Several Deceptions - Hardcover

Stevenson, Jane

3.38

53 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224059394 ISBN 13: 9780224059398

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1999

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The four novellas that make up this book share a common theme: deception and self-deception, practised on or by the protagonists.

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Review:

Several Deceptions, Jane Stevenson's first work of fiction, explores the topic of deceit through four quite distinct novellas: "The Island of the Day Before Yesterday"; "Law and Order"; "The Colonel and Judy O'Grady" and "Crossing the Water". The settings are bourgeois, urbane--"Crossing the Water" is country-house farce--often giving the impression of an author "in the know" and playing with that knowledge. "In retrospect, I am strongly inclined to blame the whole thing on Umberto Eco" begins "The Island...", setting the scene for its semiotic indulgence in the well-worn idea of creating a woman's life through archive and story. Nemesis looms, however: the ways in which cleverness can damage, or destroy, itself becoming a central theme of the book. A perennial theme, of course, and that may be why it's easy to get a sense that you've heard, or seen, these stories before: there's a touch of Rope about the brilliance of the University lawyer and his circle in "Law and Order", a cross-dressing twist to "The Colonel and Judy O'Grady", a certain Peter's Friends feel to "Crossing the Water". Recognising the landscape is part of the pleasure of these tales, but it may not be quite enough to sustain a reader's interest through the twists and turns of the plots. --Vicky Lebeau

Review:

"A very enjoyable display of deadly wit given with a relaxed literary confidence. Here is a gossipy, smart, critical, intellectual, high spirited and literate voice" (Hal Jensen Times Literary Supplement)

"Clever and enjoyable... This is an accomplished first book, and even if Stevenson never writes another word, she is already more than promising" (Phil Baker Sunday Times)

"What continuously sustains these stories is an unfashionable concept of serious fiction as etnertainment, an art in which the process is as enjoyable as the effects it is designed to produce... Relish the neat professionalism of a smart new act" (Jonathan Keates Independent)

"Stevenson's careful plotting and attention to detail prove she is a new voice worth listening to" (The Times)

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