My Life as a Fake (2003)

I thought this would be more fun than it was. ( )

A great story about literary snobs written in a way that carries you along and at the same time ensures you learn an bit of Malaysian and Australian history. ( )

I think I would have rated this book higher except for the fact that the ending left me feeling a bit empty. Is this a reworking of Frankenstein. I hadn't thought about it until I read the Shelley quote at the start of the book. A nice idea and quite often people do get consumed with a monster of their own creation and gradually grow to resent it. The character of the editor presumable was supposed to be the main character however we don't really find out much about her. As you can tell I am in a few minds about this book which kind of reflects the feeling of the book itself. Yes the plot is intriguing and it will keep you glued and there are some lovely side stories and details typical of Carey. Some of the characters feel like they are not fully realised. Compare it to say Parrot and Olivier or Jack Maggs and the story is not as fully realised in my opinion. A very humble opinion in face of such a great author that is! ( )

Loved this book-especially fascinating as based on a real incident

While other reviewers consider this book confusing, I disagree and find it masterful. There are some shifting dialogues, but with one of the character's speech always typically (linguistically) marked, the careful reader should not lose track. An absolutely great read, with a great deal of humour and quite a pinch of horror.

The story is framed by the hunt and wish of a young female editor, Sarah, to discover a great, unknown poet and make a scoop. She stumbles upon Chubb who leads the miserable life of an absolute loser in Kuala Lumpur. Despite her travel companion's attempts to save her from herself and Chubb, whom he seems to know all about, Sarah is sure she's onto her great discovery. Chubb carefully entices her to listen to his life story, holding the supposedly great works out as bait.

Chubb is an outcast. In his youth he wrote a pastiche of some poetry of a friend, attributing / publishing those poems under the pseudonym Bob McCorkle. This McCorkle, shows up in flesh and blood, claiming to be the author and starts haunting and causing havoc in Chubb's life. McCorkle kidnaps Chubb's daughter and disappears to southeast Asia, where Chubb eventually tracks him down, and manages to liberate his child, who is completely estranged from him. When Sarah meets Chubb, many years later, Chubb is revered by his wife and daughter, who guard his works like guardian angels.

The novel has stark overtones, reminding us of Conrad's Asian and African novels and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. McCorkle is like an evil genii, called up or into existence by Chubb. Originally, Chubb created McCorkle, or so he thought, and tracking down his malicious creation reverberates the hunt for the monster of Frankenstein.

There are several other, remaining strands. The role of Sarah's travel companion is not very clear. He draws her attention to Chubb, apparently casually, but fully and knowingly of who Chubb is. He acts a bit like Sarah's mentor. The novel extensively explores issues of authorship and copyrights, and the moral rights attached to that.

Throughout the book, Chubb is put forward as an utterly repulsive figure. Repeatedly, we are confronted with his legs, covered with pustules and boils, his miserable life style, his run-down clothes and even his deteriorated English. Nobody wants to have anything to do with him, except for the deluded, misguided, his wife (apparently), his daughter (supposedly) and desperate Sarah. ( )