From Publishers Weekly
Murray's latest, following the PEN/Faulkner Award–winning
The Caprices (2002) and
A Carnivore's Inquiry (2005), opens in the summer of 1963, as art and antiquities dealer Rupert Brigg travels to Athens to scout out ancient artifacts on behalf of his millionaire uncle, William. Rupert, who narrates icily in sharp contrast to his garrulous personality, connects with Steve Kelly, a canny journalist with deep contacts. The scene shifts to the island of Aspros, where Rupert encounters a coterie of expatriates that includes the sculptor Jack Weldon, who, despite art world recognition, spends most of his time faking up Achilles and Diomedes, and Rupert's romantic interest, the withering, erratic Olivia. Just as Rupert is deciding whether or not he has come up with the archeological find of the century—a spurious second century A.D. torso dredged up in a zucchini field—the offstage murder of a prominent character is phoned in by Steve Kelly. One by one, Rupert's own secrets (a stifled childhood, a spectacularly failed marriage) are slowly revealed, showcasing Murray's narrative cunning, and setting the narrative's pulse racing. Rupert's true identity is the book's parallel mystery, and Murray has one believing that discretion may be the soul of fraudulence until the ambiguous dénouement, which leaves readers to re-evaluate the pieces of plot for authenticity.
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From Booklist
*Starred Review* Murray's latest novel tells the story of Rupert Briggs, a recently divorced man who, in the summer of 1963, heads off to Greece to find new items for his uncle's art collection. But, like quite a few things in this beautifully written book, the title is deceiving; although it does refer to dubious works of art, it also (and primarily) refers to Rupert himself, a man who isn't quite what he appears to be. There's also friendly Steve Kelly, who may not be merely the journalist he claims to be. In fact, the story itself is something of a forgery, a psychological thriller posing as a gentle travelogue, a fairly dark voyage of self-discovery posing as a relatively light story of comic misadventure. Rupert is an intricately designed, intriguingly presented character: we know we like him, but we also know there are plenty of things about himself he isn't telling us (including, perhaps, the truth about the death of his young son). Murray does a lovely job of transporting us to mid-1960s Greece, a country teetering on the edge of political upheaval; unlike the people, this place, which no longer exists, feels entirely genuine. Forgery is a deeply complex, emotionally and intellectually rewarding novel about the lengths people can go to to make themselves into the people they wish they were. Pitt, David
