Even though I feel a good grasp of other difficult continental philosophers (important influences on Derrida) such as Hegel and Heidegger, I still felt a barrier to 'getting' deconstruction. I had read other 'introducing..' type books, but most of them simplify the material too much. For the dillegent, focused reader, this book yields a strong middle way to comprehension between Derrida's daunting 'original' texts and other introductory books which are too simplistic to convey the expansive potential of deconstructive reading.

A reader is not entirely the same as an introduction or a beginner's guide. It selects key passages from an author, and "brings the reader face-to-face with the writing itself in the company of an expert guide". Thus Penelope Deutscher explains -- or perhaps one should say explicates -- key passages of Derrida. This she does very well -- and while it is not easy reading, it is not inscrutable if one is prepared to concentrate.

In the main, Deutscher would seem to have chosen crucial extracts of Derrida. These are passages which should be read and understood. She takes little for granted, and explains all that needs to be explained to the reader -- lucidly and intelligently. In fact she effectively communicates the striking de(con)structive power of his work. She further draws comparisons between Derrida's early and late work, and highlights a few issues that were problematic to Derrida himself.

There were two things that I missed in this book. Firstly, I would have welcomed a more thorough comparison between Derrida's post-structuralism and the structuralism or (more broadly) modernism that went before. Secondly, Derrida's ideas were highly controversial, and there was little hint of this in Deutscher's commentary. However, for what it is worth, this is a book well written, and it does much to deepen one's insight into Derrida.