PUBLICATION: West Berlin, TOWNSEND PRESS (SEPTEMBER 22, 2008) 148 PAGES
GENRE: FICTION
This is a story of a boy from a humble background and rose to be the most famous magician in the planet. He had a good imagination and strived to entertain his audience.
The book talks about the little boy born in 24th march 1874 in Budapest, Hungary with the name Enrich Weiss. His family moved in the USA in Wisconsin .He had three other siblings and his father Mr. Mayer Samuel Weiss was a Rabbi for the Jewish congregation in Germany called German Zion Jewish Congregation of Appleton.
Harry sold newspapers at the age of 8 as his family was really poor. He left his home to find work at the age of twelve. He moved to the Big Apple which was in New Yolk city to work as a messenger and fabric cutter in the tie factory.
He started performing magic as a teen and went by the name of “Eric The Great” He changed his name to Houdini after he read a book from one of the most famous magician of the time ‘THE MEMOIRS OF ROBERT HOUDINI’.
His first shows included card tricks and later hand cuffs. He for a while performed with a colleague and were known as the Houdini Brothers but later his younger brother took the place of his friend. His wife later joined him and took the place of the brother and were known as the Houdini’s.
His tricks involved giving rewards to any challenges brought to him in restraining him. This involved breaking out of jail, strait jackets etc. He gained worldwide recognition and especially in Europe where he toured for 5 years. This also led to him to make movies, making lectures on magic in the University or McGill in 1926.
His end came sooner by accident rather than natural causes. In the dressing room where a student from the university was going to give out the lecture punched him on the stomach while he had not prepared to receive the blow. He did not immediately know the extent of the blow but it had raptured his appendix. He did several shows in Canada and another in Detroit where he collapsed .He passed away from internal poisoning of the raptured appendix in October 31st 1926 at the age of 52. His death had a lot of other uncertainties as in the year of March 22 ,2007 his grandnephew proclaimed that the courts would be requested to permit exhumation of the body .The purpose was to carry out an autopsy to investigate the possibility of murder as the book The Secret Life Of Houdini portrayed he was killed by the Spiritualist. This application was rejected by the family of Bess Houdini.
Conclusion and Opinion
The book captures a well signified life of Houdini from a young boy, to his prime peak of success until his death. The character trait of Houdini is vividly portrayed that brought to the attention of some people to think he actually had secret powers but in real sense was just that he worked hard and had a wild imagination.
The book is the most suitable collection of motivation stories and inspiration .It can also be subjected to criticism in order to facilitate the accuracy of the facts about of his death. Conclusively, the author Tanya Savory has put a vivid description of the life and death of Harry Houdini brilliantly.
Works Cited
Savory, Tanya. The amazing Harry Houdini. West Berlin, N.J.: Townsend Library, 2009. Print.
