The Trick of It [Mass Market Paperback]

Michael Frayn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1995

An authoress is invited by a lecturer who has devoted his life to studying and teaching her nine novels and 27 short stories. As she arrives to speak to his students he feels he has a chance to resolve the one remaining mystery at the heart of things.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As wickedly funny as it is intelligent and perceptive, this first work of fiction in 16 years by the British playwright ( Noises Off ; The Benefactors ) and novelist ( Sweet Dreams ) is a reader's delight. In a series of letters to a colleague in Australia, the nameless narrator, a literary critic at a provincial British university, gradually unfolds the story of his marriage--a dream come true that has turned into a nightmare. Having based his reputation on his literary criticism of the works of the novelist JL, the narrator invites her to speak to his students. She comes; he falls in love but bumbles the aftermath of their coupling; he pursues her nonetheless; they marry. But the union of writer and critic is not ideal. With impeccable timing, Frayn gradually reveals the academic's conundrum: though his wife is colorless and dull in person, she has the trick of turning life into eventful fiction, while he, poor man, can neither influence what she writes (he tries) nor write as well--in fact, write at all (he tries that too). Mordantly witty, the letters disclose first the writer's glee at having "cornered the market, as it were," then his desperation: he loses his job since it's unseemly that "a husband expound his own wife." The author has the trick his protagonist lacks: he can take a serious theme, spin it out into deliciously calibrated comedy, then darken it with a touch of rue. The poignant ending adds perfection to this flawless comedy of manners. First serial to the New Yorker.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The "trick" involves writing a novel, an objective that eludes Frayn's academic narrator, RD. Having bedded and wed his pet subject, successful writer JL, RD also fails to see his "careful and sympathetic suggestions" incorporated into her new novel. His despised family even becomes the subject of her next one. The comic possibilities seem endless, but there's scarcely a chuckle here. (A remark about the "taboo against intercourse with an author on your own reading-list" is typical of the humor.) What's more, the characters are as bland as their initials. Frayn scored a hit with his screenplay for the British comedy Clockwise (1986), but Trick misses by a mile.
- Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140126511
• ISBN-13: 978-0140126518
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,237,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Frayn was born in London in 1933 and began his career as a journalist on the Guardian and the Observer. His novels include Towards the End of the Morning, The Trick of It and Landing on the Sun. Headlong (1999) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, while his most recent novel, Spies (2002), won the Whitbread Novel Award. His fifteen plays range from Noises Off to Copenhagen and most recently Afterlife.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Envy as Self-destruction, July 19, 2001

By 

Andrew Karbovsky - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trick of It (Paperback)

Written in a form of protagonist's letters to his Australian friend, the novel is an subtle and psychologically exact depiction of moral degradation of an ordinary man (not a bad or evil one in his essence but somewhat bilious and self-absorbed) afflicted with envy. He has received a windfall of love, goodness and generosity, but being unable to surmount personal jealosity he loses respect of his colleagues and even his job itself and turns a sting of his malice against his wife and only friend until this destruction becomes his self-destruction.

An excellent reading: exquisite form, rich language and characters that remain in memory.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Metafictive delight, January 31, 2003

By 

Steven Reynolds (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Trick of It (Paperback)

This is a story of hero(ine) worship, a disastrous relationship, and the destructive power of envy, told in the form of letters from an English academic who becomes romantically involved with the famous author who is the subject of his studies. As in "Headlong", Frayn gives us a flawed protagonist we both like and despise. We can see the value of what he wants and wish him well in his quest, but then can only look on in agonized impotence as he goes about securing his object by entirely inappropriate means. The comedy of the scenario would be enough, but Frayn has more on his mind. This is a novel about novels, about writing. It's a kind of metafiction which explores "the trick" of fiction. What is it that writers do? How do they create their stories? Do they invent? Or do they plunder their own lives and the lives of those around them? In the manner of most good metafiction, this one raises more questions than it answers. In the end, the origin and status of what we have just read is never quite resolved. Is this simply a collection of the protagonist's letters? Or is it the 'factual novel' he has lately been writing in competition with his wife? Or is it in fact a novel written by his wife, based on their shared experiences? Or one written by his Australian academic friend to whom these 'letters' were addressed? Or even one by the biographer who was urgently trying to locate them for his own dire ends? We never really know - which is part of the trick of it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, January 29, 2007

By 

Book Lover (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trick of It: A Novel (Paperback)

Different from Frayn's other novels. I absolutely loved this book - read it in about 6 hours straight. It's psychologically engaging. Great to see the inside of a relationship from a male perspective.