[ book tip by Emily Bullock ] I loved this book but was also strangely left wanting more but perhaps that was just my romantic desire for some sort of happy ending. The story centres on a literary hoax that spirals out of hand and claims lives on the way. The guilt ridden Christopher Chubb is then pursued by a man who claims to be his creation, the imaginary McCorkle. It’s a great twist.

The story uses the basic Frankenstein structure. Chubb is pursued by his monstrous creation, loses his love, his livelihood and even his child to McCorkle. The story catches up with him in Malaysia where he tells his story to an editor. If all this sounds confusing then that’s my fault not Carey’s. Carey weaves a brilliant tale of literary intrigue and egos that ranges from 1940s Melbourne to present day Kuala Lumpur. A story within a story, within a story – a complicated strategy to pull off and yet it works. Vivid characters and descriptions bring the fake and real (you’ll end up wondering which is which) to life for the reader. A literary whodunit in some respects but don’t expect there to be any neat conclusions. The blurb calls it ‘a novel that penetrates to the heart of the alchemy of literature itself' – and I agree.

[ book info ] Carey, Peter: My Life as a Fake. (Book language: English) QPD, Great Britain, 2003 (2003). ISBN: 118758.