Review: The Deceived Ones by Judith Krummeck
The tricky part for any contemporary writer adapting a play from Shakespeare’s canon is that to do it successfully, the writer has to give all the appropriate nods to the original, while also making their text feel new and fresh. In Judith Krummeck’s latest release, The Deceived Ones, she does just that.
The Deceived Ones is a smart modernization of Twelfth Night, in which Krummeck delves into themes of immigration and foreignness, while also teasing out ideas of gender and sexuality. The narrative weaves the storyline of two twins, Vira and Sevastyan, who are separated from one another as Vira flees her war-torn country of Ukraine. Sevastyan is forced to stay behind, bound by his duty to serve in the military.
Vira settles in Baltimore, Maryland, where she hopes to eventually secure a spot at the prestigious Peabody Conservatory. The plot is set into motion when Vira is savagely attacked on the way back to her residence from an appointment at the Refugee and Immigrant Center. During the attack, Vira loses her papers, her phone, and all means of communicating with her beloved twin.
The plot turns entirely on the two siblings falling completely out of touch with one another, a detail that might feel far-fetched in today’s world of cell phones and countless internet apps, but with the backdrop of the war in Ukraine paired with the lost cell phone, Krummeck sets up an unlikely scenario in a way that feels perfectly feasible.
From there, the narrative moves quickly. After the attack, a traumatized Vira decides to cut her hair and begins to present herself as her twin in an attempt to feel safer in this new beguiling city. Vira, gets a cleaning job at Peabody, which brings her in contact with Orson Carradine, a composer struggling to write music for an operatic version of Twelfth Night. Vira, posing as Sevastyan, becomes a muse for Orson, who is confounded by his response to her/him. Orson tasks Vira with getting his old flame and coworker, Isabella, to agree to sing in the opera he is working so assiduously to complete. Meanwhile, after Sevastyan is deemed unfit to serve for medical reasons, he rushes to the states in search of his beloved sister.
The book continues with seemingly unlikely things happening and Krummeck deftly working behind the scenes to make them feel plausible. For the most part she succeeds, but the sheer number of coincidences require the reader to suspend their disbelief ever so slightly in order to be taken along on the ride, but what a ride it is.
Along with the twins, Krummeck skillfully recreates most of Shakespeare’s beloved cast of characters from Twelfth Night, all of whom are steeped in the world of classical music in this rendering. A delightful tension builds throughout the novel as the characters weave their way across Baltimore in a series of near misses and overlaps. The tension ratchets up considerably when Sevastyan arrives and the cases of mistaken identity begin piling up.
The book feels like a graceful sort of organized chaos. Krummeck brings the plot points together in an orchestral manner, with all the pieces creating something larger and more beautiful. Toward the end of the novel, in a scene that is simultaneously funny, poignant, and thought provoking, the whole cast of characters meet up and all is revealed in a manner that feels something like a musical crescendo.
The rich characters and the deft writing in The Deceived Ones make it a worthwhile read, even for those unfamiliar with Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, but aficionados will experience an added layer of delight as they compare the texts and observe the clever ways that Krummeck handles her reimagining.
