In this original and erudite novel we follow the fortunes of two women embarking on their individual creative journeys, Kari in theatre and performance, Sarah in music with her cello. Their paths increasingly overlap and intertwine, not least because Kari becomes a lodger in Sarah’s aunt’s house. It’s an intellectual novel, constantly referencing art, music, literature, mythology and the creative process, and it’s an insightful exploration of artistic striving and integrity. The chapters alternate between the points of view of the two women. A novel of ideas and I didn’t find myself particularly engaged with the characters. I was interested in them but didn’t relate to them, especially as the narrative style is somewhat detached. We observe rather than enter their lives. However, I did enjoy joining them on their quests plus the wide-ranging cultural references.

Thanks to NetGalley and RegalHouse for the arc

In Search of the Magic Theater weaves the lives of Sarah, a very particular Cellist, and Kari Zilke, her aunt's new lodger. Sarah is at first resistant to the presence of Kari but before long she finds herself taking an interest in her life and their lives become unexpectedly intertwined. Sarah has been hiding behind her music, whilst Kari avoids her theatrical past, but both women will find their lives disrupted by a new presence..

This is a novel of self-discovery. It's clever, it's layered, it's fun. Heubner gives us a real sense of the generational tensions, from Sarah's feeling towards people her own age, to Kari slipping through the gaps of time. The story is drenched in theatre, art and music, and we even get a glimpse into the theatre piece at the end.

I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

In Search of the Magic Theatre is out on June 1st

Through the voices of two women, one younger than the other, In Search of the Magic Theater offers up sharp observations and prolonged meditations on art, sexuality, relationships, and grief.

As the women go on their journey of self discovery, we travel with them, with Sarah's chatty voice and the older, more refined, poetic Kari. The tension between the two voices and the two women with their contrasting views of life, kept it interesting.

I enjoyed the flow of the narrative, and only wished for certain events that took place near the end to have occurred sooner.

If you're interested in cogitations on art and culture, as I am, you would love it.

In Search of the Magic Theater details the awakening journeys of a repressed young cellist and a divorcee twice her age. Told in rotating POVs, the two women connect when an adrift Kari moves in as a boarder with Sarah and her aunt.
They don’t become friends. But as Kari opens to embrace a much younger man and an experimental theater production, Sarah shares clinical observations of the changes she sees in her. Though she doesn’t realize it, the influence appears to broaden her own narrow, ordered life. The novel’s description compares Sarah to the nephew in Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf, setting an expectation of tone and form for readers who appreciate his work.
In Search of the Magic Theater releases June 1 with Regal House Publishing. The literary fiction debut also is laden with elements of Greek mythology and art, befitting of an art history professor. Karla Huebner previously had published a fiction work, Magnetic Woman: Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic.

Plot Summary
In Search of the Magic Theater follows two women as they embark on parallel journeys of self-discovery, with each chapter alternating between their perspectives. Sarah is an uptight cellist in her early twenties, grappling with the repercussions of a traumatic childhood. Kari, recently divorced and at an age where she attends more funerals than weddings, craves adventure after years spent in an unhappy marriage. Where Kari and Sarah’s lives intersect, we are exposed to nuances of generational divide, particularly how it embeds itself in art – in short, In Search of the Magic Theater is a meditation on what it means to be an artist.

Review
This is a difficult book to review, as while it didn’t work for me as a novel, Huebner’s approach to the tension between reason and passion at the core of In Search of the Magic Theater could be more successful in an academic context. What I wanted was for this tension to exist not only in the abstract but in the relationship between Kari and Sarah, but both characters came across as flat: analytical to the point of inaction, they may state their thoughts on hypotheticals, but the conclusions they come to have no impact on their own arcs, leaving the reader to wonder what the point was. If I were to have approached the book as a series of philosophical meditations, I may have been able to appreciate the findings as they stand, but I was always looking for something more, something that would make me understand why we were reading Kari and Sarah’s stories as opposed to anyone else’s.
This is not to say that there is no narrative plot; there is, but I think the event that should have been the beginning of the novel doesn’t happen until you’re 85% of the way through. It’s a strange sprint to the finish in which points that I thought were pivotal to certain characters were addressed “off-screen” or not at all, and which wavered between a payoff that didn’t live up to its buildup, and a deus ex machina that came out of and lead to nowhere.
It’s one thing to go into a novel with no expectations, and another to go into it with the wrong ones, and I think the fact that it was the latter seriously inhibited my enjoyment of it. But if you’re aware of the ways that In Search of the Magic Theater diverges from conventional narrative structure, and are interested in any of the ideas that it discusses, be sure to give it a try when it’s released on June 01, 2022!

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