Book Review of Jeffrey Archer's "And Thereby Hangs a Tale"

Only hard core Archer fans would be able to enjoy this anthology of very short stories. Others may endure the experience for the sake of the author’s reputation. In fact these fifteen tales allegedly “gathered together" during Archer’s “travels around the world”fail to grip.

The word short story is a sacred term and the form has been explored by masters like Poe, Maugham, O Henry and Maupassant and Tolstoy to name a few. In fact we have great Indian short story writers like Tagore, Preem Chand, Mulk Raj Anand, R K Narayan and Raja Rao. The Peerage he might have achieved but into this list of Peers Jeffrey Archer will never enter. The short story is not just about a twist in the end. The ending gives joy only if the story is built up right. This Archer successfully fails in doing.

With this view about Archer and his ability in short story writing why did I read the stories in this book with interest? I can only explain why I read through them all by comparing this collection with a gift hamper of éclairs.You just can’t resist it! The milk-chocolate covering is quite tasty and as the tongue explores the sweetness, it hits the pure chocolate center and then it’s over. Some of these stories are so exquisite but they end almost before they have reached a stage where we’ve started enjoying the plot.

The next major dampener is the fact that the endings are so obvious. How much can mastery over words compensate for absolute lack of complexity in the plot. Archerism’s like “it was therefore no surprise for anyone” take cliché to newer heights. In fact there are truly no surprises for anyone, least of all the poor reader who is dogged in his determination to finish the book and claim that he has read the latest Jeffrey Archer. The beauty is that his worst critics love him for the magic of his story telling abilities. In fact Archer does well in longer fiction. His recent novel (though not his latest) “Prisoners of Birth” is a classic in its own right.

But, “Thereby Hangs a Tale” does have a few tasty morsels. Stuck on you, and Where There’s a will have been crafted well. I personally liked the ingenuity of the ending in High Heels. Blind Date, Double Cross and Politically Correct are so obvious that they are boring.

The Queen’s Birthday Telegram may be a favorite for all, though I found it too mundane if somewhat unbelievable that a husband would never know a difference of five years in age between himself and his wife.

I personally felt A Good Eye should have been titled “The Arsonist and the Gullible Priest.” Members Only is made of the kind of the gooey sentimentalism that Archer excels in dishing out. But that does not work well in Caste-off where he gets it all wrong as usual. I don’t know why Archer goes out of the way to irritate Indians when we possibly worship him and are also erudite enough to catch him out on his slightest mistake. He mixes up the Hero’s surname with first name and also makes a mockery of the Hindu Custom of taking seven steps together during the Marriage ceremony.

No Room at the Inn and The Luck of the Irish are so blasé that they do not even register. The Undiplomatic Diplomat and I will Survive are too contrived to be actual real life incidents. They must be development of theories that Archer must have heard at his club or a bar.

Better the Devil you know is different, original and worthy of exploration as a short novel. The concept is too good to be exhausted so easily.

The book is no more than a pot boiler for Archer. May he write better novels in future and cease these perilous experimentations with the Short Story.