A strange not-really-novel. More a centered but episodic satire of serial killer obsessions, late 80s early 90s academia, postmodern theory, and the conventions of the mystery/thriller genre. I imagine this to have been a therapeutic exercise for Palliser, but it's fun for the reader who has some knowledge of all these things, too. ( )

So, Father's Day - also Bloomsday, it turns out - what's a doting Dad to do? Me, I spent most of it on the porch enjoying the low clouds, the cool breeze, the distant cries of unicyclists on the Square and read Betrayals by Charles Palliser. Eventually I went inside and read it some more, because the grey clouds did what grey clouds do and chased even the unicyclists away.

Betrayals was an unalloyed pleasure from first to last, and a reread at that. Since at least two of the disparate ten chapters are devoted in part to abstruse literary theory where the pleasure of reading is likened to an orgasm and reader and text can be, in assorted variations, phallic or emasculated, and in demanding answers from this book I'm being authoritatively phallic and in concealing these answers the book is being deceitfully phallic or silent and phallic or wordless and emasculated and, yes it's wall to wall phalluses at times, wrestling with phalluses, worshipping phalluses and occasionally lopping the unfortunate phalluses off. Let us ponder for a moment the similarity of phallus and fallacy. I bet Derrida liked that one.

So much for the literary theory sections, which also, it should be stated, incorporates poisonous academic rivalry, half-mad, half-depraved philosophers, murder, suicide, attempted murder and even a spot of plagiarism. This isn't even the start, that would be the obituary with the little sting in the tail, something of a theme with this book, then there's the Christie-esque story of travellers caught in a snowstorm and some tales within tales. Mysteries, murders, betrayals, lies, confessions and a parade of the least reliable narrators this side of Pinnochio's nose, constantly betraying themselves and each other with slip-ups, omissions and general cluelessness. In fact, the only narrator prone to telling the truth is the diarist in the longest, arguably central, chapter, and he has some difficulty telling fact from fiction, and befriends someone with a tendency to blend fiction with fact.

This is a reread from me, and fortunately I remembered that you will not end this book with the mysteries solved. Some, yes, some, no, some you're not too sure of. Perhaps the text supplies you with everything you need, perhaps not, I certainly haven't worked it out yet if it does. What it is is immensely clever and fun, pastiching a variety of modern genres, satirising the worlds of academia and publishing, interrogating the divide between true crime and fictional crime as well as high art and entertainment. You'll either run a mile from this or find it the most fun you can have on a rainy Father's Bloomsday when the unicyclists are out, but if you work out who lured the old lady to her doom and why, please let me know. ( )

Though brilliant in the embedded plot twists and intertwining, I felt that the author was 'Too Clever by Half' and lost me (and most readers I'm sure). I felt that I caught some but not all of the inter-relationships between the separate stories in this novel. This left me frustrated that there were connections I know I should have seen, but that I didn't connect and so only understood the top two-thirds of the total plot twists and tricks.

I think this is a very well written book, but to be appreciated, I think it would be wise to read in a lierature class when sub-plots and plot connections are brought into the light of day. Otherwise, I fear many will feel as I do that it was just too convoluted to grasp completely. ( )

A marvellous, dizzying post-modern romp, a series of entwined and multilayered self-referencing stories, this is a great read. For most of the book I had no idea what was going on, but I certainly had fun trying to find out.

The headache I got from trying to work my way back up through some layered narrations was worth it too. A story written by two narrators, where the characters tell stories about further characters telling stories... Worthy of Scheherazade.

I spent quite a while flicking back and forth between chapters as I was reading it, and then again when I finished it and found the index of characters at the back, putting things together. An excellent read, highly recommended. ( )

Vreemd, in het begin lijken het allerlei lossen verhalen maar er zijn verschillende links te ontdekken. Ik ben er nog niet helemaal uit welke dat zijn - herlezen is niet zo'n slecht idee. Post-modernisme: textualiteit, alles is gelinkt aan andere dingen. ( )