Magical realism is a somewhat odd genre. It is almost completely realistic fiction, but there are just a couple of things that are too coincidental, too out of the ordinary, for it to qualify as realistic fiction. I have read very few magical realism books. Actually, I have read two, but one's a manuscript, and I can't tell you about it till it's published. Sorry!
The other one is called The Boundless, by Kenneth Oppel. It is about a boy who takes the Boundless, a giant, fancy, train, on its first journey, but someone is mysteriously murdered. As much as the one-sentence description sounds like Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, the two books are completely different.One magical realism element in The Boundless is the presence [SPOILER ALERT] of a witch. The witch is surrounded by superstition, and even though she does have a part in the story, you can't be sure if she real or is a dream. [SPOILER ENDED] I really liked The Boundless, and it demonstrates magical realism quite nicely, until the end, where it gets into a little bit of low fantasy. It's kind of a mash of genres.
Have you read any magical realism books?
Spruce Nogard
Attributions:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-boundless-kenneth-oppel/1115553202
I love magical realism, but I haven't read a lot of it. My first experience was with the Latin American authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez (100 Years of Solitude) and Isabell Allende (House of Spirits). I would love to have a better list of YA books using magical realism!
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