Exposure; Mal Peet

Exposure by Mal Peet

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting reworking of Othello, with the action taking place in some unnamed South American country with serious race issues. OthelloOtello is a black footballsoccer star, traded to an almost all-white southern team. At a party to meet the Very Important People in his new city, he's introduced to DesdemonaDesmerelda (or Dezi), a Shakira-clone. IagoDiego, his manager, sets the tragedy in motion; the other players (Michael Cass, Hector Brabanto, Paul Faustino) all do their best to keep the plot rolling. There's even a Bianca, an Emilia and the Shakespeare PR company. Just in case you've missed the similarities. Oh, and some of the action takes place in movie/play format.

The problem is, it works. The themes of race, class and celebrity are timeless and Peet does a good job of showing that they haven't gone away. The setting - football/soccer, South America - keep the action just foreign enough to interest students, while more astute readers will realize that this could just as easily happen here in America.

According to the jacket, this is the third Paul Faustino novel (and yes, I know Faust isn't one of Shakespeare's creations). Guess I'll have to look up the first two.

View all my reviews.