Jeff in Venice
by Geoff Dyer
FICTION
CANONGATE
02/04/09
With the gleeful awfulness of its title’s puns, this novel almost dares you to cast it aside. But, once in, you’ll be hooked by a playful, fictive intelligence that flickers over every page, as bright as the lights of Diwali, as intoxicating as any Bellini, as shape-shifting as any Hindu god, as colourful as Murano glass.
The novel begins by following the eponymous Jeff, a journalist, on an assignment. He’s covering the worldly splendour of the Venice Biennale. There’s a sudden switch in the second half. Is Jeff still the narrator? It’s hard to tell, but we’re taken to the bewilderingly otherworldly holy city of Varanasi, and follow a spellbinding trajectory of spiritual indulgence and redemption.
David Lovely, Waterstone's Manchester
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