paling suka cerita mengenai Mark yang ga niat kuliah, pengen hidup nyantai sambil kerja di pabrik ban mobil seperti bapaknya. tapi si bapak yang sudah berusaha keras agar anaknya mendapatkan kehidupan yang lebih baik menyuruh Mark untuk bekerja di restoran selama liburan. dari tukang cuci piring Mark naik menjadi asisten Chef. Si Chef yang melihat bakat memasak Mark kemudian pada akhir masa kerja Mark menawarkannya untuk sekolah masak di Paris. Mark harus memilih untuk hidup santai di pabrik ban atau kerja keras menjadi Chef.cerita yang paling menyedihkan (dan bikin airmata menetes) adalah tentang seorang cowok anak pendeta yang naksir cewek imigran yang masih punya garis keturunan bangsawan Jerman. pacaran saat kuliah, kedua manusia ini kemudian dikejutkan dengan kehamilan si cewek. dengan memberanikan diri mereka menemui orang tua si cewek meminta restu untuk menikah. malam itu terakhir kalinya si cowok melihat gadis pujannya tersebut. setelah 10 tahun berlalu mereka berdua bertemu kembali saat berpapasan menyeberang jalan di Vancouver. Affair terjalin kembali, apalagi setelah si cowok mengetahui kalo anaknya masih hidup. Si cewek yang sudah menikah mengajukan tuntutan cerai kepada suaminya. Si suami menyetujui dengan syarat si anak ikut dengannya dan si ayah yang asli tidak boleh memberitahukan kebenarannya sama si anak. kebetulan si suami ini juga sangat sayang dengan anak tersebut. entah nasib yang tidak menyetujui kebersamaan mereka, si cewek kemudian meninggal dunia. si cowok yang tidak sanggup harus kembali hidup tanpa pasangan jiwanya kemudian memutuskan untuk bunuh diri.cerita yang paling lucu mengenai pasangan suami istri guru yang tiap tahun berlibur ke luar negeri. untuk tahun tersebut memutuskan berlibur ke Turki. dengan persiapan yang matang, termasuk mempelajari adat istiada di Turki, kedua pasangan ini pergi berlibur. di Turki mereka bertemu dengan orangtua murid mereka yang kaya dan sombong. saat kedua guru ini berniat untuk mengunjungi toko karpet, dengan pongah orangtua murid ini mengajak keduanya ke toko karpet terkenal dan berniat menunjukkan cara membeli yang benar kepada kedua guru ini. karena kesombongan dan ketidaktahuan si orangtua murid ini mengenai kebiasaan di Turki, mereka membuat si penjual karpet tersinggung sehinggal menjual karpet murah dengan harga mahal ke si orangtua murid, dan menjual karpet mahal dengan harga murah kepada pasangan guru. dan hal ini hanya disebabkan karena si orangtua murid menolak tawaran minum dari si pedagang, sedangkan si guru menerimanya karena sudah tahu kalo di Turki acara tawar menawar barang pasti dimulai dengan tawaran minuman!ada juga cerita menarik tentang perdana menteri yang terkenal antikorupsi disalah satu negara di Afrika. ahhh.. udah deh. pokoknya semua cerita pendek dibuku ini bagus semua
Finished reading: May 1st 2015 "I shall never forget your reply. She is, you said, far better than us, if the only way you can prove your superiority is to punch her friend in the face."(view spoiler)[True, I didn't realize this was actually a collection of short stories when I started reading A Twist In The Tale. I confess I mostly picked this read because I needed to read a book that was written in the year I was born (1988). I normally don't mind reading short stories as long as they are interesting, but in this case they were just so... Bland. Uninteresting characters, weak plot and a 'twist' that you can guess as soon as you started reading them. The only reason I've given this collection a rating higher than one star (1.5/5) is the very last story 'Christina Rosenthal'. Only with that story that is in fact a letter written by a Jewish guy to his father, Jeffrey Archer was able to convince me. The rest of the stories mostly left me bored or even frustrated. Basically, what I mean is that I wouldn't recommend reading this collection, unless you skip straight to the last story. If you ask me, the rest of them aren't worth your time.Jeffrey Archer introduces us to a bunch of short stories where things turn out to be different than you originally think when you start reading them. Every short story has a twist in the end that is supposed to surprise you or teach you a lesson... The stories are set all over the world and have different characters. An African finance minister trying to defend his government, a husband who thinks he committed the perfect murder, a chess champion who thinks he can play his way into a woman's heart, a Jewish man telling his father the story of his life... All form part of this collection.I'm not sure if I would call A Twist Of The Tale a waste of a time, but I cannot exactly say it's worth reading either. The characters are flat, cliche and boring in general, with the one exception of the last story. The 'twists' were quite easy to guess early on in the stories, and all in all it was almost a struggle to get through this collection of short stories. Only the last story, 'Christina Rosenthal', was interesting enough to catch my eye, but the rest I definitely wouldn't recommend reading. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about A Twist In The Tale (2004)?
Two stories stand out - the last, and most poignant, a detailed letter written by a loving son to his rabbi father, describing how he first met and fell in love with his Gentile wife, which manages to catalogue the important landmarks of his life; and a story about a female picking up a man at a pub that is nothing like it seems. The others seem a little forced, especially the Golf Club one, and even the first in the book, about the 'perfect murder'. By the end I'd lost interest in whether he could get away with it or not, and had guessed the ending, which ruined everything, that being one of Archer's key skills, and the point of these short stories, as we can gather from the title.
—Nilofer
I was bored and I needed something interesting with twisted plots to read, so I pick this one up. I first read 'Kane and Abel' by Jeffrey Archer when I was 13 or so. And at that time, I thought 'Kane and Abel' was the coolest book I had ever read. But now looking back, I don't think so anymore. If I had read this book back then, I would have thought the same 'Wow this book is cool', but no, this book is below average. It should also be noted that this book was written in 1988, and so much has changed and happened since then, so in order for a story to have 'twist', it will take much more efforts than this. There are only 2 stories that stand out: the first one 'The Perfect Murder' (it is the best, smartest and really 'twisted' story in the book, maybe this is the reason why they placed in first??) and 'A La Carte'. For the remaining stories, some of them read like articles in Wikipedia, the writing could not be worse or more painful - it was like Jeffrey Archer just listed out the events happening in the life of a person, which is a greedy thing to do.
—Becky P
I read this book about 4 years ago, and I wasn't very impressed by a story or two that i read then. Now, luckily I decided to give it another chance. It is an example of good story telling ability of Archer. He is a master. I loved some stories, the plot and especially the awesome endings. These are just the kind of stuff I look for in a short story book. I loved the stories and they kept me amused during the long hours of boredom that I normally experience while traveling to and from my university. It is a fine book.
—Abubakar
