When you find your seat you glance at the businessman sitting next to you and decide he's almost handsome.This is the second leg of your trip from Miami to Casablanca, and the distance traveled already has muted the horror of the last two months.
Description:
Sometimes just the title of a book can make you want to at least skim the first sentences. Such is the case with Vendela Vida's exquisitely exotic and twisty novel, The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty. What a fantastic title!
The unnamed narrator, checking into a hotel in Casablanca, reaches down to find her backpack has been stolen - with all her money, passport, credit cards, laptop and other vital possessions. The local police seem incompetent but then suddenly they announce they have recovered her backpack and all possessions.
Sounds great for her, huh? Unfortunately, the item they present her with is certainly a backpack, just not her backpack, although the photo on the accompanying passport slightly resembles the narrator. There are identification papers and credit cards in the satchel, along with some money. With only a little hesitation, the narrator accepts the backpack and checks into a luxury hotel using her new name and identification.
She embraces the new name and persona until circumstances and her own actions force her to abandon that one and take on an entirely different name and identity.
There is more to her, we learn, than merely a chameleon-like traveler assuming false identities. She clearly has had a trauma in her life, an event that has driven her to Casablanca on vacation, an event that makes her reluctant to return home. Using a new identification seems to fit her unpredictable existence ... until that one falls apart as well.
She is an adept survivor, one step ahead of discovery as a fraud and one leap into another adventure of lies, impersonations, and new adventures. Gripping to the very last page, believe me. A great, unexpectedly engrossing and fascinating read.
The unnamed narrator, checking into a hotel in Casablanca, reaches down to find her backpack has been stolen - with all her money, passport, credit cards, laptop and other vital possessions. The local police seem incompetent but then suddenly they announce they have recovered her backpack and all possessions.
Sounds great for her, huh? Unfortunately, the item they present her with is certainly a backpack, just not her backpack, although the photo on the accompanying passport slightly resembles the narrator. There are identification papers and credit cards in the satchel, along with some money. With only a little hesitation, the narrator accepts the backpack and checks into a luxury hotel using her new name and identification.
She embraces the new name and persona until circumstances and her own actions force her to abandon that one and take on an entirely different name and identity.
There is more to her, we learn, than merely a chameleon-like traveler assuming false identities. She clearly has had a trauma in her life, an event that has driven her to Casablanca on vacation, an event that makes her reluctant to return home. Using a new identification seems to fit her unpredictable existence ... until that one falls apart as well.
She is an adept survivor, one step ahead of discovery as a fraud and one leap into another adventure of lies, impersonations, and new adventures. Gripping to the very last page, believe me. A great, unexpectedly engrossing and fascinating read.
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Highsmith, Patricia. The Talented Mr. Ripley
A cool, calculating man murders a friend simply to assume his identity and wealth, managing to stay one step ahead of the inquiring police force. Completely, delightfully evil and unexpected in its twists and turns.
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