Review of Deceit

[Jordyn Frake]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Deceit" by Vernon Baumrind.]

---

3 out of 5 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Deceit is a unique narrative that speaks to the worst fear of a spouse in marriage: adultery. The emotions relayed in this book come through clearly to the reader. It is a difficult feat to write about such personal events, especially when the trauma of it all still upsets the author. Having said that, the author does a great job describing these events, and the story is succinct enough that there are no dull periods. The author could have elaborated in some areas, but probably chose to stick to the story's facts instead. Overall I could feel the emotion and heartbreak of the author, and his intent for writing the book is clear.

There were a few grammatical errors, pg. 16 I found that a comma was needed "...few other short-lived relationships with Linda I knew.." between 'relationships' and 'with'. On pages 69 and 147 I found that quotes were missing or misplaced. The grammatical errors did not greatly affect the reading of the book.

I would give the book a 3/5. It was very factual, and as the reader, I understood the technical legal part of the story. At some points, I found the story to be redundant, relating to the author's emotions about his children. He mentions some of the same phrases repeatedly, which can be interpreted as his devotion to them, however, I felt the emotions were accurately conveyed and didn't need to be repeated so many times. It was easy to read and while not particularly climactic, the story was interesting. While it was interesting, I could not give it a higher rating due to the book being so condensed. There were some instances where the author summarized a conversation, and then later, what was actually said during the conversation was revealed and left me briefly confused. Writing the entire conversation would have been easier from a reader's perspective.

As mentioned, writing about such personal events could not have been easy, and the author also relayed the legal events in a way that was easily understood by the reader. The author did a great job with the timeline of events and ended the story on a positive note.

******
Deceit
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon