The Grift: A Novel (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ginsberg's second novel is an entertaining whodunit and an invigorating tale about a damaged young storefront psychic who learns how to live truthfully. Although she has worked as a psychic since childhood, Marina Marks does not believe that psychic abilities exist. Instead, she uses her intuition and observational skills to hoodwink her clients. Arriving in Southern California from Florida, she acquires a new set of clients: Madeleine, the hostess, desperate to maintain her hold on her wealthy husband; Cooper, in love with a psychiatrist who refuses to admit that he is gay; and Eddie, a married womanizer frustrated by his inability to seduce Marina. Ginsberg deftly shows how Marina cultivates her clients' dependency—and her own income—from their desperation, as well as how easily her clients' trust in her deteriorates. Soon, the threat of violence that Marina left Florida to escape flares up anew, and Marina begins to suspect, to her confusion and dismay, that she may actually be psychic. Ginsberg thoroughly exploits her clever premise, and Marina's handling of her troubles—romantic, professional, mystical—ring true through to the redemptive end. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Ginsberg’s novel mixes crime, romance, and the amusing question: What happens when a con-artist psychic actually develops psychic powers? The sympathetic treatment of a psychic, who may actually have “the gift” whether or not she believes in it or wants it, proved to be a tricky issue for reviewers, despite good reviews across the board. And any reviewer who found a grifter distasteful was won over by Ginsberg’s ability to make Marina a fully developed, convincing character capable of change and growth. A few critics cited Marina’s vision—and the personality change she undergoes—as a little clichéd, but readers willing to approach the novel with an open mind will recognize that Marina is as much a victim of The Grift as any of her clients.
Copyright 2008 Bookmarks Publishing LLC --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; Reprint edition (August 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307382737
• ISBN-13: 978-0307382733
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #313,958 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When a psychic with dubious psychic powers is suddenly blessed with true psychic powers, August 23, 2008

By	Yesh Prabhu, author of The Beech Tree (Plainsboro, New Jersey) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Grift: A Novel (Hardcover)

When Marina Marks, the heroine of "The Grift", was five years old, her mother takes her to a seaside tarot card reader and fortune teller named Madame Z to have her fortune read. Madame Z goes into a sort of trance, trembles, and tells the mother that the girl "has the gift", and that she will be a psychic with real psychic powers. But the mother is neither impressed with the drama and the show of Madame Z, nor does she believe her. She grabs her daughter and leaves the psychic in a hurry, muttering: "This crazy freak doesn't know what she's talking about."
Nevertheless, she buys a deck of tarot cards for Marina, and the girl starts using the cards first as a hobby, and learns very quickly that she can earn a decent income if she takes up fortune telling as her profession.

Marina tells fortunes mainly based on her intuition, and acute observations of her client's physical attributes such as mannerisms and demeanor. She even manages to earn reputation as a good psychic. A few years after her mother dies, however, Marina relocates from Florida to San Diego. Then she is astonished one day to discover that she had suddenly developed true psychic powers, and that in her visions she could see her clients' past, present and future very clearly. But she doesn't realize that she should use her new-found psychic powers with care and that she should also use tact and diplomacy while telling a client's fortune. Instead, she starts telling fortunes rather bluntly, thereby scaring her clients away. And her business, which she had carefully built up over the years, begins to slide down and disintegrate.

The novel has several interesting, well-drawn and well-developed characters such as Cooper, a handsome gay man in love with a closeted psychiatrist, and Madeline, a young gold-digger married to an old but fabulously rich man. Madeline thinks she can save her marriage by conceiving a child of this tycoon with roving eyes. And there is Rosa, a sympathetic woman who operates a beach side stand selling coffee, pastries and cookies. All these characters ring true to life, and are believable.

Written in simple but elegant prose, the novel builds up momentum slowly at first, and then begins to grip the readers mind, becoming brighter and funnier as it progresses, and then dazzles:
"It wasn't her way, for example, to go for a big score with a client and then never see that client again. Hers was a slow build of confidence and a fostering of need. Many of her clients treated her with the same deference to authority that they showed their doctors. Marina had always believed that it took more skill to develop trust than inspire fear. It paid better in the long run, too, and was much less likely to end with angry clients feeling as though they'd been shafted."

This charming, funny and very witty novel is at heart a conundrum. Marina's newly acquired psychic power should have boosted her fortune telling business. It should have been a blessing; instead it acts like a curse. Written with deep insight into human psychology and behavior, Debra Ginsberg's "The Grift" is a true marvel.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I've read all..., December 21, 2008

By	Jill Meyer (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Grift: A Novel (Hardcover)

of Debra Ginsberg's work, three non-fiction books about her family and two stand-alone novels. The plot of The G(r)ift is best described by other reviewers, but I will note that the plot, the characters, and the good writing add up to a very good, hard-to-put down novel.

The "tag" lines suggested by the review model give "psychics", "suspense" and other like words to describe this work. I suppose it's all of that, but basically Ginsberg's writing comes down to simply an interesting story about people.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Grift, September 29, 2008

By	iubookgirl - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Grift: A Novel (Hardcover)

Marina Marks has never believed in the gift she claims to have. She has relied on her honed powers of observation to make her living as a psychic. Suddenly, however, her purported gift becomes real. Debra Ginsberg's The Grift charts the journey of Marina and a handful of her clients over a two year period in which all their lives undergo drastic changes. Ginsberg expertly weaves these threads together and shows how small the world really is, even in a city like San Diego.

Despite their many, many flaws, Ginsberg characters are likable. Their struggles are typical--fertility, adultery, sexuality--and their reactions, however unfortunate, are fairly typical as well. You can identify with them, and it keeps you engaged. As Marina comes closer to discovering her true gift, her clients begin to fall apart, and they all blame Marina. By the time tragedy strikes, anyone could be responsible. Ginsberg keeps the reader guessing throughout the novel. I was constantly wondering what would happen next as several mini-mysteries evolved and resolved throughout the narrative. I thoroughly enjoyed The Grift and recommend it highly to other readers.