The Deceptions

By: Jill Bialosky

Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers

An explosive tale of art and myth, desire and betrayal, from New York Times best-selling author Jill Bialosky

Something terrible has happened and I don’t know what to do.

An unnamed narrator’s life is unraveling. Her only child has left home, and her twenty-year marriage is strained. Anticipation about her soon-to-be-released book of poetry looms. She seeks answers to the paradoxes of love, desire, and parenthood among the Greek and Roman gods at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As she passes her days teaching at a boys’ prep school, spending her off-hours sequestered in the museum’s austere galleries, she is haunted by memories of a yearlong friendship with a colleague, a fellow poet struggling with his craft. As secret betrayals and deceptions come to light and rage threatens to overwhelm her, the pantheon of gods assume remarkably vivid lives of their own, forcing her to choose between reality and myth in an effort to free herself from the patriarchal constraints of the past and embrace a new vision for her future.

The Deceptions is a compelling and seductively told exploration of female sexuality and ambition as well as a human drama that dares to test the stories we tell ourselves. It is also a brilliant investigation of a life caught between the dueling magnetic poles of privacy and its appropriation in art and literature. Celebrated poet, memoirist, and novelist Jill Bialosky has reached new and daring heights in her boldest work yet.

©2022 Jill Bialosky (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Weak Character

I love the concept and much of the inner dialog that comprises the entire book. I was really disappointed by how she handled her betrayal. I don’t want to add a spoiler so I will just say I felt the author abandoned the reader with how all that was handled.

Loved it!

Thoroughly engaging. I can see that it might be particularly appealing to writers, academics, poets, or lovers of mythology or art.
I did find it fully absorbing- and found the narrator’s takes on marriage, teaching life, and motherhood poignant and funny.
I am still considering the ending- do I want more? Is it enough?