Parsifal turns out to be a gay magician, the owner of a rug store in Los Angeles who has AIDS and who has just died of a ruptured aneurysm while holding hands with his assistant, Sabine, whom he recently married. ''I love you,''

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The real appeal of ''The Magician's Assistant'' lies in the small, accumulating ways in which Sabine and the Fetters family assist one another out of isolation and sorrow. By the end, they have all been somewhat transformed -- Does that (somewhat clumsy) summary make this one sound odd? Don’t get too hung up on it. Patchett manages to make it all work, somehow! My Thoughts: some sort of connection with the Parsifal she has just discovered. ''When Parsifal died she lost the rest of his life, but now she had stumbled on 18 years. Eighteen untouched years that she could have; early, forgotten volumes

Sealed Good in a Can: When Shandu is trapped in the vortex, he appears in a reflection to advise Todd.

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Magical Rule #3 comes up when rehearsal of a disappearing act goes badly: "Never, ever get caught in your own reflection."Magic Wand: Used by ancient sorcerers to draw power from the earth, such an item is guarded by Shandu. or that by posthumously reuniting Parsifal with his mother and sisters, she helps unchain them from a painful past. But it is still gratifying to watch Patchett pull each rabbit out of the hat.