Jeff Atman, a journalist, is in Venice to cover the opening of the Biennale. He's expecting to see a load of art, go to a lot of parties and drink too many bellinis. He's not expecting to meet the spellbinding Laura, who will completely transform his few days in the city.
Another city, another assignment: this time on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi. Amid the crowds, ghats and chaos of India's holiest Hindu city, a different kind of transformation lies in wait.
A beautifully told story of erotic love and spiritual yearning, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi is playful, stylish, sensual, comic, ingenious and utterly captivating. It confirms Geoff Dyer as one of Britain's most exciting writers.
The English writer Geoff Dyer delights in producing books that are unique, like keys.
The last 20 pages approach magnificence: a virtuosic melding of style and repertoire that come together as a sort of yogic "one."
(T)he joy of his writing at its best lies in not knowing what’s coming next, and in the fluent way it throws irreverence and transport together with a confessional ease that reflects the spirit of the age… In the weeks since I devoured
Jeff in Venice, I don’t think a day has passed without my thinking back to it.
Pico Iyer, New York Times Book ReviewYou’ll be hooked by a playful, fictive intelligence that flickers over every page.
David Lovely, Waterstone's Books QuarterlyDyer is more than a cult writer; he’s a virus, invading your system. You look at things differently, embracing the idiosyncratic, keeping the obvious at bay . . . vintage Dyer, painfully funny, slyly observant, brilliant, full of wild misery.
Lee Langley, SpectatorDyer’s prose always has a hint of intimacy … Memory, language and writing are all intricately and emotionally woven.
Mark Crees, Times Literary SupplementEngaging and funny . . . Dyer is a witty and concise observer of landscapes: social, geographical and emotional . . . [his] eccentric charm and barbed perceptiveness will hook you to the end.
Tim Teeman, The TimesSmart, provocative, often very funny, but ultimately deeply sobering,
Jeff in Venice is an early contender for the most original, and the cleverest, novel of the year.
Mick Brown, Daily TelegraphDelivered with laconic wit and an evocative sense of place, Dyer’s effortlessly readable prose is shot through with psychological insight, truth and an eye for travelogue detail.
Alan Chadwick, MetroDazzling and peculiar . . . A prodigious display of virtuosity.
Jan Morris, GuardianDyer is a smart, witty writer…, extraordinarily reflective, perceptive and funny…as well as a fine prose stylist. He’s a keen commentator on the ironies of contemporary life from the very first page.
Lionel Shiver, Financial TimesCleverly-penned . . . affirms Dyer’s place as one of Britain’s most witty and original writers; the lively prose, colourful characters and at times extremely poignant descriptions making for both a riveting and really quite brilliant read.
Camilla Pia, ListEntrancing . . . [Dyer] is a writer who resists categorization, who is constantly morphing from one thing to another…it takes talent to pull off a career like that, and Dyer has plenty of talent. His work is illusory yet real, funny but serious . . . [Jeff in Venice] is a haunted – and haunting – book.
Alex Bilmes, GQRaw and descriptive - this is a truly original piece of writing.
TatlerJeff in Venice is a love song to the pleasures of the phenomenal world, very fast and very funny . . . [
Death in Varanasi] is Dyer at his very best: philosophical, astute, unstructured, oscillating between surface and depth, between the casual and the universal.
Jonathan Gibbs, IndependentGeoff Dyer is a true original -- one of those rare voices in contemporary literature that never ceases to surprise, disturb and delight. Risky, breathtakingly candid, intellectual, cool, outrageous, laconic and sometimes shocking, Geoff Dyer is a must-read for our confused and perplexing times
William BoydRiveting. I love this book. Moments of wit, humanity, and intelligence are to be found on every page here. Dyer can write as beautifully as Lawrence and Proust. I don't ever want to be without his brilliant mind to turn to.
Nadeem AslamGeoff Dyer is one of my favourite of all contemporary writers. I love his sense of the absurd, his pessimism mixed with robust good cheer, his beautifully crafted sentences, his jokes and his intelligence.
Jeff in Venice is a sad, funny, lyrical, furious story of an ordinary man's momentary redemption and decline. Please take the time to read it and fall under Dyer's spell.
Alain de BottonA haunting, if frequently hilarious, meditation on love and art, life and music, death and bananas, all reflected and refracted in the twinned mirror pools of Venice and Varanasi. I loved this book.
Joshua FerrisA riddle of a novel wrapped in a two part travelogue about losing oneself . . . the writing is discursive and full of bleak, often funny observations about the more jaded intersections of art and life.
Jennifer Higgie, FriezeDyer's ingenious linking of these contrasting narratives is indicative of his intelligence and stylistic grace, and his ability to evoke atmosphere with impressive clarity is magical. Both novellas ask trenchant philosophical questions, include moments of irresistible humor and offer arresting observations about art and human nature. . . . A work of exceptional resonance. [Starred review.]
Publishers WeeklyDyer is very funny, in both senses - sort of like a post-modern Kingsley Amis. His writing is acute and bad tempered in the great British tradition, and his prose is the equal of anyone in the country. A national treasure.
Zadie SmithJeff in Venice is serious fiction; learned travelogue; funny, arch and sad; a cynic's ascent into redemptive love and a stoner's descent into 'Gone-Native' madness. It drips with Geoff Dyer's derelict luminosity.
David MitchellA raucous delight.
Jeff in Venice is truly surprising - very funny, full of nerve, gutsy and delicious. Venice will never be the same again!
Michael Ondaatje
