The Centaur in the Garden

If only all magical realism were as effective as this novel by Moacyr Scliar, a tale of the centaur son of Jews chased from Russia to Brazil in the 1930s. What makes it work is an emphasis on realism with a light touch of the magical. The reader will not doubt the existence of the centaur. Even if the thoughtful treatment of themes of alienation, love, and faith was absent, that fact alone should earn the novel high praise.