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The Night of the Rambler
A sympathetic and often humorous account of an obscure episode in the history of the remote island of Anguilla, in the northeast Caribbean, The Night of the Rambler revolves around a haphazard attempt by a dozen or so locals to invade neighboring St. Kitts in an effort to topple the government of the recently established Associated State of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla.
Ostensibly, the action maps the fifteen hours that lapse between the moment when the "rebels" board The Rambler, the thirty-five-foot motorboat that will take them across the strait to St. Kitts, and the break of dawn the following day, when it becomes obvious that the unaccomplished mission will have to be aborted. The novel is at turns highly dramatic and hilarious, all the while bringing deep honesty to the often-unexamined righteousness of revolution.
With echoes of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and Mario Vargas Llosa's Conversation in the Cathedral, the novel presents an intricate pattern of subtly related anecdotes woven together by a handful of rich and complex characters.
Ostensibly, the action maps the fifteen hours that lapse between the moment when the "rebels" board The Rambler, the thirty-five-foot motorboat that will take them across the strait to St. Kitts, and the break of dawn the following day, when it becomes obvious that the unaccomplished mission will have to be aborted. The novel is at turns highly dramatic and hilarious, all the while bringing deep honesty to the often-unexamined righteousness of revolution.
With echoes of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and Mario Vargas Llosa's Conversation in the Cathedral, the novel presents an intricate pattern of subtly related anecdotes woven together by a handful of rich and complex characters.
260 pages, Paperback
First published August 12, 2013
About the author
Montague Kobbé
4 books11 followersMontague Kobbé (montaguekobbe.com) is a German citizen with a Shakespearean name, born in Caracas, in a country that no longer exists, in a millennium that is long gone. He is the author of the novel The Night of the Rambler and the bilingual collection of flash fiction Tales of Bed Sheets and Departure Lounges. He has kept a column in Sint Maarten’s The Daily Herald since 2008 and has translated over twenty photography books with Spanish publisher La Fábrica. His new novel, On the Way Back (Akashic, 2016) tackles issues of racial and social prejudice on Anguilla with a large dose of humour.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 27, 2013
My thanks to LT early reviewers and to the publisher for my copy.
On June 10, 1967, a thirty-five foot boat named "The Rambler" left the island of Anguilla for St. Kitts carrying 16 passengers (including three American mercenaries), a minimum of provisions, and 500 pounds of guns and ammunition. The group was going to be part of an effort to establish a coup to get rid of Robert L. Bradshaw, the premier of the new "state" of St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla. Only his ouster, did the Anguillans involved in the operation believe, would call international attention to Bradshaw's neglect of Anguilla and its people. The mission failed and failed badly, but oddly enough, the results of that day actually led the way toward Anguilla's independence. Night of the Rambler reimagines the events leading up to that night and what drove a mere handful of people to make such a gutsy move. While there are a couple of issues that nagged at me while reading, overall, the author tells a really good fictional story behind some real events that I never knew took place.
One of the things that strikes me as some of the best work here is the author's focus on his two main characters Alwyn Cooke and Rude Thompson. While it may not be easy at first to fathom why the author seems to jump around in time and place, he's actually setting up the backstories of these characters, which reveal much about their present lives. Thompson was working in Aruba during the time of the protests against Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez and learned a great deal from a young anti-Perez-Jimenez engineer fresh from university as well as a kind of patriotism where you "step back, see things from a distance, and ask what can be done ..." He comes to realize that sometimes violence might be necessary when peaceful solutions don't work. Alwyn Cooke, who lucked out and received part of a prosperous estate as an inheritance, loves Anguilla and its people, but unlike Thompson, hopes for a nonviolent solution for the sake of the island's future. When they finally come together, Cooke and Thompson are what the author calls "two of the most important ingredients necessary for change blended into one," and as the story progresses, he clearly reveals how these two people with very different responses to their collective predicament finally realize there's much more at stake than individual personalities. Another important character, Solomon Carter, has an interesting backstory as well: he was a sugar-cane worker in the Dominican Republic who saw firsthand the attacks on Haitian and other black immigrants during Trujillo's "Parsley Massacre," and saw the blood of thousands of victims run like a river. Since then, he's sworn that he would do everything in his power to see that nothing like that could ever happen in Anguilla, taking a stance against the use of extreme violence.
Another positive: the author sets the action of his story within the context of the British-speaking Caribbean of the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, when the area was a "hotbed of insurrections and revolts," and carefully sets out why the Anguillans would reach the point of aiding a coup on St. Kitts. By 1966, when the individual countries wanted internal self-governance, they first became "associated states" of the UK, and plans for the full "statehood" for St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla were in the works -- but the Anguillans wanted no part of it. They were neglected by their nominal leader, Bradshaw of St. Kitts, who didn't even bother to help after Hurricane Donna of 1960 decimated houses, buildings, & livestock. There was no hospital on Anguilla, no running water, no telephone service and not even a harbor. It was like these people were stuck there to fend for themselves -- you can sense the Anguillans' frustration throughout the book.
What I didn't care for so much was the narrator's interjection into a story where he played no role except as omniscient observer -- sometimes the smart-alecky remarks were annoying, or once he even notes that it's "well past" his bedtime. It totally interrupts the flow and pulls the reader right out of the historical setting. However, the story is so good, and in the long run well told, so I can sort of overlook this annoyance. I would most certainly recommend Night of the Rambler, especially to people who are interested in the Caribbean islands and their histories.
On June 10, 1967, a thirty-five foot boat named "The Rambler" left the island of Anguilla for St. Kitts carrying 16 passengers (including three American mercenaries), a minimum of provisions, and 500 pounds of guns and ammunition. The group was going to be part of an effort to establish a coup to get rid of Robert L. Bradshaw, the premier of the new "state" of St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla. Only his ouster, did the Anguillans involved in the operation believe, would call international attention to Bradshaw's neglect of Anguilla and its people. The mission failed and failed badly, but oddly enough, the results of that day actually led the way toward Anguilla's independence. Night of the Rambler reimagines the events leading up to that night and what drove a mere handful of people to make such a gutsy move. While there are a couple of issues that nagged at me while reading, overall, the author tells a really good fictional story behind some real events that I never knew took place.
One of the things that strikes me as some of the best work here is the author's focus on his two main characters Alwyn Cooke and Rude Thompson. While it may not be easy at first to fathom why the author seems to jump around in time and place, he's actually setting up the backstories of these characters, which reveal much about their present lives. Thompson was working in Aruba during the time of the protests against Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez and learned a great deal from a young anti-Perez-Jimenez engineer fresh from university as well as a kind of patriotism where you "step back, see things from a distance, and ask what can be done ..." He comes to realize that sometimes violence might be necessary when peaceful solutions don't work. Alwyn Cooke, who lucked out and received part of a prosperous estate as an inheritance, loves Anguilla and its people, but unlike Thompson, hopes for a nonviolent solution for the sake of the island's future. When they finally come together, Cooke and Thompson are what the author calls "two of the most important ingredients necessary for change blended into one," and as the story progresses, he clearly reveals how these two people with very different responses to their collective predicament finally realize there's much more at stake than individual personalities. Another important character, Solomon Carter, has an interesting backstory as well: he was a sugar-cane worker in the Dominican Republic who saw firsthand the attacks on Haitian and other black immigrants during Trujillo's "Parsley Massacre," and saw the blood of thousands of victims run like a river. Since then, he's sworn that he would do everything in his power to see that nothing like that could ever happen in Anguilla, taking a stance against the use of extreme violence.
Another positive: the author sets the action of his story within the context of the British-speaking Caribbean of the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, when the area was a "hotbed of insurrections and revolts," and carefully sets out why the Anguillans would reach the point of aiding a coup on St. Kitts. By 1966, when the individual countries wanted internal self-governance, they first became "associated states" of the UK, and plans for the full "statehood" for St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla were in the works -- but the Anguillans wanted no part of it. They were neglected by their nominal leader, Bradshaw of St. Kitts, who didn't even bother to help after Hurricane Donna of 1960 decimated houses, buildings, & livestock. There was no hospital on Anguilla, no running water, no telephone service and not even a harbor. It was like these people were stuck there to fend for themselves -- you can sense the Anguillans' frustration throughout the book.
What I didn't care for so much was the narrator's interjection into a story where he played no role except as omniscient observer -- sometimes the smart-alecky remarks were annoying, or once he even notes that it's "well past" his bedtime. It totally interrupts the flow and pulls the reader right out of the historical setting. However, the story is so good, and in the long run well told, so I can sort of overlook this annoyance. I would most certainly recommend Night of the Rambler, especially to people who are interested in the Caribbean islands and their histories.
January 7, 2014
On the night of June 9, 1967, sixteen men from the “forgotten” Caribbean island, Anguilla, including three US mercenaries, had “invaded” St. Kitts. This key action had led to Anguilla’s separation from the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla associated state, which had been created earlier by Britain. The ill-trained rebels sailed from Anguilla aboard a 35-foot motorboat, The Rambler, armed mostly with old rifles, ammunition and explosives. The revolutionaries expected to find a significant number of supporters in St. Kitts willing to help them fight their way into the capital town, Baseterre, with the objective to carry out a coup d’état and install a new government sympathetic to the Anguillan cause. However, following their wet landing on the beach, the Anguillans found only four rum-drinking young men playing dominoes who, upon questioning, retorted: “Wha? Dis time at night yer come to cause trouble?”
Montegue Kobbé has structured his novel’s events non-linearly. While starting the story in medias res – on the sloop heading towards St. Kitts – the deplorable conditions on the island (no electricity, no ports, no telephones, etc., the main reasons for the Anguillans’ rebellious actions) are revealed through the backstories of the group leaders. While these narratives are interesting, the non-linearity in the plot can be distracting. Similarly, the unfolding of the events leading up to the sailing requires careful attention to keep abreast of the story’s timeline. While the novel is well written in third-person omniscient, the dialogue in Caribbean-accented speech tends to slow down the reading. However, those persevering with the book will be rewarded with deeper insight into the political and economic turmoil engulfing that region.
This review first appeared in the print magazine, Historical Novel Review Issue 66 (Nov 2013)
Montegue Kobbé has structured his novel’s events non-linearly. While starting the story in medias res – on the sloop heading towards St. Kitts – the deplorable conditions on the island (no electricity, no ports, no telephones, etc., the main reasons for the Anguillans’ rebellious actions) are revealed through the backstories of the group leaders. While these narratives are interesting, the non-linearity in the plot can be distracting. Similarly, the unfolding of the events leading up to the sailing requires careful attention to keep abreast of the story’s timeline. While the novel is well written in third-person omniscient, the dialogue in Caribbean-accented speech tends to slow down the reading. However, those persevering with the book will be rewarded with deeper insight into the political and economic turmoil engulfing that region.
This review first appeared in the print magazine, Historical Novel Review Issue 66 (Nov 2013)
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November 19, 2023My round the world tour stop #9 (Anguilla)
This is the story of a political uprising that had absolutely no chance of success – but which went ahead anyway. The the tiny Caribbean island of Anguilla (today a British Overseas Territory) revolted against being forced into a political entity in union with the neighbouring islands of St Kitts and Nevis. The “Rambler” was a boat, and I thought the title wonderfully romantic...
Full review at https://thecasualbookblog.wordpress.c...
This is the story of a political uprising that had absolutely no chance of success – but which went ahead anyway. The the tiny Caribbean island of Anguilla (today a British Overseas Territory) revolted against being forced into a political entity in union with the neighbouring islands of St Kitts and Nevis. The “Rambler” was a boat, and I thought the title wonderfully romantic...
Full review at https://thecasualbookblog.wordpress.c...
March 5, 2026
Charming account of one of the world’s most shambolic (and only pro-colonial?) revolution. Occasionally a little overwritten but too amiable to resent. I wish I emerged with a keener sense of what was invented. I read this because of a trip to Anguilla, not sure if it would have been as fun otherwise.
August 13, 2016
Montague Kobbe attempts to re-imagine the world’s smallest revolution in the 1960s Caribbean, with comedic and endearing results. In 1824, the island of Anguilla was placed under British rule by way of neighboring St. Kitts. Placed in a subordinate role, those in St. Kitts viewed most Anguillans as "Bobo Johnnys" a bunch of day laborers with little intelligence. When Great Britain established an independent state of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla the simmering resentment of Anguillans exploded, leading to a rebellion. Kobbe documents this factual part of the story in the beginning of his book. What happens next is a fantasy of sorts that explores the nature of revolution and the desire to be recognized as a people with dignity, no matter how small.
On a June night in 1967, 13 men embark on a tiny ship, the Rambler, to capture Robert Bradshaw and force St. Kitts to declare an independent state. It's a rag tag group with leaders of the Anguillan state, revolutionary activists, and American mercenaries fresh from Vietnam. Kobbe leaves us in suspense as this group lands in St. Kitts about to execute their plan. He takes us back in time to explain how we got here. What is given a mere sentence in a Wikipedia article, Kobbe lends 250 pages; while fictional, he provides relevant facts and perspective of the Anguillan people. The back story of the Anguillan rebellion takes center stage throughout the novel. He further takes into the back story of the 13 revolutionaries providing further trajectory to this tale.
Kobbe tells both the story of Anguilla as well as explaining the need for revolution, the need to be recognized and the lengths which we go to get that. Half of the story provides an in-depth background on the Anguillan people, with the other half discussing the nature of revolutions. The author makes comparisons to the Venezuelan rebellion to oust their dictator and it inspires one of the main characters to execute his plan for their own rebellion. The plan has a serious edge, but there's a scene early on that examine the two perils of a rebellion. It's a need for legitimacy that is only given by governor, and one of violence when diplomacy fails. How does a nation gain legitimacy through violent acts? Kobbe’s revolution ends not with a bang but with a whimper. The ultimate rebellion from St. Kitts takes a more Canadian route (through diplomacy and persistence) rather than an American one (violently kicking out the dictator.) Combined with a fun but cheesy denouement it ends on a comedic note to lighten the tale. Altogether an engaging story that takes an unorthodox view on 1960s revolutions and rebellions.
Favorite part:
A people cannot live without hope for long without erupting socially. P105
On a June night in 1967, 13 men embark on a tiny ship, the Rambler, to capture Robert Bradshaw and force St. Kitts to declare an independent state. It's a rag tag group with leaders of the Anguillan state, revolutionary activists, and American mercenaries fresh from Vietnam. Kobbe leaves us in suspense as this group lands in St. Kitts about to execute their plan. He takes us back in time to explain how we got here. What is given a mere sentence in a Wikipedia article, Kobbe lends 250 pages; while fictional, he provides relevant facts and perspective of the Anguillan people. The back story of the Anguillan rebellion takes center stage throughout the novel. He further takes into the back story of the 13 revolutionaries providing further trajectory to this tale.
Kobbe tells both the story of Anguilla as well as explaining the need for revolution, the need to be recognized and the lengths which we go to get that. Half of the story provides an in-depth background on the Anguillan people, with the other half discussing the nature of revolutions. The author makes comparisons to the Venezuelan rebellion to oust their dictator and it inspires one of the main characters to execute his plan for their own rebellion. The plan has a serious edge, but there's a scene early on that examine the two perils of a rebellion. It's a need for legitimacy that is only given by governor, and one of violence when diplomacy fails. How does a nation gain legitimacy through violent acts? Kobbe’s revolution ends not with a bang but with a whimper. The ultimate rebellion from St. Kitts takes a more Canadian route (through diplomacy and persistence) rather than an American one (violently kicking out the dictator.) Combined with a fun but cheesy denouement it ends on a comedic note to lighten the tale. Altogether an engaging story that takes an unorthodox view on 1960s revolutions and rebellions.
Favorite part:
A people cannot live without hope for long without erupting socially. P105
May 11, 2024
Curiosa lectura sobre un hecho histórico igualmente curioso del que, de otra manera, dudo mucho que hubiera tenido conocimiento alguna vez.
Realmente, más que una novela histórica, es casi historia novelada.
Los flashbacks también tienen su punto de interés, aunque no terminaron de aportar mucho a la trama principal, que es bastante corta. Entiendo que se han incluido para dar más volumen al libro.
No deja de sorprenderme cómo, en todos los lugares y en todas las épocas, un reducido grupo de personas se embarca en llevar a cabo una serie de acciones que tendrán consecuencias irreversibles, sin estar realmente seguros de si eso es lo mejor o lo que quiere la mayoría.
Realmente, más que una novela histórica, es casi historia novelada.
Los flashbacks también tienen su punto de interés, aunque no terminaron de aportar mucho a la trama principal, que es bastante corta. Entiendo que se han incluido para dar más volumen al libro.
No deja de sorprenderme cómo, en todos los lugares y en todas las épocas, un reducido grupo de personas se embarca en llevar a cabo una serie de acciones que tendrán consecuencias irreversibles, sin estar realmente seguros de si eso es lo mejor o lo que quiere la mayoría.
April 11, 2025
I found the book SO hard to follow along with and really struggled to finish it. For me, the story was dry and the timeline jumped around and got a little too repetitive at points. It did force me to research about Anguilla and it’s history so I’m thankful for that!
August 24, 2017
Proper update coming at a later date.
May 27, 2019
Actual rating: 3.5 stars.
The book was a little slow in the beginning, but then became more interesting. It was also informative as I was not aware of this country or its revolutionary history.
Read this for the Reading Around the World Challenge--for the country of Anguilla.
The book was a little slow in the beginning, but then became more interesting. It was also informative as I was not aware of this country or its revolutionary history.
Read this for the Reading Around the World Challenge--for the country of Anguilla.
December 5, 2016
I really struggled to read and finish this book. Author has a style of writing long winded sentences [usually 5 lines but can be up to 10] and occasionally changes the subject within the run on. On top of that he directly engaged with the audience at times in what I felt were insulting ways [ex. going on a tangent then advising that the reader really remembers what he's saying and that it will come in handy later in the book]. Finally there is a lot of repetition, like if someone is described as xXx, author basically copy/pastes descriptions, or even worse, after reading a few pages about what two characters do, the next paragraph will be a summary of what was just said. The order doesn't help either [starts in the "present" action with flashbacks that turn into a dry history lesson -especially with his style- then it all wraps back to the last part finally talking about the attack.
I finally enjoyed myself during the last part but i really forced myself to keep on til the end and felt that the book didnt need to be as long or repetitious as it was.
I finally enjoyed myself during the last part but i really forced myself to keep on til the end and felt that the book didnt need to be as long or repetitious as it was.
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October 2, 2014I reviewed this at New Pages: http://www.newpages.com/component/k2/...
And it's nice to see my review excerpted into a blurb on this book's profile page here in Goodreads.
And it's nice to see my review excerpted into a blurb on this book's profile page here in Goodreads.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews