Magic, Pain, and Strength
I recently read Lev Grossman's novel "The Magicians," a book that's been on my reading list for quite some time. It's an engaging story overall, but the most compelling aspect of it to me is that Grossman pulls back the fantasy curtain and creates a world in which magic does not solve the greatest problem: that of the human condition. Unlike the world of Harry Potter, there is no central villain to fight, no epic struggle to galvanize the protagonists and give them purpose. In "The Magicians," the struggle is with oneself, to find meaning. The students who come to Brakebills to study magic are brilliant, alienated, and often socially challenged. And magic doesn't fix that. If anything, it drives home the point all the more sharply: no matter how much you may try to look for a change in circumstances in order to escape your ennui and give your life meaning, you cannot fix the brokenness within yourself by looking for a change in the out...