MY LIFE AS A FAKE

Booker Prize-winning Australian author Peter Carey has created a funny tale about a complex literary hoax, or it may be a send-up of literary pretension, or an adventure in unreality. You decide after listening to this novel, which is nominally about Christopher Chubb, a poet, who tricks a literary magazine into publishing poems by a character he has invented, named Bob McCorckle, only to become haunted by his character come to life, à la Frankenstein. The story is told by Sarah, a literary editor who meets Chubb years later in Malaysia and decides to unravel the mystery of his story. Susan Lyons sounds just right as an overeducated Englishwoman. And when called upon to create other voices, such as Chubb's Australian/Malaysian mix, she's again just right. She also reads the narrative passages of this long (and enjoyable) book with a listenable rhythm that keeps readers interested. Well done. A.C.S.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 04]