I recently came across a book claiming to be magical realism, but it was really fantasy. This led me to the Amazon list of top-selling magical realism books. As expected, most of them were fantasy books or something else. So what is magical realism?
Magical realism is a book that takes place in the real world with real events happening and then throws in miracles that also happen. The miracles, like the main character flying, or in Like Water for Chocolate, the sad main character baking sadness into her food, are usually associated with an emotion and on display for everyone to see. In The Place of the White Heron by Alejandro Morales, the main character walks into a fire and saves people without getting hurt herself because she feels compelled to do so--to stop suffering and pain around her. The miracles are, dare I say, plausible in light of what we know about miracles. Magical realism has a literary (i.e. scholarly/ artsy) quality to it that most readers will find difficult to read.
The textbook example of what a magical realism book should be trying to replicate can be found in the Biblical Book of Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walk into a fiery furnace and are neither burned nor smell like smoke when they come out. Nebuchadnezzar isn't really amazed--he's like, come over here and tell me what happened; they didn't mumble some incantation to protect themselves; and the guards died from the flames because the miracle was only for the three guys.
Fantasy on the other hand creates a different world. Witches, werewolves, vampires, etc. may be living in our world in the book (think Twilight), but it is really a fantasy world modeled after our world. Mythology also delves into the realm of fantasy. Vampires are not real, so they cannot be a part of magical realism. Witches (as in people who can cast magical spells) are not real and casting a spell that works is not real. Once you use a spell as the method of something in your book happening, you have stepped into the realm of fantasy. If your animals talk or narrate the story--you have delved into fantasy.
So let's look at Amazon's top best sellers in magical realism and what they really are (numbers are skipped when they are just the same book listed elsewhere in a different form:
(1) Some Other Time: A Novel This is a sci-fi parallel universe book. A woman wakes up and discovers she has gone back in time and traveled down another path. No miracles--just something that absolutely could not happen in the real world.
(2) The Lost Apothecary: A Novel This is historical fiction mixed with modern day fiction. There is really nothing magical about killing someone with poison... Sadly, this author/publisher should know better, so I can only assume it was listed as magical realism because there are fewer books to compete with in that category. In other words, it is a lot easier to be a best seller in magical realism than in, say, fantasy, where you are competing against a ton of other books.
(3) The Measure: A Novel This should be fantasy. Everyone in the world wakes up with a box that contains a piece of string depicting how long they will live. This is not a miracle, but for fans of mythology it should sound familiar (think the three Fates). Nothing else miraculous or magical happens in the book.
(4) Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Heartwarming Novel of Time Travel, Magical Realism and the Power of Healing Good gravy! This one put "magical realism" and "time travel" in the same subtitle!! It is true that many magical realism books jump forward and backward time wise in telling the story--but that is NOT time travel and the characters are not actually travelling back in time!! That is not realism or a miracle. Time travel is a standard of science fiction and that is what this novel is.
(5) The Lost Bookshop: The most charming and uplifting novel for 2024 and the perfect gift for book lovers! (These authors all get an "F" for in writing subtitles! Notably, this "subtitle" is nowhere on the book. ) Hmmm.. the bookshop is more like a haunted bookshop. Weird , unexplainable things happen, but they happen to random characters and they are not "miracles" in that they are observed by the entire populace. Once you have characters keeping the "magic" secret, you have stepped into the realm of fantasy.
(6) Grim Beginnings: An Aisling Grimlock Mystery Books 1-3 Deals with a family of "Grim Reapers"--100% fantasy, but that is how it is listed, so I have no clue why it is on the magical realism list on Amazon?
(7) Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel The octopus tells part of the story--no realism there. Again, this book is not listed as magical realism, but is listed as "Arts and photography?" Maybe these authors first list it as one thing and then another, and Amazon can't keep up with its lists?
(8) Eva Luna: A Novel Listed as historical fiction
(9/10) The Bookstore Sisters/Wedding--Fantasy not magical realism. Again, this is not something miraculous happening in the real world.
(11) The Conjurer's Wife: A Short Story Fantasy (Contains secrets and magic)
(12) Better Luck Hex Time Fantasy/mystery
(15) The Seven Year Slip Sci fi-parallel universe
(17) One Hundred Years of Solitude Magical Realism
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