A book (well, actually three) that my mum gave me back in my
teenage years. She asked me all smugly if I knew who Burgess was and, having
just discovered Kubrick at the time, I had to disappoint (or impress?) her by
saying that yes, I did know he was the guy who wrote A Clockwork Orange. After that pseudo high-brow cultural exchange,
neither one of us read the trilogy for a good dozen years.
Turns out that the three books are just awesome. The
atmosphere is very similar to that of many of my beloved Graham Greene novels,
with a not-so-veiled critique of the white man and the wonders of colonization
and “progress”. What I found particularly interesting is that the three books
have a very different mood: Time for a
Tiger is at times absolutely hilarious (and Nabby Adams and his
love/dependence on warm beer is one of the best side-kicks I’ve ever come
across), The Enemy in the Blanket is
a much deeper exploration of love and envy than I thought I would encounter
after reading the first book, and Beds in
the East is the book that I would like all my students to read when they
study the British decolonization process.
All in all, I probably enjoyed the book so much because
Crabbe’s approach to colonialism reflects mine, and also because he goes out with
a bang (or a plop?)
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