Lev Grossman
Author of The Magicians
About the Author
Lev Grossman was born on June 26, 1969. He received a degree in literature from Harvard University in 1991. He spent three years in the Ph.D. program in comparative literature at Yale University, but left before completing his dissertation. In 2002, he became a book reviewer and one of the lead show more technology writers for Time magazine. He has written for Salon, The Village Voice, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Entertainment Weekly, The Believer, Lingua Franca, and the New York Times. His first novel, Warp, was published in 1997. His other novels include Codex, The Magicians, which won a 2010 Alex Award, The Magician King and The Magician's Land. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: By Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17326275
Series
Works by Lev Grossman
The Magicians Trilogy Boxed Set: The Magicians; The Magician King; The Magician's Land (2014) — Author — 379 copies, 2 reviews
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things [2021 film] — Author — 4 copies
Sir Ranolph Wykeham-rackham 2 copies
Endgame 2 copies
Buyuculer 2 copies
Buyucu Kral 2 copies
The Girl in the Mirror [short story] 2 copies
Lev Grossman Magicians Trilogy 3 Books Collection Set (The Magicians, The Magician King, The Magician's Land) (2021) 1 copy
The Bright Sword 1 1 copy
The Magicians Short Stories 1 copy
Coming into the country 1 copy
The Seven Golden Keys 1 copy
Magicienii. 1.Magicienii 1 copy
Associated Works
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images, and Stories from Top Authors and Artists (2011) — Contributor — 492 copies, 17 reviews
Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process (2017) — Contributor — 165 copies, 5 reviews
Lost Transmissions: The Secret History of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2019) — Contributor — 153 copies, 5 reviews
Eat Joy: Stories and Comfort Food from 31 Celebrated Writers (2019) — Contributor — 84 copies, 3 reviews
The Artists' and Writers' Cookbook: A Collection of Stories with Recipes (2016) — Contributor — 19 copies
The Magicians #2 — Creator — 5 copies
The Magicians #3 — Creator — 2 copies
The PaulandStormonomicon — Contributor — 2 copies
The Magicians #5 — Creator — 1 copy
Locus, July 2011 (606) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1969-06-26
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Lexington High School
Harvard University (BA|1991)
Yale University - Organizations
- Time
- Awards and honors
- Alex Award (2010)
Tolkien Lecture (2015)
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (2011) - Relationships
- Grossman, Austin (twin brother)
Grossman, Allen R. (father)
Grossman, Judith (mother)
Gee, Sophie (wife)
Grossman, Bathsheba (sister) - Short biography
- Lev Grossman is an American novelist and journalist. He was the book critic and lead technology writer at Time magazine from 2002 to 2016.
Grossman was born on June 26, 1969 in Concord, Massachusetts. He is the twin brother of video game designer and novelist Austin Grossman, brother of sculptor Bathsheba Grossman, and son of the poet Allen Grossman and the novelist Judith Grossman. He is an alumnus of Lexington High School and Harvard College. He graduated from Harvard in 1991 with a degree in literature. Grossman then attended a Ph.D. program in comparative literature for three years at Yale University, but dropped out before completing his dissertation. - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Concord, Massachusetts, USA
- Places of residence
- Lexington, Massachusetts, USA
New York, New York, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- Massachusetts, USA
Members
Discussions
The Magicians - Lev Grossman in FantasyFans (April 2019)
Reviews
For her eleventh birthday, Kate wishes for something big - and she gets it. Her Uncle Herbert, her mother's brother who she's never met, shows up with an actual steam engine - a magic steam engine. Kate and her little brother Tom take off in the train, which talks via a typewriter-style device, and their first stop is a platform full of talking animals with tickets in their mouths. Once Kate and Tom assemble their train cars (a library car, a dining car, a kitchen car, a sleeper car, a candy show more car, a mystery car, etc.) with Uncle Herbert's help, they pick up the animals, and they're off on an adventure. But where? And why?
The ending is resolved, but leaves the possibility of a sequel (featuring either Kate or Tom). If there was one, I'd definitely read it!
Quotes
[Grace Hopper used to say that sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness than permission.] ...Back then the world was way too prejudiced to allow women to be computer programmers, and computers hadn't been invented yet anyway, but in spite of all that Grace Hopper became a computer programmer...Grace Hopper was something of a role model for Kate. (13-14)
For a certain kind of person there is literally nothing nicer than eating breakfast by yourself on a moving train with a good book. Kate was one of those people. (70)
[The library car] was exactly what she'd imagined, only more so. (87)
One of the things Kate was learning on the train was what to do when you saw a problem, which was that you tried to solve it. At home her usual approach to a problem was to ignore it till her parents noticed it, at which point they would solve it for her - but here on the train there were no parents. She was in charge. (102)
Not solving problems was way easier than solving them, obviously. But left to their own devices, problems usually only got worse. Better to get it over with. (103)
If she wasn't sure what to do, she would just have to guess based on what she did know and live with the consequences. (104)
It would've been so easy to give in - giving in was almost always the easiest thing, in Kate's experience....It was time to decide whether she was going to let herself be bullied.
And when she realized that, she realized that she'd already decided. (111)
She couldn't go back, but she didn't know how to go forward, either. She knew it was wrong to give up, but when people said you should never give up, they never talked about how hard it was to keep going! Maybe part of being an adventurer was knowing when the adventure was over. (188-189)
"You asked before where we were all going," the heron said, "and I think nobody wanted to say it, but the truth is that we're running away from you." (194)
"Everything's changing," the heron said. "Animals are on the move all over the world. We're refugees, just like people." (195)
When you're a child the adult world looks so exciting, and it is, but it's also so much sadder and more complicated than you expect. And you can't just take the good parts, you have to take it all, even if it's not what you wanted. (195)
Some problems in this world just don't have answers. Not yet. (216)
"The world has lost its old balance, but it's not too late. It could still find a new one." (Heron to Kate, 220)
Adventures were a good thing, a great thing, but it turned out that coming home wasn't all bad either. (258) show less
The ending is resolved, but leaves the possibility of a sequel (featuring either Kate or Tom). If there was one, I'd definitely read it!
Quotes
[Grace Hopper used to say that sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness than permission.] ...Back then the world was way too prejudiced to allow women to be computer programmers, and computers hadn't been invented yet anyway, but in spite of all that Grace Hopper became a computer programmer...Grace Hopper was something of a role model for Kate. (13-14)
For a certain kind of person there is literally nothing nicer than eating breakfast by yourself on a moving train with a good book. Kate was one of those people. (70)
[The library car] was exactly what she'd imagined, only more so. (87)
One of the things Kate was learning on the train was what to do when you saw a problem, which was that you tried to solve it. At home her usual approach to a problem was to ignore it till her parents noticed it, at which point they would solve it for her - but here on the train there were no parents. She was in charge. (102)
Not solving problems was way easier than solving them, obviously. But left to their own devices, problems usually only got worse. Better to get it over with. (103)
If she wasn't sure what to do, she would just have to guess based on what she did know and live with the consequences. (104)
It would've been so easy to give in - giving in was almost always the easiest thing, in Kate's experience....It was time to decide whether she was going to let herself be bullied.
And when she realized that, she realized that she'd already decided. (111)
She couldn't go back, but she didn't know how to go forward, either. She knew it was wrong to give up, but when people said you should never give up, they never talked about how hard it was to keep going! Maybe part of being an adventurer was knowing when the adventure was over. (188-189)
"You asked before where we were all going," the heron said, "and I think nobody wanted to say it, but the truth is that we're running away from you." (194)
"Everything's changing," the heron said. "Animals are on the move all over the world. We're refugees, just like people." (195)
When you're a child the adult world looks so exciting, and it is, but it's also so much sadder and more complicated than you expect. And you can't just take the good parts, you have to take it all, even if it's not what you wanted. (195)
Some problems in this world just don't have answers. Not yet. (216)
"The world has lost its old balance, but it's not too late. It could still find a new one." (Heron to Kate, 220)
Adventures were a good thing, a great thing, but it turned out that coming home wasn't all bad either. (258) show less
This book is not, as it's been described, "Harry Potter for adults." Grossman doesn't just add sex and alcohol to magical education, he removes all of the charm and wonder, replacing it with tedious memorization and repetition. The main character is pathetic and, despite showing signs of possible redemption in the beginning, turns out to be determinedly cynical, selfish, jealous, and petulant. He makes friends with a group of people so unlikable, he'd be better off alone. The teachers have show more no personality and the "adventures", which are undertaken either by force or because these kids have nothing better to do, are disjointed and meaningless. Grossman describes his magical world in great detail but it's as unappealing a world as you can possibly imagine. show less
'The Magicians' was really for people who felt that Harry Potter needed more alcohol, sex, and bitterness. It was post-modern fantasy, in the sense that it took a good story and sucked all the joy out of it, rendering its details in an atmosphere of despair and despondence rather than with childish exuberance that is typical of most fantasy literature. I can see why "literary types" (and I say that with some self-conscious irony) liked it -- the novel is conscious of itself as more show more "real-world" than the fantasies of our childhood, like Narnia (which, along with HP and Tolkien, receives almost continuous homages throughout), and seems to hold itself superior to those classics. Our "hero", Quentin Coldwater, finds himself depressed no matter how wondrous or magical his circumstances, and through him the book comments on the human tendency to wait for a fantasy rather than appreciate or find joy in reality. The process of reading this novel is sometimes painful, often awkward, and occasionally thought-provoking -- but rarely is it genuinely pleasurable.
It strikes me that this is exactly what it appears to be -- a novel written by someone who loved children's fantasy growing up, but who was bitterly disappointed that adult life turned out to have nothing to do with that beloved literature, that the happy ending, long awaited, never came. As such, it really has no hope -- unlike its fantasy predecessors, it is not about the spirit of adventure and faith in mankind or any such dreams -- it is rather an internal text, about our own struggle with ourselves, as so much post-modern literature is. The end result is that some people will find this book profound, edgy, gritty, and a welcome alternative to the "childish" fantasy that is so prevalent currently. Others, however, will find it to be self-obsessed, pompous, and depressing. It's not necessarily for everyone, so approach with caution. show less
It strikes me that this is exactly what it appears to be -- a novel written by someone who loved children's fantasy growing up, but who was bitterly disappointed that adult life turned out to have nothing to do with that beloved literature, that the happy ending, long awaited, never came. As such, it really has no hope -- unlike its fantasy predecessors, it is not about the spirit of adventure and faith in mankind or any such dreams -- it is rather an internal text, about our own struggle with ourselves, as so much post-modern literature is. The end result is that some people will find this book profound, edgy, gritty, and a welcome alternative to the "childish" fantasy that is so prevalent currently. Others, however, will find it to be self-obsessed, pompous, and depressing. It's not necessarily for everyone, so approach with caution. show less
As with Grossman’s earlier books, Land is a practically flawless adventure novel, replete with magic, monsters, Gods, and left turns. It’s also a fine finale to the Goldwater bildungsroman, charting Quentin’s evolution from snarky teenage brat to mature individual who understands the world beyond himself. If this truly is the end, then it’s a damn fine sendoff; if there’s possibly more to come, then don’t tease me, Grossman! I can only take so much suspense!
Read the full review here.
Read the full review here.
Lists
Parallel Novels (1)
READ in 2024 (1)
Overdue Podcast (1)
Antiheroes (1)
2010s (2)
To Read (2)
Magic schools (1)
Magic Realism (1)
Witchy Fiction (1)
Winter Books (1)
Wilson (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 33
- Also by
- 30
- Members
- 24,720
- Popularity
- #849
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 1,218
- ISBNs
- 233
- Languages
- 16
- Favorited
- 30
