The Good Eye

Such a good book – Gibson’s own good eye on things is the core of its energy, working beneath every surface “like underwater lamps on television programs about the deep sea” – Ali Smith
The Good Eye is an astoundingly accomplished collection of stories. Unsettling, forensically observed and written in devastatingly pristine prose these stories burrowed their way under my skin and lingered there. These are modern stories imbued with a sense of timelessness – Jan Carson
There’s more than a hint of the carnival in these deliciously twisty stories by Jess Gibson. This is a world peopled by amicable card sharps, con artists, forgers and general hoodwinkers who administer their own brand of crooked justice. Their victims are faithless, vain, blind to themselves, often complicit in their own undoing. Mischievous, sumptuous and quietly ruthless, The Good Eye enchants with a deft sleight of hand even as it unsettles – Bernie McGill
The stories in this bewitching collection begin in the known world before tilting towards mystery and rebellion - a book full of pleasure and surprise – Aysegül Savas
Wise, seductive, funny, and psychedelic, The Good Eye is written in gloriously precise and tactile prose, illuminating the antechambers and edges of life—apparitions, fakes, visitations by ghosts, rodents, and stray lovers—where both threat and insight glistens. Hopeful and renegade like Joy Williams and with a sly Mona Lisa smile, Jess Gibson moves between a high-altitude view and the very muscle of life to uncover what fluorescence it might hold. This collection took my breath away. A quietly, cumulatively, supernaturally brilliant debut – Claudia Dey
The Good Eye is a terrific collection of stories: witty, ironic, unnerving, stylish, and funny, very funny. The stories are wonderfully written but it’s Gibson’s sensibility that’s most striking. Reading The Good Eye is like going for a walk with a charming and cultivated guide who knows her way around some of the most vivid parts of Hell. It’s the best first collection of stories I’ve read in years – André Alexis
The Good Eye is the kind of collection I’m always looking for and never seem to quite find. The power in these beautifully understated stories is in the concision — and precision— of the language. No gimmicks here just direct, clear-eyed prose. And moving, human struggles on the page. – Peter Orner
This is a beguiling and compelling collection of stories that never outstays its welcome. Like the best sort of party guest, Gibson knows exactly when to exit and each of these totally immersive stories leaves you wanting more. A fantastically crafted collection - I devoured it – Abi Hynes
Playful, sharp and stealthy, these stories trouble appearances, disrupt perspective, and flicker with understated humour – K J Orr
Tightly and mischievously told, they [the stories] reveal Gibson as a master of capturing relationships as they begin to fray * Monocle *

Jess Gibson was born in Canada and has lived in England, Germany, the United States, Australia and France. She studied at McGill and the University of Toronto, and received her PhD in Art History from Yale University. She lives in Brooklyn with her spouse and child. The Good Eye is her first book.

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