Book review: The true deceiver by Tove Jansson
"In the deep winter snows of a Swedish hamlet, a strange young woman fakes a break-in at the house of an elderly artist in order to persuade her that she needs companionship. But what does she hope to gain to gain by doing this? And who ultimately is deceiving whom?" (From the back cover).
Background story:
When I was in London last year, I visited the only gay bookstore there called Gay's the word. I was really excited to be there and my girlfriend and I spent a while looking around. Unlike many other gay bookstores, they had quite a broad lesbian section and among those books was The true deceiver by Tove Jansson. In fact, the novel had a recommended sticker on the cover. I thought I couldn't go wrong with this book. How wrong I was...
The plot:
The plot is pretty much summed up by the blurb I posted from the back cover of the novel. It's about every day life in a little village in winter, and two unusual women who's paths cross, and they get to know each other, unaware of the other's true intentions.
The verdict:
I was hoping the story of the two women, their intentions and their relationship would be an interesting and intriguing tale. Unfortunately, I found the whole storyline, and pretty much the entire book, rather boring. Perhaps it is because I'm used to reading suspense novels or the fact that I do not really care about all the details of life in a small village. Nevertheless, the book, which I read in a couple of hours, left me very disappointed. Unless simple village life fascinates you, I would give this book a miss.
The gayness factor:
There is absolutely nothing gay about this novel, besides the author.
This book was reviewed as part of the LGBT reading challenge 2011 and the GLBT 2011 challenge.
Background story:
When I was in London last year, I visited the only gay bookstore there called Gay's the word. I was really excited to be there and my girlfriend and I spent a while looking around. Unlike many other gay bookstores, they had quite a broad lesbian section and among those books was The true deceiver by Tove Jansson. In fact, the novel had a recommended sticker on the cover. I thought I couldn't go wrong with this book. How wrong I was...
The plot:
The plot is pretty much summed up by the blurb I posted from the back cover of the novel. It's about every day life in a little village in winter, and two unusual women who's paths cross, and they get to know each other, unaware of the other's true intentions.
The verdict:
I was hoping the story of the two women, their intentions and their relationship would be an interesting and intriguing tale. Unfortunately, I found the whole storyline, and pretty much the entire book, rather boring. Perhaps it is because I'm used to reading suspense novels or the fact that I do not really care about all the details of life in a small village. Nevertheless, the book, which I read in a couple of hours, left me very disappointed. Unless simple village life fascinates you, I would give this book a miss.
The gayness factor:
Scandinavian author Tove Jansson
There is absolutely nothing gay about this novel, besides the author.
This book was reviewed as part of the LGBT reading challenge 2011 and the GLBT 2011 challenge.
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