Review by Amanda Hampson

Dyer is a writer’s writer and I have to declare myself at the outset as someone who thinks he is an absolute genius. He has the capacity to deliver stories, like those in Yoga For People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It, that have you weeping with laughter, as well as the most poignant, beautifully crafted prose in his stunning book about jazz But Beautiful.

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi is a two-part novel or perhaps two novellas,  inspired by Thomas Mann’s famous work. In the first part, we accompany the almost middle-aged and always reluctant journalist, Jeffrey Atman, as he takes his newly dyed hair on a junket to Venice to cover the Biennale.  Avoiding the harsh reality of his paid commission, Jeff joins a swarm of wannabes who dash from one party to the next swilling bellini like well-heeled pigs at various troughs. At one of these parties he meets the girl in the yellow dress who quickly becomes the centre of his attentions as they get down and get dirty.

In part two, a different (more Geoff) travel journalist is sent on assignment to Varanasi, a holy city in India. Here, after some initial resistance to the mayhem of that city, he proceeds to delve into and embrace some deeper aspect of it and almost goes a little nuts. 

The plots of Dyer’s work might sound under-whelming, but the writing is always first-class; complex, clever with precise prose, snappy, funny dialogue and searing wit.

Amanda Hampson is the author of The Olive Sisters and Two for the Road and also runs fiction and memoir writing workshops:www.thewriteworkshops.com.