intertext

Wizard of the Pigeons works so well, I think, because it sets up and then partly undercuts the romanticization. While the main character is a homeless vet, and leads something of a charmed existence as a street person--his particular power is a knack for eking out a living in the city without people noticing he's homeless--he loses his ability to blend in at one point, and life gets rapidly worse. Even early on though, it's clear that he has a very precarious existence.