The doctors in Veritas have told the truth, but Jack isn’t ready to give up. Their young son, Toby, has been bitten by a rare rabbit and infected with the deadly Xavier’s Plague. His wife, Helen, feels they ought to turn her into the Brutality Squad for her poetic lies, but they have bigger issues to worry about. Yet, that doesn’t stop Jack from becoming interested in Martina, a “dissembler” who writes verses for greeting cards. Jack gets satisfaction from his work as a “deconstructionist”, evaluating and destroying the art and literature from the “Age of Lies”. Without the little deceptions that preserve a person’s feelings, provide comfort, prevent conflicts, or make children happy (yes, there is a Santa Claus!), the world Jack lives in is an indifferent and emotionless place. It was as enjoyable, humorous, smart and heartbreaking as I remembered it.ģ8-year-old Jack Sperry lives in Veritas, a modern city where its inhabitants all undergo a painful shock treatment known as “the burn” when they are young in order to render them unable to tell a lie. I was feeling a need to revisit old favorites and couldn’t resist picking up this 1992 Nebula Award winner from the library.
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