Several Deceptions: Four Novellas

Here are various manifestations of Jane Stevenson's voice: a lazy former playboy now teaching semiotics at an obscure central Italian college ("The Island of the Day Before Yesterday") who is far, far too clever for his own good; a "good twin" helpless to change the downward spiral of his bad twin's life into homicide ("Law And Order"), a tale set in Holland amongst law students; a lesbian academic writing a dissertation on Tacitus in love with a simple Irish woman turned Tibetan Buddhist ("The Colonel And Judy O'Grady"--yes, the title is a terrific play on that old phrase!); and a young, embittered, alcoholic art historian whose biggest goal in his shadow of a life is to cause problems for his friends ("Crossing The River") and who succeeds none-too-admirably in breaking up the marriage of the woman he was once loved at university. That Stevenson makes all of these characters real and that we can empathize with even the callous Simone of the first story and the sociopathic Oliver of the last story shows the depth and range of her writing skill. These novellas are erudite, compelling, and great fun to read; Stevenson's command of the English language puts her up there with A.S. Byatt and Michael Frayn, perhaps even Iris Murdoch at times. Other reviewers have noted their favorites among this rich offering---I can only add that I enjoyed them all, but that the particular archness of "Crossing The River" made it a gem. An anthology that's hard to put down. Enjoy!

Some of these tales are terrific -- clever, well-written, novel, interesting, well-plotted, etc. Some, particularly the last story, are dull and cliche-ridden. Five stars anyway because this is an exciting new voice and you will not be disappointed overall if you buy the book.

Both my husband and I enjoyed this great book, a collection of four novellas. Once you pick it up, it's totally addictive. The stories are compelling and exciting, and often completely hilarious, but there's more to it than just the entertainment value. The writing is quite moving at times and there are some dead-on descriptions of the strange behavior of humans.