The title we discussed this month was "Deceptions" by Rebecca Frayn. The title in this instance was particularly apt as the plot dealt with deceptions of others as well as self-deceptions. An online reading group guide is available from Simon & Schuster.
Members rated the novel 5.5 out of ten. The book stimulated a great discussion which is often the case when the score is low. Comments such as "weird" and "bizarre" were used to describe the book and many found the lack of character development off-putting. The narrator/protagonist was a pompous, controlling character with whom few could warm up to. The blurb on the cover "A compulsive thriller with echoes of Ruth Rendell" seemed high praise indeed for a book that seemed to drag and have an unsatisfying ending.
The plot centered around a British family. The wife had only recently been widowed and is now in a new relationship with the narrator of the story. She has a son and a daughter by her first marriage and strangely seems to let her new partner control the household and make many of the most important decisions. One day her adolescent son goes off to school on his bicycle and never returns. This life changing event devastates the family. The mother has a near breakdown. The daughter seemingly forgotten in the wake of her older brother's disappearance. The relationship is strained. After three long years of coming to terms with Daniel's absence, Annie, the mother, never gives up hope for her son's return. Then miraculously... a phone call. Daniel is coming home! For reasons of her own she does not want to inform the police of his return and does not enroll him in school. Julian is skeptical that the boy who claims to be Daniel is who he says he is. He believes him to be an imposter but is hesitant to prove this to Annie fearing that the already strained relationship will sever permanently.
We discussed how the plot seemed implausible and that it would never have happened as depicted in the story. However.... the author actually wrote the novel based on true events! The case of Frédéric Bourdin, a serial imposter, impersonated at least three teenage missing persons!
The winners of this month's book giveaways:
1. Jennifer
2. Carmella
3. Heather
4. Marlene
Our next Whodunit meeting will be held on October 29th. At that time we will discuss the historical mystery "A duty to the dead" by Charles Todd.
Frédéric Bourdi
Frédéric
Bourdin. Discuss how Bourdin was so successful and what motivated him
to deceive so many people. You can find a profile of Bourdin at: http://
www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/11/080811fa_ fact_grann. - See
more at:
http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Deceptions/Rebecca-Frayn/9781439196397/reading_group_guide#sthash.J0J8nBgO.dpuf
Frédéric
Bourdin. Discuss how Bourdin was so successful and what motivated him
to deceive so many people. You can find a profile of Bourdin at: http://
www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/11/080811fa_ fact_grann. - See
more at:
http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Deceptions/Rebecca-Frayn/9781439196397/reading_group_guide#sthash.J0J8nBgO.dpuf
Frédéric
Bourdin. Discuss how Bourdin was so successful and what motivated him
to deceive so many people. You can find a profile of Bourdin at: http://
www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/11/080811fa_ fact_grann. - See
more at:
http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Deceptions/Rebecca-Frayn/9781439196397/reading_group_guide#sthash.J0J8nBgO.dpuf
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