This is an interesting yet somewhat sluggish story that blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction. While it claims to be an explanation of the Shaker lifestyle and community in central Florida, as well as its downfall, it is, at its core, a love story. None of the characters were particularly relatable or even likable. While I did not outright dislike this book, I would be hard pressed to ever read it again or even recommend it.

I'm not sure what to think about Russell Banks' The Magic Kingdom. The book begins with a fictional set-up in how the book will be structured and how it was "found". From there, we dive into the recordings of Harley Mann, a young boy who emerges from a Ruskinite community and moves, eventually, into a Shaker community. The development of Florida around the Orlando area was very interesting to read about. I would have liked a LOT more on Disney World, however. Ultimately, the story was bogged down with lengthy discussions of Shaker philosophy and descriptions of nature. A good bit of editing could have been done.


*Special thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing Group for this e-arc.*

I would like to thank Knopf Doubleday and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC.This is a twisty type of book. The author claims to have found tapes in a dumpster that tell the story of Harley Mann, who was part of a long gone Shaker colony in Florida, and later a real estate speculator and salesman who indeed owned( for a time) the land the Shaker Colony was located on. This land was sold to representatives of Walt Disney for the site of Disney World. The story is about the Shakers, life in Florida in the early 1900's, and about Harley Mann, who loved and lost everything he held dear.I generally look at books that say " O I found this manuscript", with a jaundiced eye, but to me this was a very compelling book. I did not know a lot about the Shakers, or any of the early 19th Century Utopian communities. This is an intriguing storyline and one that I was most interested in reading. It is set up as a series of tapes that Harley Mann records, in 1971, about his life, and the life of the New Bethany Shaker Colony. In this small, insular world, Harley Mann comes of age and falls in love. This is a forbidden love, and one which proves to upend everything he know and believes. It is deep , and dense and very well written. The term Magic Kingdom, takes on a whole new meaning. The characters are well written and engaging.I highly recommend it.

I was interested in reading this book because I’m a Disney fan and I was curious about the origins of Disney World. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into it. The author is clearly skilled but the book didn’t hold my interest enough for me to finish it.

I will not be commenting on tis book on Twitter/Goodreads because I did not like it and I don't give negative reviews.
The problems: The narrator's voice is too boring. This is not an excitng enough story to withstand the voice of an 80-year old (who sometimes uses arcance terms and doesn't appear to be a masterful writer.)
I wanted this novel because of Banks' reputation and because the topic sounded interesting.
In fact, it's a great topic, but it should have been written as nonfiction, because there's too many sections written in an encyclopedic tone.

The Magic Kingdom, the sixteenth novel from Russell Banks, comes out on November 8 of 2022. Knopf Doubleday Publishing has provided an early galley for review.

The reason I was attracted to this book was just by the cover itself. The image of a steamer navigating a river – with the vibrant blue-greens and that very specific boat design – along with the title instantly makes me think of Disney World. My brain immediately fills me with positive emotion and anticipation. It brings back exactly how I felt the first time, and pretty much every time, we’ve visited the Magic Kingdom in Florida. My hope was that book would be an equally positive experience.

As a historical fiction novel (a genre that is not necessarily a favorite of mine), the book managed to win me over rather quickly. The plot captured my attention right away, and I was eager to find out what happened to Harley and his family. I credit this to Banks' writing style and the narrative approach he employed here. He also did his research, filling the book with factual individuals like Dr. Cyrus Teed and the great freeze of 1907 that hit Florida. I learned quite a bit from this story.

So, did it meet the expectation that came from the cover? Well, sort of. I was certainly engaged by it, and that is better than some books I encounter. I think readers might find it interesting too.

Russell Banks has the ability to suck the reader into a story like they are sitting with the author hearing it told. I made dozens of notes for further reading, though I feel like I lived the tale right along with the residents of New Bethany.

I

This book grabbed me in the first few pages and kept me entertained until the end! Russel Banks has a powerful way of telling a story. The Magic Kingdom is a story based on forgotten tapes found in the basement of a St Cloud library in Florida. Harley Mann recorded tapes that documented his life growing up in central Florida. His life story and experience within the Shaker community and the land before it was developed in what we know as Walt Disney World today. Throughout the tapes Harley falls in love with a woman and his obsession undermines the community and changes the course of his life. A great fascinating read.

2.5 stars
This is the first book I have read by Banks. His ability as a story teller held my interest well enough to finish the book, but I have to admit I skimmed a good bit. The development of Florida around the Orlando area was very interesting to read about. Ultimately, the story was bogged down with lengthy discussions of Shaker philosophy. I also did not buy into the relationship between the two main characters.

This book isn't what I thought it would be, it's so much more. A colorful history of an area that we all associate with Disney World is filled with a cast of characters that bring to life a culture and people that few really know about or understand. Banks combines the elements of the Shaker religion with the history of the land now known as the Magic Kingdom, The magic of this book is that it opens your mind to a whole new world.

This review is based on the 50% of the book I read. I could not get into this at all. It was too long winded and detailed. I couldn’t wade through the memory lane reminiscent and wasn’t patient enough to keep reading. I scrolled though to find out more about the Magic Kingdom bit but there was too much other stuff that didn’t interest me.
It wasn’t badly written and I am sure there will be many people who will love this.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I wish this book had been as magic as the title promised. It was way too long and full of details that just didn’t interest me. Looking back from the vantage point of an old man, the narrator definitely had a tough childhood being raised in one cult-like community, suffering slave conditions on a harshly run farm before taking refuge with a Florida branch of the Shaker community. At this point the story begins to lag. Much too much tedious detail about tenets of the Shaker faith which alternates with the narrator’s obsession with a young TB patient with issues of her own.
I finally skipped ahead to the last section to wrap the story up and felt none the less for leaving out some of the events. If I had felt that either the Shakers or the narrator had proven themselves successful, I might have become more fully engaged. Instead I felt like a witness to a long term slide to failure.

3.5 stars. The Magic Kingdom is not exactly a thrill ride but it manages to have a surprisingly mysterious plot given the context of a story centered around a Shaker community. The book follows a collection of reels where the main character, Harley Mann, is sharing his journey of the rise and fall of the shaker community. This device is awkward at first and feels disjointed. However, in time the device is effective and leads the reader to constantly question if the literature is a real memoir or historical fiction.

Harley Mann's character development moves from a young coming-of-age protagonist to a elderly man filled with regret. The plot and Harley's role throughout moves subtly and constantly leaving the reader to question what is true and what is the storyteller's perspective. By the end of the story, the reader is still left with questions about what was real--both in action and in character--throughout the story. The final acts were executed poorly for me but the book is entertaining and interesting throughout.

The book was researched thoroughly and it is definitely interesting to think of where it takes place being in the area prior to the existence of Disney World. It would make for a good pool-side read to anyone visiting the present Magic Kingdom. The story is helped if one has at least a small amount of Shaker life knowledge to understand how such communities functioned.

Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, and to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I love all things Disney, so that and the cover captured my attention. I knew that I had to request this book. I wasn't disappointed. This book was a good read. I really got immersed this story really quickly. It did bog down a few times, but over all I enjoyed it and I would definitely read it again..

This is my first time reading something by this author. Reading this book makes me was to check out some of his other works.

While there were parts of this book that held my interest, most of it was a bit of a slog to get through. It’s dense with information and details that were sometimes hard to follow. Overall, this just wasn’t for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to get into this and love it, but I didn't. Which I'm ashamed of because I love all things Disney, but it is not all about that. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the ARC. 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

The Magic Kingdom is a powerful story based on forgotten tapes found in the basement of a library in Florida. It tells the life story of Harley Mann and his experience with his family in the Shaker community in the area that is now Disney property. He falls in love with a woman and his obsession undermines the community and changes the course of his life.
This book has it all: history, obsession and mystery and all based on real events. I enjoyed learning about the Shaker way of life and how the Florida landscape has changed for better or for worse.
I recommend this book and am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an advance copy.

I love Russell Banks. Rule of the Bone is an all-time favorite book of mine! I jumped at the chance to review this novel and didn't take a moment to even read the synopsis.

Thus, it took me longer than it will you, to understand the title! But what an amazing story....

In The Magic Kingdom, fictional author Russell Banks comes across a set of old tapes, a series of recordings made by a man in the 70's. Harley Mann tells an amazing tale of early servitude to living with Shakers near where Disney World will be built. His early years were spent as a Ruskins (utopian socialist sect) and that seemed to have formed his comfort with cult like living throughout his life.

After a young life of pain and suffering, Harley grows to love his life with the Shakers in Florida. He doesn't question it at all until he encounters a young woman that is convalescing in the settlement.

Banks writes an enthralling novel, based on actual events. His characters are complex and interesting and Florida itself evolves as a major plot point as humans begin to overdevelop the land. If you love Russell Banks, American History, autobiographical style stories or just want an enthralling story, The Magic Kingdom is for you!
#TheMagicKingdom #RussellBanks #NetGalley #PenguinRandomHouse

I liked this book alot. It claims to be the transcript taken from found tapes. I'm not sure that's true or part of the narrative, but I really enjoyed this book immensely and would recommend wholeheartedly. It tells the story of a family who came to live in the Shaker community in Florida. It goes on to follow the eldest son into his adulthood in the area and gives us some background into the area that comes to be Walt Disney World. I'm a history buff so that was interesting to me. However, the writing style really breaks the characters to life. So glad Net Galley brought this book to me.

This historical fiction is set primarily in Central Florida in the early twentieth century, when a small and insular community of Shakers operated a successful farm and apiary. In 1971, elderly Harley decides to document his childhood and path to the present by recording his memories into a tape recorder. His impoverished beginnings in a utopian community and the death of his father are followed by his family's move to a restrictive cult, and then their rescue by a community of Florida Shakers. With his Shaker family Harley finds stability, friendship, and generosity. He befriends a young woman who is battling TB at a nearby sanitorium, and becomes infatuated with her in spite of the Shaker rules about celibacy. As Harley looks back on his life and the effects of decisions he made in his youth, he reflects on loyalty and betrayal and his own responsibilities. While this novel was not what I was expecting from Russell Banks, the glimpse into the history of central Florida and a little-known Shaker community were most interesting to me.