Chair of the University of British Columbia Writing Program. His debut novel, Finnie Walsh, published in 2000, was nominated for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, while his second novel, Ascension, written in 2003, was nominated for the BC Booker Prizes' Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.