Book Review: Deceptive Calm

oh what a tangled web we weave...and she forgot to untangle it at the end.

Deceptive Calm is an intriguing title, but I am still ambivalent about its pertinence to the story Patricia Skipper tells. Deception is indeed a hallmark of the lives of the primary characters, while it is hard to ascribe the term “calm” to the period of racial bigotry they live in or to Vanessa Cordon/Vanessa Vaughn/Vanessa Van Westerkamp’s life and struggles. While reading the first section of the book, I felt impressed with the author’s literary skills, which were building Vanessa’s world in vivid outlines and vignettes and escorting the twice-orphaned, unguided young woman through misunderstandings into the choice for the deception of the entire world. I felt betrayed in the second section, as the literary skill remained, but I could not get past the sense that I was reading a trashy summer beach romance paperback plot. In the third section, I felt rushed through an unbelievable private homicide investigation into a “happily ever after” that gave me whiplash and left several serious legal cliffhangers. A sequel could surely be written about how all the actors disentangled themselves from the civil and religious penalties they had incurred in order to actually enjoy that fairytale ending.

The story brings up many important questions with which society still wrestles: illegal immigration; discrimination based on gender, religion, and race in both society and the workforce; promiscuity; abortion access and its psychological effects; the proper nature of sexual behavior in marriage; the plight of orphans; careers versus relationships; corruption in government, and more. Resolve any of them directly it does not, but it does offer the chance for the reader to reflect. The one that caught my attention most, because I see it addressed less often, was the scene in which Vanessa goes to a Catholic priest ready to divorce her husband on account of his predatory sexual behavior towards her. The advice she receives both from him and from her promiscuous girlfriend puts her in the wrong. Unfortunately, I personally know of at least one instance where someone in the same time period, the 1970s-90s, received the same advice. It does not represent authentic Catholic teaching but a misconception of Catholic teaching.

I do give Deceptive Calm 3 out of 5 stars because it was a well-edited, enjoyable read, sufficiently informative for historical fiction, and unafraid to highlight sensitive topics with a sampling of their pros and cons. I believe good literature takes the temperature of society and gives us the chance to reflect on how we can adjust and improve. I hope that readers of Deceptive Calm will do exactly that. However, I can think of a long list of superior books I would recommend long before I suggest this one.

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Deceptive Calm (Barnes & Noble Edition)