Part thriller, part gothic tragedy, part comedy of manners, Mistaken also brilliantly evokes the divided Dublin of the 1960s and the trauma of adolescence
Neil Jordan was born in 1950 in Sligo. He is the author of several critically acclaimed novels including The Past, The Dream of a Beast, Sunrise with Sea Monster, Shade and Night in Tunisia, a collection of short stories which won the Guardian Fiction Prize. He has written, directed and produced a large number of award-winning films including The Crying Game, Michael Collins, The End of the Affair and most recently Ondine. He lives in Dublin.
Of all his books, Mistaken is perhaps the most universal - funny, mysterious and ultimately moving - The TimesNothing less than a plangent, incisive poetic wonder of a book - Patrick McCabe, Irish TimesThe novel is so precisely written, in every detail, each syllable weighed, or so it feels that reading slowly, you find yourself watermarked by a tale you don't wish to put down, and can't bear to end . . . Two thing make this tale a stand-out read: First, Jordan's restraint . . . The other coup is the novel's structure - it is essentially an intimate revelation . . . unputdownable - ScotsmanWritten with great skill, confidence and vim . . . utterly convincing: full of subtlety, delicate, piercing prose, charming, lively dialogue and descriptive passages that are poetic, witty and acute. At times it has the pace of a thriller, yet for all its highly specific subject matter it still manages to achieve a feeling of spaciousness in which it is possible for the writer to ponder, with a bit of leisure, the definition of human nature. A fine achievement, a powerful, involving and beautifully written book about identity and loss - Financial TimesJordan is a fine writer - Time OutA powerfully atmospheric book which turns Dublin into a murky maze of madness and melancholy - Daily MailNeil Jordan has a good eye for visual detail - TLS*** a talented writer . . .
Kevin and Gerald grew up on opposite sides of the Dublin divide, both geographically and economically. Gerald lives with privilege, going to the best schools and heading for a career in the law. Kevin grows up in a tatty flat next to the home of the late Bram Stoker and is obsessed with the specter of Dracula. For much of their lives they never meet, but Dublin is a small city and as the two men become increasingly mistaken for each other, they are drawn ever closer. They look alike and even smell alike. At first it seems innocent enough: stealing each other's girlfriends, committing petty tomfoolery, and faking work for each other's employer. But as the Dublin bubble moves toward its inevitable pop, the lives of Gerald and Kevin grow increasingly darker, edging toward a tragedy for which neither is prepared. Verdict If you can get past the first hundred pages of confusingly jerky plot twists, this latest novel (after Shade) by award-winning producer-director Jordan (The Crying Game) morphs into a highly satisfying, darkly Irish thriller full of exquisite prose. It's definitely worth the reader's diligence. Recommended for Irish fiction fans.-Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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