What do you think?
Rate this book
The Tricksters
Reality and the supernatural intertwine in this exciting and chilling novel from an award-winning author As the Hamiltons gather at their holiday beach house, Carnival's Hide, for their Christmas celebrations, the warm, chaotic familty atomosphere is chilled by the unexpected arrival of three sinister brothers. Who are they? Where are they from? Only 17- year-old Harry, the middle daughter, is close to seeing the truth. Are these brothers her own invention, or are they truly descendants of Teddy Carnival who drowned there many years earlier? As the brothers gradually reveal their purpose, long-hidden family secrets are also unfurled. No one emerges unscathed!
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
About the author
Margaret Mahy
374 books272 followersMargaret Mahy was a well-known New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. While the plots of many of her books have strong supernatural elements, her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up.
Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.
For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.
On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...
Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.
For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.
On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
May 29, 2018
(1) recently I went on vacation with a guy who is one of my very best friends (was a best man at his wedding!) and his charming wife. one intense evening he let me know that he thinks I'm a real asshole - condescending, mean-spirited, always trying to be clever at the expense of my friends' feelings - and that most of our mutual friends felt the same way: I was someone "people had to deal with". (2) last week saw one of my staff moving on to another program; she had a tear-filled meeting with me where she talked about how much she valued my emotional support during some hard times in her life and how much she was going to miss my kindness; later that night, I had a long conversation with my mom and she ended the call by saying how I was the only person she felt comfortable talking with about spirituality, God, and acceptance. (3) last weekend I had an awesome date: I introduced her to this secret bar in Japantown and I got rambunctious and talked too loud; later on in the street I got into a physical altercation with some drunk jerk, defending her honor as a trans woman (jerk got shoved, then tripped & fell into a gutter, haha); we ended the evening having a wild time back at my place. later she texted me and said that I was probably too crazy for her, but we could keep it casual and see each other in a couple weeks, maybe.
it's funny to think on the different sides we all have and the different sides other people see - and yet all those sides are one person. we hold many selves.
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD... maybe?
this wonderful novel knows the idea of "many selves" is true, even as we may try to ignore that truth. it divides its so-called Trickster into three selves: mind, heart, body. the Mind is clever, entertaining, manipulative, cruel. the Heart is the best self yet sometimes the weakest; he shows his face the least, bullied into a corner by his brothers. and the Body has a kind of charisma, sure, but is also basically an animal, or a human who gets off on animalistic things. one of the many smart things that Margaret Mahy does is have the boy who is the Heart look identical to the boy who is the Body. I think we all know that sometimes we mix those two things up. the Mind looks nothing like them and is clearly top dog. or at least he thinks he is!
this is one of those coming of age tales that has a prickly-endearing protagonist who is both isolated and creative, an outsider looking in, sardonic perspective and all. it adds unsettling moments of dark fantasy and horror to its everyday wonders and realities, its sweet and its bitter. for a person like me - and probably a person like you, because you're a reader too - middle daughter Harry was frustrating and also instantly recognizable, relatable, lovable. she lives in her books and her writing and her fantasy version of a world, one that is all her own. she is surrounded by family and yet feels alone, not recognized, put in a box. not an outcast, just different. and so she summons this Trickster, this ghost split into three parts; she summons him - them - unwillingly and unwittingly, in a way that defies logic but with a result that also makes perfect sense. of course she summons an angry-sad, lonely, misunderstood boy. and of course that boy is misunderstood because he is composed of different parts, different selves. people see the wrong sides of him, and of her too. she's misunderstood; he's misunderstood; we're all misunderstood. The Tricksters makes it clear that all of us are many things and all of us will never be fully understood. it makes that lack of understanding sad, even tragic. and it makes it okay. it's what happens to you and me and everyone. and it also makes it clear that, in the end, our best self, our Heart, is the self that counts. it's the one that should win - and in this case, it does. the heart of the novel The Tricksters is a hopeful one, and full of love.
the book is perfect. a new favorite!
it's funny to think on the different sides we all have and the different sides other people see - and yet all those sides are one person. we hold many selves.
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD... maybe?
this wonderful novel knows the idea of "many selves" is true, even as we may try to ignore that truth. it divides its so-called Trickster into three selves: mind, heart, body. the Mind is clever, entertaining, manipulative, cruel. the Heart is the best self yet sometimes the weakest; he shows his face the least, bullied into a corner by his brothers. and the Body has a kind of charisma, sure, but is also basically an animal, or a human who gets off on animalistic things. one of the many smart things that Margaret Mahy does is have the boy who is the Heart look identical to the boy who is the Body. I think we all know that sometimes we mix those two things up. the Mind looks nothing like them and is clearly top dog. or at least he thinks he is!
this is one of those coming of age tales that has a prickly-endearing protagonist who is both isolated and creative, an outsider looking in, sardonic perspective and all. it adds unsettling moments of dark fantasy and horror to its everyday wonders and realities, its sweet and its bitter. for a person like me - and probably a person like you, because you're a reader too - middle daughter Harry was frustrating and also instantly recognizable, relatable, lovable. she lives in her books and her writing and her fantasy version of a world, one that is all her own. she is surrounded by family and yet feels alone, not recognized, put in a box. not an outcast, just different. and so she summons this Trickster, this ghost split into three parts; she summons him - them - unwillingly and unwittingly, in a way that defies logic but with a result that also makes perfect sense. of course she summons an angry-sad, lonely, misunderstood boy. and of course that boy is misunderstood because he is composed of different parts, different selves. people see the wrong sides of him, and of her too. she's misunderstood; he's misunderstood; we're all misunderstood. The Tricksters makes it clear that all of us are many things and all of us will never be fully understood. it makes that lack of understanding sad, even tragic. and it makes it okay. it's what happens to you and me and everyone. and it also makes it clear that, in the end, our best self, our Heart, is the self that counts. it's the one that should win - and in this case, it does. the heart of the novel The Tricksters is a hopeful one, and full of love.
the book is perfect. a new favorite!
June 13, 2012
The recent popularity of THE CHANGEOVER can probably be linked to Sarah Rees Brennan's wicked funny review and Justine Larbalestier's equally enthusiastic review. I'm pleased as punched that people are reading about Laura Chant and Sonny Carlisle, because they are an amazing couple. But Margaret Mahy has written tons of books. While some of them don't work for me, THE TRICKSTERS may be even better than THE CHANGEOVER.
That's right. I like THE TRICKSTERS better.
How much do I like THE TRICKSTERS?
I once owned four copies. One for me, three to constantly loan out. I think I'm down to one loaner copy.
Before I owned these copies, I lent mine to a friend who lived five hours away because it was that important that other people read it.
I wrote an essay on it. This essay was for admission to the academic program I'm now in. The subject can be whittled down to "Why Reading THE TRICKSTERS Is Just as Important as Reading Plato."
No, really.
Harry, real name Ariadne, is the seventeen-year-old bookish, quiet daughter lost in a large family. Most of her excitement comes from secretly writing a torrid romance. One day on holiday, she jokingly marries the sea to entertain herself and her brother. The next day, three mysterious brothers show up at the house, using names that clearly came from the bookshelf (Ovid, Hadfield, and Felix). Notably, they all look like characters from her story. Also, the three men may all be the ghost of the same person, Teddy Carnival - the mysteriously dead son of the original owner of the vacation home.
As Harry and Felix fall in love, Harry begins to realize her own power. "I can seem beautiful," she tells someone who dares to threaten her. Felix gains power from their love as well - and neither of his brothers want that to happen.
THE TRICKSTERS is sexy. Harry and Felix only have implied sex, but a book doesn't need an explicit scene to be sexy. Margaret Mahy knows that, and this coming-of-age tale is all about human sexuality without ever being crass.
Mahy also pulls off a Megan Whalen Turner worthy twist when it comes to the family saga side of things. She hides secrets so well that you don't even know you should be looking for them until they're revealed. This makes subsequent readings richer, as you realize how Mahy shaped the novel, dropping numerous hints while using Harry's narration to direct your attention elsewhere.
Best of all, Mahy trusts her reader's intelligence. THE TRICKSTERS is sometimes confusing, as Mahy rarely explains exactly what's going on. You have to put it together yourself. Often, you have to make your own decision about what happened. Her writing is heavy on character and atmosphere, which keeps things moving smoothly even at the parts when you know you don't understand everything yet. Mahy's best works are rich and decadent feasts. The themes and action of THE TRICKSTERS demand your attention, and if you give it you will be rewarded.
If you're looking for a sexy and intelligent coming-of-age story cum family saga, look no farther than THE TRICKSTERS. If that's not what you're looking for, you should read it anyway.
That's right. I like THE TRICKSTERS better.
How much do I like THE TRICKSTERS?
I once owned four copies. One for me, three to constantly loan out. I think I'm down to one loaner copy.
Before I owned these copies, I lent mine to a friend who lived five hours away because it was that important that other people read it.
I wrote an essay on it. This essay was for admission to the academic program I'm now in. The subject can be whittled down to "Why Reading THE TRICKSTERS Is Just as Important as Reading Plato."
No, really.
Harry, real name Ariadne, is the seventeen-year-old bookish, quiet daughter lost in a large family. Most of her excitement comes from secretly writing a torrid romance. One day on holiday, she jokingly marries the sea to entertain herself and her brother. The next day, three mysterious brothers show up at the house, using names that clearly came from the bookshelf (Ovid, Hadfield, and Felix). Notably, they all look like characters from her story. Also, the three men may all be the ghost of the same person, Teddy Carnival - the mysteriously dead son of the original owner of the vacation home.
As Harry and Felix fall in love, Harry begins to realize her own power. "I can seem beautiful," she tells someone who dares to threaten her. Felix gains power from their love as well - and neither of his brothers want that to happen.
THE TRICKSTERS is sexy. Harry and Felix only have implied sex, but a book doesn't need an explicit scene to be sexy. Margaret Mahy knows that, and this coming-of-age tale is all about human sexuality without ever being crass.
Mahy also pulls off a Megan Whalen Turner worthy twist when it comes to the family saga side of things. She hides secrets so well that you don't even know you should be looking for them until they're revealed. This makes subsequent readings richer, as you realize how Mahy shaped the novel, dropping numerous hints while using Harry's narration to direct your attention elsewhere.
Best of all, Mahy trusts her reader's intelligence. THE TRICKSTERS is sometimes confusing, as Mahy rarely explains exactly what's going on. You have to put it together yourself. Often, you have to make your own decision about what happened. Her writing is heavy on character and atmosphere, which keeps things moving smoothly even at the parts when you know you don't understand everything yet. Mahy's best works are rich and decadent feasts. The themes and action of THE TRICKSTERS demand your attention, and if you give it you will be rewarded.
If you're looking for a sexy and intelligent coming-of-age story cum family saga, look no farther than THE TRICKSTERS. If that's not what you're looking for, you should read it anyway.
January 18, 2010
I wish I had read this book when I was 16 and completely obsessed with Margaret Mahy's The Changeover. I really liked the book but I would have obsessively loved it back then.
The only reason I can figure that she isn't immensely popular in the US is that she writes complicated novels about teenagers that don't talk down to the reader and has interesting, engaging dialogue. Maybe it's the fact that her teen characters have sex, unapologetic and usually off page but sex nonetheless that doesn't result in terrible consequences.
But specifically.. this book is more plot complicated than her other two books I read and loved. I plan to read it again in the future and appreciate Mahy's gift for writing nuanced family portraits some more.
The only reason I can figure that she isn't immensely popular in the US is that she writes complicated novels about teenagers that don't talk down to the reader and has interesting, engaging dialogue. Maybe it's the fact that her teen characters have sex, unapologetic and usually off page but sex nonetheless that doesn't result in terrible consequences.
But specifically.. this book is more plot complicated than her other two books I read and loved. I plan to read it again in the future and appreciate Mahy's gift for writing nuanced family portraits some more.
October 25, 2010
Margaret Mahy's The Tricksters was part of my little golden age of reading in 2009. Those fantasy stories that are exciting possibility, yet intimately personal, and bittersweet. In a word, my favorite kind of story. I won the lottery and read quite a few instant favorites that year. They made me want more and more books to savor as much. If only these hidden gems from the past fell into my lap every day! I'm so nostalgic for the summer of 2009... I'd drive to the beach whenever possible and read and listen to my ipod. The best days I've had in recent memory... My twin read The Tricksters later and sighs nostalgically for her own read. When she has a bad day she'll say "I was it was the day I was reading The Tricksters..." (She'd better not ever say that I don't share my goodies.)
Harry (short for Ariadne) has her very own The Purple Rose of Cairo (one of my favorite Woody Allen films from a long list of favorite Woody Allen films) moment when three characters from her purple-y romance novel (written in secret because big sis is a bitch and would love any chance to destroy her sister's fun) mysteriously appear on the beach to threaten their stability. I loved this scene. Mahy's descriptions evoke the doom in the best shivering thrill feelings. The sinister romance gone bad, and as Harry realizes what was once fun to her is scary and even embarrassing (not that I'll ever forgive her sister for making fun of it). (It was still loads of fun for me.)
The family are on vacation for Christmas in New Zealand. I'm Floridian so it wasn't that weird for me to read about a hot weather Christmas (I've only seen snow once). Some of the foods were interesting, though (like the sour plums). Harry doesn't know it yet, but it's like a last ditch effort to save the marriage of her parents. Her father is the kind of guy who has always had it too easy because he's good looking and charming. The mom clearly places a lot of stock in that, too, because eldest daughter Cristabel is as spoiled as they come. I hated Cristabel (so did my twin. In our family, our blonde big sis was the one who ruled the roost. Our mom let the older two tie us up to trees and we'd stay there because she didn't believe in "getting involved"). The secrets make the family easy prey for the three Carnival brothers' tricks. They are interested in watching them unravel. Back to Cristabel for a moment: she was a huge part of their family's problem, and that the parents just let her do whatever she wants. She's allowed to terrorize the two little kids! (Yeah, I know it's obvious where my sympathies were.) Not to mention the sadistic bullying of Harry. If her boyfriends enjoy being led about on a string to suit her ego, that's their problem. But the parents should've known better. I love the way that Mahy writes about families in all of her books (some of the best I've ever read, in fact). It makes sense how they get to that point. The alliances within, and the cracks that could ultimately break them apart. Nobody is exactly a villain, except I felt so inside the story that it was impossible to see them as strangers and not take sides.
Another sad family story happened in their vacation home. The Tricksters is a ghost story in the biblical and philosophical senses. I've long felt that if ghosts are real they'd be created out of extreme emotional pain. It was cool to read this book from the '80s that feels the same (I should say that this story does not feel dated). Harry's conflicts, and that of her family's, converging with what happened a long time ago that has not ever been laid to rest. Harry's coming into her own is tied in with that letting go.
I loved Harry coming into her own out of the shadow of what her family thought of her (she didn't realize that her youngest sister did not see her as the rest of them did because she was too busy being hurt). I loved the rush and trauma of first love, and that no matter what the relationships with boyfriends and family, we're not broken pieces off another whole.
Harry (short for Ariadne) has her very own The Purple Rose of Cairo (one of my favorite Woody Allen films from a long list of favorite Woody Allen films) moment when three characters from her purple-y romance novel (written in secret because big sis is a bitch and would love any chance to destroy her sister's fun) mysteriously appear on the beach to threaten their stability. I loved this scene. Mahy's descriptions evoke the doom in the best shivering thrill feelings. The sinister romance gone bad, and as Harry realizes what was once fun to her is scary and even embarrassing (not that I'll ever forgive her sister for making fun of it). (It was still loads of fun for me.)
The family are on vacation for Christmas in New Zealand. I'm Floridian so it wasn't that weird for me to read about a hot weather Christmas (I've only seen snow once). Some of the foods were interesting, though (like the sour plums). Harry doesn't know it yet, but it's like a last ditch effort to save the marriage of her parents. Her father is the kind of guy who has always had it too easy because he's good looking and charming. The mom clearly places a lot of stock in that, too, because eldest daughter Cristabel is as spoiled as they come. I hated Cristabel (so did my twin. In our family, our blonde big sis was the one who ruled the roost. Our mom let the older two tie us up to trees and we'd stay there because she didn't believe in "getting involved"). The secrets make the family easy prey for the three Carnival brothers' tricks. They are interested in watching them unravel. Back to Cristabel for a moment: she was a huge part of their family's problem, and that the parents just let her do whatever she wants. She's allowed to terrorize the two little kids! (Yeah, I know it's obvious where my sympathies were.) Not to mention the sadistic bullying of Harry. If her boyfriends enjoy being led about on a string to suit her ego, that's their problem. But the parents should've known better. I love the way that Mahy writes about families in all of her books (some of the best I've ever read, in fact). It makes sense how they get to that point. The alliances within, and the cracks that could ultimately break them apart. Nobody is exactly a villain, except I felt so inside the story that it was impossible to see them as strangers and not take sides.
Another sad family story happened in their vacation home. The Tricksters is a ghost story in the biblical and philosophical senses. I've long felt that if ghosts are real they'd be created out of extreme emotional pain. It was cool to read this book from the '80s that feels the same (I should say that this story does not feel dated). Harry's conflicts, and that of her family's, converging with what happened a long time ago that has not ever been laid to rest. Harry's coming into her own is tied in with that letting go.
I loved Harry coming into her own out of the shadow of what her family thought of her (she didn't realize that her youngest sister did not see her as the rest of them did because she was too busy being hurt). I loved the rush and trauma of first love, and that no matter what the relationships with boyfriends and family, we're not broken pieces off another whole.
June 5, 2016
It's hard not to give Mahy books all the stars possible because she is a great writer. I am reminded of Neil Gaiman because of shared themes, ghosts and houses that reconfigure themselves, lets add Charles De Lint for the teen themes and the supernatural. But really I think Mahy is greater than those she reminds me of, because I suspect she predated all of them. I'll have to do some investigation on that assertion.
But about this book- 3/4th of the way through it I was sure I had to read it again, given what I learned in the course of reading it. I was surprised-more surprised that when I was reading Pamela Dean or Elizabeth Hand, two other writers my mind ran to with regard and blowing a few kisses here and there. This is another book by an author from down under-I seem to be doing those these day as I revisited Keri Hulme recently. This might rank as a Christmas book, if you can confront the idea of spending Christmas at the beach and enjoy how a culture uses a northern holiday with artificial Holly to serve up a beach meal with Christmas pudding as one of the courses. The whole novel is about artifice, how the artist relates to people they love or ...not so much. Do they love their characters or are they critical of their creations when the integrity of their art is challenged? What about family dynamics-is being mysterious as alluring as being self consciously beautiful? Young and appealing? Asthmatic and curious? I need to reread this! What a complicated and touching book.
But about this book- 3/4th of the way through it I was sure I had to read it again, given what I learned in the course of reading it. I was surprised-more surprised that when I was reading Pamela Dean or Elizabeth Hand, two other writers my mind ran to with regard and blowing a few kisses here and there. This is another book by an author from down under-I seem to be doing those these day as I revisited Keri Hulme recently. This might rank as a Christmas book, if you can confront the idea of spending Christmas at the beach and enjoy how a culture uses a northern holiday with artificial Holly to serve up a beach meal with Christmas pudding as one of the courses. The whole novel is about artifice, how the artist relates to people they love or ...not so much. Do they love their characters or are they critical of their creations when the integrity of their art is challenged? What about family dynamics-is being mysterious as alluring as being self consciously beautiful? Young and appealing? Asthmatic and curious? I need to reread this! What a complicated and touching book.
September 16, 2012
This was one of the strangest, most interesting and unexpected YA books I've read. The family dynamics recalled for me I Capture the Castle, though the story itself is more challenging and less charming. The writing itself felt delightfully old-fashioned, though also odd and deliberate in a way that generated its own specific kind of pleasure. There were moments in this book that astonished me, and I can tell this is one I'll want to reread every couple of years. Another reason to love Kristen Cashore: for introducing me to this amazing book.
March 6, 2024
Since 2015, I loved Margaret Mahy’s “The New House Villain” 1987 and “The Changeover” 1984, blew me away. This Christmas, my friend, Kerri sent me “The Tricksters” 1986. Her gifts are always a thrill in memory and in action. The onus is on Margaret that I disliked its style and most characters. What diverse, extraordinary concepts conceived in three years!
I loved the modern day look I was granted, at New Zealand city families and their Christmas. I had been acquainting the Maori. Every Kiwi author I have tried wrote currently, without fake historical perspectives to distance my introduction. For the first time, here is a mainstream family of unspecified cultures, or economic class. A visitor from England shares my foreign viewpoint, of a winter occasion celebrated in midsummer. This insightful window afforded this novel my third star.
I wearied of dramatic, superfluous daily ruminations of the weather. Suspense was parcelled out but the visitation origin was not thoroughly explained. Was it conjured from Harry’s story, or did her fossil ring disturb a ghost? It was different for a family to proudly preserve the house of a murder. The loathsome eldest Sister, Cristobel, needed to shut up. She was rude, selfish, immature, and too dominant for a secondary character.
Mixing genres is lovely but these produced no focal point. More than featuring bizarre visitors whom the Hamiltons oddly took in stride, the novel was bogged down with forced dreamy or witty banter, that strove to resemble a sitcom. There were nothing but quips and elaborate musings for 100 pages, sluggishly leading to an off-putting family secret. There was no crescendo of otherworldly elucidation. The titular tricksters were incidental.
I liked that Harry was not a stereotypically lone witness, urging someone to witness curious things. The whole family acquainted these visitors.
I loved the modern day look I was granted, at New Zealand city families and their Christmas. I had been acquainting the Maori. Every Kiwi author I have tried wrote currently, without fake historical perspectives to distance my introduction. For the first time, here is a mainstream family of unspecified cultures, or economic class. A visitor from England shares my foreign viewpoint, of a winter occasion celebrated in midsummer. This insightful window afforded this novel my third star.
I wearied of dramatic, superfluous daily ruminations of the weather. Suspense was parcelled out but the visitation origin was not thoroughly explained. Was it conjured from Harry’s story, or did her fossil ring disturb a ghost? It was different for a family to proudly preserve the house of a murder. The loathsome eldest Sister, Cristobel, needed to shut up. She was rude, selfish, immature, and too dominant for a secondary character.
Mixing genres is lovely but these produced no focal point. More than featuring bizarre visitors whom the Hamiltons oddly took in stride, the novel was bogged down with forced dreamy or witty banter, that strove to resemble a sitcom. There were nothing but quips and elaborate musings for 100 pages, sluggishly leading to an off-putting family secret. There was no crescendo of otherworldly elucidation. The titular tricksters were incidental.
I liked that Harry was not a stereotypically lone witness, urging someone to witness curious things. The whole family acquainted these visitors.
September 26, 2021
I've never read anything like this, but I sort of always wanted to
May 21, 2013
Margaret Mahy is a master of poetic prose; her books simply flow with imagery to the point that the plot comes second, in places, to the brilliance of her language. And I think that's a good thing. The plot of this book, which is both a family drama and one of the more unusual ghost stories I've ever read, is more than capable of holding its own. Harry, the ignored and occasionally abandoned middle child, lives a rich fantasy life without embodying any of the stereotypes of the intelligent but odd-looking writerly teenage girl. When teased by the mysterious Felix, for example, who takes her glasses, she retorts mockingly that of course he's now revealed her true beauty--since everyone knows that all it takes to turn an ugly duckling into a swan is to give her a haircut and contact lenses. There's rarely a sense that Harry obsesses about her looks or feels inadequate for not being as beautiful as her vivacious (but, frankly, totally bitchy) older sister Christobel.
Mahy's very good at unrolling the secret at the heart of the family drama. The supernatural part of the plot comes close to magical realism, with the identities of the three "tricksters" shifting between sinister magicians of real power and merely creepy human guests who thrust themselves on Harry's family. Mahy doesn't go into a lot of detail about the true nature of the visitors, but by the end there's total clarity about where they came from and who they have to become.
Having finished the book, I feel exactly as if I've spent Christmas in New Zealand, seashore and all. Kudos to Margaret Mahy for making that possible.
Mahy's very good at unrolling the secret at the heart of the family drama. The supernatural part of the plot comes close to magical realism, with the identities of the three "tricksters" shifting between sinister magicians of real power and merely creepy human guests who thrust themselves on Harry's family. Mahy doesn't go into a lot of detail about the true nature of the visitors, but by the end there's total clarity about where they came from and who they have to become.
Having finished the book, I feel exactly as if I've spent Christmas in New Zealand, seashore and all. Kudos to Margaret Mahy for making that possible.
August 15, 2018
I always love coming back home for many obvious reasons, but another one is that I can meet up with my childhood library again.
All my favourite books are still there, thoigh not in the same place. They're dispersed a little bit everywhere in the different parts of the house and tracking them down is a game in itself.
Oh, the joy, when stumbling across an old favourite! That's what The Tricksters is. Despite its horrible cover - for once, the French one is much better, and a pure delicate delight - this is one of the book that stayed with me since I first opened it, some 20+ years ago.
Far from me to patronize nowadays-YA, but Margaret Mahy took YA writing to another level. The quality, my friends ! It's sober and refined at the same time. It doesn't think teenagers are stupid, or limited at the very best, and address to them like they should always be addressed : with authenticity and a tiny bit of challenge without ever make them feel inferior.
Maybe I'm being very unclear but it's more or less what I thought about when turning the last page.
This is a family drama with an eerie dose if supernatural, that blends in smoothly with real life.
As I'm laboriously writing this review from my phone, I'm not gonna dive into the plot or the characters in details.
This book is direct but takes many turns, it's innocent without being so and it will take you far away, so far that when you'll look around you, the room will be the same, but different.
It's called "The Tricksters" after all.
All my favourite books are still there, thoigh not in the same place. They're dispersed a little bit everywhere in the different parts of the house and tracking them down is a game in itself.
Oh, the joy, when stumbling across an old favourite! That's what The Tricksters is. Despite its horrible cover - for once, the French one is much better, and a pure delicate delight - this is one of the book that stayed with me since I first opened it, some 20+ years ago.
Far from me to patronize nowadays-YA, but Margaret Mahy took YA writing to another level. The quality, my friends ! It's sober and refined at the same time. It doesn't think teenagers are stupid, or limited at the very best, and address to them like they should always be addressed : with authenticity and a tiny bit of challenge without ever make them feel inferior.
Maybe I'm being very unclear but it's more or less what I thought about when turning the last page.
This is a family drama with an eerie dose if supernatural, that blends in smoothly with real life.
As I'm laboriously writing this review from my phone, I'm not gonna dive into the plot or the characters in details.
This book is direct but takes many turns, it's innocent without being so and it will take you far away, so far that when you'll look around you, the room will be the same, but different.
It's called "The Tricksters" after all.
October 19, 2019
I made myself slow down and savour every word of this wonderful story. Such an immersive piece of writing. A once a year reread for me.
October 12, 2015
One of my favorite YA novels of all time. I first encountered The Tricksters back in college in a course called "Girls' Books" (whatever that means) and go back to it every now and then. Set in New Zealand at a family beach house, the novels tells the story of 17-year-old Harry, a would-be writer messing about with a manuscript while her family moves tensely about, trying not to acknowledge the awful secret that has divided them. When a trio of attractive brothers shows up at the house, Harry realizes they are characters from her work-in-progress come to life--and their intentions are highly questionable. There's a wonderful supernatural element at work here, but it's the shocking secret of Harry's family--and the dynamics surrounding Harry's spoiled older sister--that really gave this book its emotional center. It's a novel that I would've fallen utterly in love with at age twelve and now, in my thirties, wish I had written.
November 26, 2018
Not sure I will ever be able to review this adequately or give it a rating that makes sense.
Magical realism for teens, but so dense and complex it could be studied by academics.
My brain hurts.
Magical realism for teens, but so dense and complex it could be studied by academics.
My brain hurts.
October 31, 2021
Probably will end up being closer to a 3.5, but I was just so charmed by this writing, this story, the way it turned into an intricate exploration of being a quiet and easily overlooked child realizing you're about to be an adult. I don't think the ghostly aspects hung together as well, or provided much to the narrative, though; there's something it might be doing to suggest that families who work through each other's flaws are better to live in than families that try to be perfect, and how enforced perfection can become a generational curse, but, I don't know, that's probably a YMMV.
In the end, though, there are no real answers, and I think there's a sad beauty in that, even if the supernatural elements leave something to be desired. I'm glad Harry came out of it all right, although
In the end, though, there are no real answers, and I think there's a sad beauty in that, even if the supernatural elements leave something to be desired. I'm glad Harry came out of it all right, although
January 7, 2023
En ganska speciell läsupplevelse – i nyårstid läser jag om en nyzeeländsk stor familj som firar midsommar, jul och nyår på stranden under en dryg vecka. Redan det känns exotiskt för en nordisk läsare, men familjen i sig är ganska speciell och får dessutom besök av tre mystiska unga män. En lekfull fantasyberättelse med intertextuella blinkningar och bitterljuva inslag.
Läste den svenska översättningen från 1988 med omslagsillustration av Inger Edelfeldt, ett omslag mycket vackrare än de omslag jag sett för boken här på Goodreads.
Läste den svenska översättningen från 1988 med omslagsillustration av Inger Edelfeldt, ett omslag mycket vackrare än de omslag jag sett för boken här på Goodreads.
August 26, 2023
ugh obsessed. mahy just writes teenagers like no one else. a perfect balance of sweet and spooky, looking at love and power and violence all twisted together, but grounded in an intense and deeply real family dynamic. plus ghosts! and bad fantasy writing and the Teenage Author. which is a delightful character when done well, and mahy excels.
June 12, 2023
re-read the other night & remembered how much i love this book
July 26, 2018
A good book for a young teenage girl. It really speaks to complicated family dynamics with a touch of magic and romance we all wished for at that age.
January 10, 2018
YA fantasy. Harry and her family are gathered together for a New Zealand Christmas. In the attic, Harry is writing a torrid romance; in the house below, there are secrets that could tear the bonds of love apart if they're confronted; while the house itself has an older secret. When three strange brothers appear, only Harry recognises their disturbing likeness to two of the characters in her romance.
Isn't she a marvellous writer? She really is. I don't love everything of hers I've read, and as a result I've not read that much of it, but when she hits something I like, it's just so very clever. The way it interweaves, the way it's never enough for something to be tricky in one way, it has to be tricky in three other ways as well.
Hers aren't worlds I can spend too much time in at a go. Her characters are just a bit too perceptive, and too subtle. Every word of dialogue - at least in this and in The Changeover, which are my favourites - has significance on at least three different levels, and all of the participants get it. That kind of subtlety wears me out after a while.
I feel as though I could branch off into all sorts of fascinating discussions about what it means that Harry's first love was for a man like Felix, but I haven't quite got my ideas together, so never mind.
Isn't she a marvellous writer? She really is. I don't love everything of hers I've read, and as a result I've not read that much of it, but when she hits something I like, it's just so very clever. The way it interweaves, the way it's never enough for something to be tricky in one way, it has to be tricky in three other ways as well.
Hers aren't worlds I can spend too much time in at a go. Her characters are just a bit too perceptive, and too subtle. Every word of dialogue - at least in this and in The Changeover, which are my favourites - has significance on at least three different levels, and all of the participants get it. That kind of subtlety wears me out after a while.
I feel as though I could branch off into all sorts of fascinating discussions about what it means that Harry's first love was for a man like Felix, but I haven't quite got my ideas together, so never mind.
March 17, 2017
** I just revisited this book and I must say it is just as wonderful as I remember it being. **
The Tricksters is one of my favorite books of all time. Its young adult book and is one of the first books that I have ever read to feature a little bit of sexuality. Our main character is a quiet girl who likes to write and is a little bit at odds with her family. She goes on holiday and meets three brothers who aren't quite as they seem. She falls in love with one and has to deal with the others, plus her family on top of these ghostly boys.
I remember reading this and falling in love with Ovid, one of the brothers and wanting to be Ariadne. I always think about this book and anytime I find a seashell I always put it on my ring finger to this day to try to marry the sea, just like the character in this book. The Tricksters is a special book and I think anyone could enjoy it.
The Tricksters is one of my favorite books of all time. Its young adult book and is one of the first books that I have ever read to feature a little bit of sexuality. Our main character is a quiet girl who likes to write and is a little bit at odds with her family. She goes on holiday and meets three brothers who aren't quite as they seem. She falls in love with one and has to deal with the others, plus her family on top of these ghostly boys.
I remember reading this and falling in love with Ovid, one of the brothers and wanting to be Ariadne. I always think about this book and anytime I find a seashell I always put it on my ring finger to this day to try to marry the sea, just like the character in this book. The Tricksters is a special book and I think anyone could enjoy it.
December 10, 2018
Wow I don’t know where to begin with this one. I think I started off with the wrong premise in that I thought it was a book for junior readers but clearly it is not perhaps it is for young adults or adults but not children. It is very ambiguous and confusing and lyrical and spooky and weird. Romance (and sex?) with a ghost? 3 people who are not real? Family secrets and disturbed people - ghosts and murder? You name it - it’s here. The biggest family secret I actually find incredibly disturbing as it borders on sexual abuse in a certain way. And the way that the family supports this lack of trust and honour is very disturbing. That being said I may have to read it again to see if I can follow the hints and clues. I found the rhythm of the writing and the story itself disturbing and fascinating and very hard to follow. But always interesting.
December 5, 2009
While on Christmas holiday in New Zealand, the Hamilton family is visited by a strange trio of brothers.
Very simplistic plot description there, but I really don't care enough to come up with something better. I really didn't get this book. Looking at the other reviews, people have gushed over her prose and her characterizations. I didn't particularly care for either. I didn't think there was anything special about her writing and I hated that there were so many characters. I didn't thinkthey were all that interesting and I hated some of the things she left unexplained. I will give her credit in that I wasn't expecting the big family secret, but that doesn't make up for the annoyance I felt the rest of the time.
Very simplistic plot description there, but I really don't care enough to come up with something better. I really didn't get this book. Looking at the other reviews, people have gushed over her prose and her characterizations. I didn't particularly care for either. I didn't think there was anything special about her writing and I hated that there were so many characters. I didn't thinkthey were all that interesting and I hated some of the things she left unexplained. I will give her credit in that I wasn't expecting the big family secret, but that doesn't make up for the annoyance I felt the rest of the time.
October 29, 2012
There's a lot to unpack here-- this is unlike anything I've ever read, and I'm a little sad I didn't discover it years ago. I didn't love it in an enjoyable way, but I do love thinking about it, and I love just how unexpected it was. Mahy's characters are so vivid and her prose is almost rushed-- as I'm wrapping my mind around one thing, four more characters troop in the door and the scene changes again. The characters nearly all-- all?-- undergo transformations, which is a lot to process, but the complexity in this book is part of its power. I have no doubt that this story would be published as a trilogy today, and I'm very thankful it was written 25 years ago and allowed to stand on its own.
October 19, 2022
This beautiful book is, as ever, a part of me. I've read it more than twice since it was published, being my favourite book of all time, and I am still in love with it today. I feel as if Harry and I are the same person, and at the end of the book again I feel myself wanting and waiting as she does. How I wish I gift her back her ghost in person, and how I wish my own ghost would return to me too. And now the author is with us no longer on the physical plane and therefore there can be no more story.
If you have not read this book then please do, for if you're a person like me, the poetic prose will soak right through you and imbue your soul with its spirit too....
Read ONCE AGAIN in 2022 and still loved xxx
If you have not read this book then please do, for if you're a person like me, the poetic prose will soak right through you and imbue your soul with its spirit too....
Read ONCE AGAIN in 2022 and still loved xxx
August 31, 2007
YA. Harry's family is spending Christmas at their New Zealand beach house again, but this year three brothers arrive uninvited and Harry can't tell if they're real or ghosts she conjured up from her journal.
This is another book I've read so many times I've lost count, and it holds up as an adult. Despite its almost lackadaisical third person omniscient pov, it's still good, still spooky, and still sexy.
The brothers are just the right balance of sexy and menacing, and in the middle of all the supernatural weirdness, there's family weirdness as well, secrets that are just coming out.
This is another book I've read so many times I've lost count, and it holds up as an adult. Despite its almost lackadaisical third person omniscient pov, it's still good, still spooky, and still sexy.
The brothers are just the right balance of sexy and menacing, and in the middle of all the supernatural weirdness, there's family weirdness as well, secrets that are just coming out.
July 7, 2017
Harry Hamilton's family like to think of their vacation house, Carnival's Hide, as "open to haunting", because of the years-past drowning death of brilliant, handsome young Teddy Carnival, son of the house's first owner. One Christmas, though, three mysterious young men appear at the house, and Harry must figure out who they are and what they want. Mahy blends the supernatural with the everyday gorgeously, as Harry navigates the troubled waters of her family's secrets and of the three tricksters' games until everything comes together in a searing, seamless climax.
May 13, 2021
i loved the changeover for how complex it was and this is even trickier, but mahy's gift is in deftly weaving together what's dark and thrilling and dangerous and sometimes heartbreaking with care. i feel like there can sometimes be a dichotomy between "brutal" and "anaesthetised" when it comes to coming of age stories but her writing lives completely in the grey area in between, and though a couple of throwaway lines might not hold up in 2021, i wish more novelists rose to that challenge today – though it takes a particular brilliant skill to craft a way through the murk like she does
May 2, 2009
Fantastically clever and complex, with gorgeous sentences I want to copy down and memorize. I love that Mahy stuffs the novel full of so many characters--two parents, four siblings, two friends of siblings, a toddler, a stranger, three trickster men, and a cat--and yet still manages to make each of them real, each character wanting something and struggling to achieve it. I'll be reading more of her books!
July 24, 2012
Fascinating, sophisticated, subtle, and very, very weird. 17-year-old Harry (a girl) is writing a terrible, id-vortex novel, full of lush descriptions and barely subtextual sexuality. Three mysterious men show up at her family’s summer home, to shake up everyone’s lives and shake loose some family secrets. Are they ghosts? Characters from her novel? Something else entirely?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews