Elkin's premise is daring: a quirky group of terminally ill British children are escorted on a "dream vacation" to Disney World by an equally quirky group of adult caretakers. Much grim (and very funny) humor results, but ultimately the novel collapses under the weight of its own conceits and the elaborately freighted prose that expresses them. Situations straight out of the farce tradition flounder by being forced to carry more emotional baggage than they can bear. Elkin's magnificently complicated prose (and improbably rhetorical dialogue) can be admired for its own beauties, but, alas, gets in the way of the story he is telling. This novel, with its satirical treatment of death and dying, and its frequent graphic sex scenes (especially one women's addiction to masturbation) will not be for everyone's tastes. ( )

After reading "Mrs. Ted Bliss" by Elkin, I was ready for a slog through his dense (yet engrossing) prose. That is not the case here. "The Magic Kingdom" is cut to the bone; there is not a wasted turn of phrase or bit of dialogue anywhere. The book is dark and yet a splendidly crafted piece of satire from a man who understood the experience of being terminally ill. ( )