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A review by stevienlcf
The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida
4.0
In her latest in her series of American heroines who journey abroad to escape a domestic disappointment, Vida sets the tale in Casablanca. The unnamed, 33 year-old protagonist is traveling alone from Miami after the breakup of her marriage. She is a fraternal twin who lacked her sister’s beauty and personality, but attended an expensive all-girls school on a scholarship. Upon her arrival at her disappointingly modest hotel, her pack back with her laptop, passport and wallet is stolen. She accepts from the police chief a pack back, passport and wallet belonging to a Sabine Alyse.. Although she fears that the woman may have come to a bad end, she foolishly accepts the items without protest, concluding that the police chief was “communicating that a deal had been made and you were to uphold your end of it.”
Although she has been stripped of her identity, she blithely assumes various others – when she fears that Alyse’s credit cards will be cancelled, she obtains a job as a stand-in for a famous American actress and assumes the hotel room of the former stand-in who left after her affair with the married director was exposed. As the stand-in for a famous American actress, the protagonist enjoys the perks of celebrity: meeting Patti Smith backstage, dinner with a wealthy Russian businessman, the attention of tabloid reporters.
Vida tells the tale in second person which makes the taut narrative especially compulsive although the plot is thin. Impersonation builds upon impersonation as the protagonist, who has a penchant for disguise due to the telltale scars of teenage acne that mar her skin, and we see the emancipation of a woman who was accustomed to playing the stand-in.
Although she has been stripped of her identity, she blithely assumes various others – when she fears that Alyse’s credit cards will be cancelled, she obtains a job as a stand-in for a famous American actress and assumes the hotel room of the former stand-in who left after her affair with the married director was exposed. As the stand-in for a famous American actress, the protagonist enjoys the perks of celebrity: meeting Patti Smith backstage, dinner with a wealthy Russian businessman, the attention of tabloid reporters.
Vida tells the tale in second person which makes the taut narrative especially compulsive although the plot is thin. Impersonation builds upon impersonation as the protagonist, who has a penchant for disguise due to the telltale scars of teenage acne that mar her skin, and we see the emancipation of a woman who was accustomed to playing the stand-in.