Clifford Irving (1930–2017)

Stupendously entertaining account of their attempted fraud. Two obviously intelligent men doing the stupidest things possible. If they’d been morons they could never have attempted anything on this scale, but their intelligence gave them the ability to encompass their own doom.

It’s a confession, but there’s a catch. It’s written like a novel. It has direct reported speech, pacing, tension etc. The book appears to be the same text that was previously published as ‘What Really show more Happened: His Untold Story of the Hughes Affair’ and ‘Project Octavio: The Story of the Howard Hughes Hoax’. There it’s credited to ‘Clifford Irving with Richard Suskind’. Suskind’s name has been removed from this edition for reasons that are unclear to me, but Irving mentions him in the Author’s Note, saying “many of the passages in this book which deal with shared experiences have been written by him from my point of view.” Well, we call that fiction, don’t we? I think this may technically be a novel. I think Irving is playing a game with the reader. He comes off rather badly and makes no attempt to justify himself or portray himself in a good light. Or rather, there are no passages that do so transparently. He talks about the Autobiography (which I haven’t read) as being a mixture of facts and also lies made of ‘whole cloth’. If the lies here are also made of whole cloth then it’s very difficult to tell where they begin and end. show less

The Angel of Zin by Irving Clifford was published in 1986. I'm glad it's still in print or back in print, because it is, quite simply, the best book I've read on the Holocaust. The
characters are very real and nuanced; the plot is breathtaking; and it is a well-drawn picture of how people think and act in the most extreme of horrible circumstances and history. I don't think I'll ever forget the characters or the story. I'm reading this just after finishing The Lost by Daniel Mendelsohn and show more the two books complement each other - the nonfiction and the fiction, blending into a revelation of truth. show less

This is an entertaining look at a career forger's life, relationships, and experience in the art world, both as a legitimate artist and as a forger. I loved it. The book is well-researched; the author was friends with Elmyr de Hory (the forger) and verified (to the extent possible) de Hory's accounts of events in his life. De Hory was a global traveler during his forging years, so the book takes us all over the world and describes his interactions with artists, art dealers, and eventually show more his "partners" (from whom he often tried to distance himself). It was also a very interesting look at art dealing, art experts, and auction houses.

As entertaining a character as de Hory was, however, his life was sad and tragic. I found myself alternating between feeling bad for him and feeling as though he had opportunities to change his situation. He (and one of his despised partners) were both so outrageous that they sometimes came across as caricatures, but the author verified witness accounts of their behaviors, so they were nevertheless believable.

The epilogue to the book (in which the author reveals some details that he couldn't reveal in the first publication of the book) was also very interesting and was necessary (in my opinion) to fully understanding the whole story.

I bought this book on Kindle and did notice some typos and formatting issues with the pictures of the forgeries, but it was still readable in this format.

Follow-up: In the epilogue, the author mentions "legal issues" with his publisher over another book about Howard Hughes. I decided to Google that to see what he was referring to. It turns out that he was accused of, and eventually admitted to, forging an autobiography of Howard Hughes. In the epilogue to Fake!, Irving describes how Elmyr de Hory did not like the way he was portrayed in Fake!. I guess this does make me a little skeptical of the author, even though I don't know if that skepticism is with merit because Fake! did seem well-researched and doesn't seem to be surrounded with controversy. However, I am revising my star count from 5 to 3 because I don't feel entirely confident in the book's accuracy. Prior to reading about the Howard Hughes autobiography scandal, however, I found the book believable. So take these words with a grain of salt. show less

In one of the most bizarre publishing schemes ever, an author convinced a publisher that the rich recluse Howard Hughes had designated him his agent to negotiate the publication of his autobiography. Over the next few months, the author produced signed documents from Hughes and secured a contract and a large advance. The problem was that Clifford Irving, the author turned purported agent, had never met Howard Hughes.

Irving delivered a manuscript that he himself had written. From material show more about Hughes that Irving was able to gather, much of it public but obscure, other from private sources, Irving wrote the so-called autobiography and pocketed the publisher's money. In the end, as is widely known, Irving was caught and found guilty of fraud.

After serving his prison sentence, Irving published his first person account surrounding the fake Hughes' autobiography, "The Hoax." In it, he describes the audacious, and frequently preposterous, story of deluding the publisher, crafting the book, and pocketing the money.

The book is extremely entertaining. Irving's chutzpah is at once endearing and terrifying. His accomplices, his co-author/researcher Richard Suskind and his wife (now ex-wife) Edith, seem drawn in to the plot by Irving's charm and determination as much as by their own greed.

It should be noted that I question the veracity of Irving's account. Frequently, it struck me as implicitly self-serving, glossing over some rough edges. I also thought that it was designed to cover whatever roles other people had in the hoax, relocating most of the blame on Irving's own shoulders. Irving claims he is telling the truth; I believe that the title, "The Hoax," is likely applicable to both the Hughes' autobiography and this book.

This opinion in no way diminished my enjoyment in reading the account. Irving is clearly a talented author, with a knack for developing characters and constructing a gripping and dramatic narrative. After reading this book, I really wanted to read Irving's manuscript "The Autobiography of Howard Hughes"; I'm sure it's a gripping page-turner as well. Like "The Hoax," I wouldn't believe most of it, but I'd enjoy it. show less