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Trevellas Goes Forth
Unknown Binding
First published September 22, 2011
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 20, 2012
I bought this little book immediately after reading and being absolutely knocked out by the author's best-selling "Speak Swahili Dammit."
In this unusual and intelligent satire, Captain Balitho Trevellas, mariner and physician, sets sail with his crew to explore the unknown waters of the Great Western Ocean.
Their journey leads to many pairs of contradictory islands. There's the island of liars, and their opposite number, the truth-tellers. Sadists and their counterparts, the masochists. There are islanders who speak only in parables, and others who only communicate in writing. And many more strange islands inhabited by populations governed by troublesome compulsions and neuroses. My favourite islanders are the Vagnias - no, that is not a mis-spelling.
Trevellas contemplates and dissects their human foibles, always with the welfare of his crew uppermost in his mind - he must protect them from contamination with the strange people they encounter.
Although it is entirely different from Speak Swahili Dammit, this book works for me on so many levels.
The author has a masterfully elegant command of the English language.
It's outrageously funny.
It's thought-provoking. For instance, whilst compulsive truth-tellers are ostensibly preferable to liars, would we really appreciate them telling us to our face that we are fat or ugly?
And it's so clever. Penhaligon sprinkles his knowledge of languages, ancient history, classical literature and the human condition with a delicate touch for the delight of his readers.
Very different from anything else I have ever read. Certainly not a book I would have chosen if I hadn't read "Speak Swahili, Dammit" and enjoyed the author's writing so much. But I am so glad I did. I recommend it for anybody looking for a read that is out of the norm that will entertain, inform and leave you thinking long after you have closed the book. Oh - and the cover is a work of art in itself.
In this unusual and intelligent satire, Captain Balitho Trevellas, mariner and physician, sets sail with his crew to explore the unknown waters of the Great Western Ocean.
Their journey leads to many pairs of contradictory islands. There's the island of liars, and their opposite number, the truth-tellers. Sadists and their counterparts, the masochists. There are islanders who speak only in parables, and others who only communicate in writing. And many more strange islands inhabited by populations governed by troublesome compulsions and neuroses. My favourite islanders are the Vagnias - no, that is not a mis-spelling.
Trevellas contemplates and dissects their human foibles, always with the welfare of his crew uppermost in his mind - he must protect them from contamination with the strange people they encounter.
Although it is entirely different from Speak Swahili Dammit, this book works for me on so many levels.
The author has a masterfully elegant command of the English language.
It's outrageously funny.
It's thought-provoking. For instance, whilst compulsive truth-tellers are ostensibly preferable to liars, would we really appreciate them telling us to our face that we are fat or ugly?
And it's so clever. Penhaligon sprinkles his knowledge of languages, ancient history, classical literature and the human condition with a delicate touch for the delight of his readers.
Very different from anything else I have ever read. Certainly not a book I would have chosen if I hadn't read "Speak Swahili, Dammit" and enjoyed the author's writing so much. But I am so glad I did. I recommend it for anybody looking for a read that is out of the norm that will entertain, inform and leave you thinking long after you have closed the book. Oh - and the cover is a work of art in itself.
Displaying 1 of 1 review