The Lunatic

by Anthony C. Winkler

This novel reveals that lunacy is by no means restricted to the village madman. . . . “By far the funniest book I’ve read in a decade” (The Washington Post Book World).   In Jamaica, Aloysius is tolerated by his neighbors, but forced to eke out a living by doing odd jobs and use the hospitable woodlands for shelter. Starved of human companionship, he has running conversations with trees and plants.   Then love, or a peculiar version of it, comes to Aloysius in the form of a solidly built German lady, Inga Schmidt, who has come to the Caribbean to photograph the flora and fauna. They will embark on a romance and a series of misadventures that may turn the island, and their lives, upside down . . .   “Every country (if she’s lucky) gets the Mark Twain she deserves, and Winkler is ours, bristling with savage Jamaican wit.” —Marlon James

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Literature

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Anthony C. Winkler was a successful Jamaican novelist and popular contributor to many post-secondary English literary texts.

See Wikipedia

Reviews

[Ivy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rule of the pum pum is worse tyranny than colonialism...
Aloysius Hobson.

( Nb: In Jamaican slang, pum pum is the colloquial Jamaican term for vagina and hood refers to a man's penis ).


In this rib-tickling, hilarious dark comic novel, our poor, mentally ill, homeless protagonist, is led astray and into the path of crime and danger, as a result of his obsessive desire for sex with a loud, manipulative, controlling, abusive and vulgar German tourist woman.


This novel was so popular that it was eventually made into an Indie film, in 1991.








He's sometimes called the Mark Twain of Jamaica. But Anthony Winkler is in a class all his own. He's a master at writing rhythmic prose, rich in the colloquialisms of his native Jamaica. It's this that lends a delightful realism to his storytelling.


Most readers remember only the outlandish, laugh out loud hilarity of this story and forget the pain, misery and more serious tropes that lie beneath the surface. On the surface, it seems like we're in a Jamaican version of The Jerry Springer Show, gaping at the unbelievable buffoonery that explodes onstage. That's largely the result of Winkler's hilarious comic style of storytelling.


This is the Jamaican author, Anthony Winkler:





Aloysius Hobson, the titular homeless lunatic of the story, lives on the fringe of society.



The reader's transported to Aloysius' small Jamaican village in Moneague, Ocho Rios and can immerse herself in the comic charms of this unfolding tale.




The strangest thing about him, is that there's some method to his madness and the author provides an in-depth view of life, from the madman's perspective, where the most ironic thing is the fact that he sees himself as normal and views the other villagers as the weird ones.




As a result of his mental issues, Aloysius is, literally, a man-child; he's a naive and innocent little boy in a grown man's body. He lives under a huge flame heart tree, on the slope of a mountain and he comes and goes as he pleases.





He often hallucinates and thinks that the trees and bushes are speaking to him.








Some of the most entertaining portions of this story, are Aloysius' philosophical conversations with his wise *best friend* ( the flame heart tree ) and the *judgemental* bushes that never seem to give him a moment's peace.


Although he's as simple-minded as a little boy, he has an adult man's sexual attraction to women. Unfortunately for him, the village ladies aren't interested and avoid him, because:


1. He's a mentally ill vagrant.

2. He doesn't shower or change his clothes.

3. They get scared when they see him having conversations with trees, bushes and animals.






But he's never raped or molested any women. All he does, in his own words is to speechify them, so that they might swing some pum pum his way. Usually, his *smooth, sexual speechification* only results in them running away from him.


His life changes when Inga ( a rude, nymphomaniac German tourist ), takes a liking to him, after she sees his very large penis, while he's asleep under the tree. She proceeds to take photos of his penis and it seems that there's a bit of Racial Fetishism ( in this case the sexual objectification of a black man's penis ), happening here:


She was exultant as she worked. Others had come to Jamaica before her; others would come after her. But the others returned to Germany, where she had come from, with pictures of a waterfall, an ocean view, a terraced green mountain. She would take back pictures of an aboriginal hood in a clearing beside a brook. Hood shot from every angle. Candid, unrehearsed shots.

She herself admits, in her somewhat demented manner:


“I stay vith him because he has a big cock! Vhat you think of that?”
She was shrieking so loud that spittle began dribbling down the corners of her mouth.


Later on, after she has turned him into her sexual toy, she reveals calmly that it isn't about kissing, making love or intimacy. It's all about genital to genital connection:


“I need at least two, three, maybe four lovers,” she said. “That’s how I am. One man cannot satisfy me. I must have at least two.”

The man-child Aloysius, thinks that all his dreams have come true. He's too unstable to understand that she doesn't love him and is merely using him. And, he thinks that his own orgasmic satisfaction equals love, so he becomes a willing slave to her every wish. In fact, only the reader is aware that what she's doing to him, is abuse - sexual, domestic/physical and emotional abuse.


When they have sex, she literally beats him and clouts him on his head if he ejaculates before she has her orgasm. Apparently, it's something she does with all her lovers.


This is Aloysius and Inga, played by Paul Campbell and Julie T. Wallace, taken from the 1991 film, The Lunatic:





It doesn't take the nymphomaniac too long to add another man to her wild, mountain-top bush hovel. Soon, she takes a fancy to an itinerant butcher named Service Johnson and bullies Aloysius into allowing them to live in bittersweet menage.




Poor Aloysius is broken-hearted and confides his jealousy, to his best friend, the flame heart tree, in a heart-wrenching manner, that's simultaneously hilarious to the reader:


Aloysius collapsed against the flame heart tree.
“She giving ’way me pum-pum,” he sobbed faintly to the tree.


Both men are soon enslaved by the powers of her pum pum and she basically uses that to manipulate them and rule this weird little household:


“Let me make one thing clear,” she said, standing up. “I am the boss. You understand? Otherwise this cannot be. You understand?”

“Vhy must one person be boss, Inga?” Aloysius asked, preparing barrister arguments.

“Because only one person has the pum-pum,” she said.

The butcher nodded solemnly and sat before the fire. “Pum-pum rule,” he intoned.

Aloysius stabbed at the dirt with his toe. “Pum-pum hold portfolio over dis jurisdiction," he muttered.

"From Socialism to Capitalism to Pum-pumism," a bush screeched. "Lawd Jesus God, what now on de head of poor Jamaica?"

One of the few sad scenes in this novel, is when Aloysius admits his vulnerability to the cold, uncaring Inga:

“You bring vater to me eye, Inga. Vhen me live here alone vith just me and de tree, de only time vater ever come to me eye is vhen me lonely. Now you stay here vith me and cause me grief and bring vater to me eye.”


The other villagers, in this old fashioned, simple and patriarchal society, don't seem to understand that men can be victims of sexual abuse too. And Inga's a domineering misandrist, who thinks that men are only good for sex and to do whatever other chores she orders them to do. She's conscienceless until the end, when, surprisingly, she tells the truth in court to spare Aloysius from going to jail.


She likes to portray herself as a super liberated, patriarchy hating, independent rebel who answers to no one, but this is revealed to be slightly exaggerated, because she can't survive without regular cash infusions from her rich daddy. This eats away at her, because it proves that no matter what she says or does, she's still beholden to a man.


The plot takes a darker twist when Inga's daddy stops sending money to her and tells her it's time to return home. She devises a plan to steal money from Busha McIntosh's safe. Busha ( aka Herbert McIntosh ) is the rich, white landowner with a mansion on another hill. Inga, with her revolutionary ideals, sees Busha as the evil white capitalist and persuades Aloysius and Service to help her commit the crime.


This is Busha McIntosh, played by Reggie Carter in the film:





It takes no effort to convince Service Johnson, but Aloysius isn't a criminal and he has often starved in the past, rather than resort to stealing. Aloysius also sees Busha as his friend because Busha allowed him to join the village cricket team.

“Break Busha’s house?” he cried suddenly. “Ve can’t thief from Busha! Dat not right!”


The simpleton protagonist also defies her when she mocks his faith in God:

“God do me plenty injury, Inga,” Aloysius said in a broken voice. “But me not raising me hand against God. Him is still me Daddy.”


However, like Eve, Inga breaks down all his objections by unleashing the full power of her magnificent, powerful pum pum.


...a tunnel that one might imagine must be like the belly of a fat, endless eel. It was so slippery and soft that for one dreadful moment he imagined that he would continue to slide in until only the top of his head protruded from between her legs, and he would drown there, vainly shrieking in the clammy darkness for a rope or a ladder.




All 3 are caught in the middle of their crime, but Aloysius stops Service from killing Busha and later on, in court, Service admits that he also did it because he was under her sexual spell:

Service sobbed wildly. “Is she bring me to dis, sah! She mad up me brain wid pum-pum and do dis to me!”

He was reduced to moaning and blubbering uncontrollably.

“Idiot!” Inga’s voice rang loud...

I'd have given this 5 stars but Inga got no comeuppance, while Service was sentenced to 15 years in jail for stabbing Busha with the machete. Her rich daddy bribed the Jamaican police to let her escape custody before she was sentenced.

Inga was a horrible, bullying, selfish, self-absorbed woman who did only one good thing in the story: she admitted that Aloysius had wanted no part in the crime, did it only to please her and stopped them from killing Busha.

There's so much more to this story, including a wonderful, funny minor storyline with Busha and his wife, Sarah; it revolves around Busha's desire to have a mausoleum when he dies, so that cows and goats don't defecate on his grave if he's placed in the ground.

As for Aloysius, well, he gets his happy ending after he stays for a month in the asylum. When he's released, the Widow Dawkins, a well-to-do, respectable local Christian lady, takes him under her wing and decides to take charge of his rehabilitation herself. She teaches him proper daily hygiene, literacy and social etiquette and tells him that it's OK to talk to the trees and animals, as long as no one else is around to see him do so. She kinda becomes his Pygmalion.


In one respect, I guess it's safe to say that while our H was almost destroyed by the power of a malignant, evil pum pum, he ended up being saved by the kindness of another. LOL. And, I can say that I learned one new thing from this novel: Pumpum-ism is a new trope that rivals the infamous magical penis that lives in category romance novels.


And for those who are interested in reading this novel, let me stress that there are no detailed sex scenes. Sex happens off page or is described in an abstract, often ridiculous and hilarious manner, by the author, so don't let all this talk about pum pum and hood turn you off. Sex is never described as anything that's erotic in this novel.

If anyone wants to watch the film, you can find it here:


https://youtu.be/qeVFePMbDdo
Better copy of film.

OR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2maq5...

There's a lot of stuff that's left out in the film, though and sometimes scenes are not in the right sequence that they occur in the book. The only thing that I preferred in the film was the portrayal of Aloysius' friendship with the flame heart tree.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to read a novel by a Jamaican author while I was in Jamaica, and I chose this one, mainly because of the high ratings and because Marlon James said this: Every country (if she's lucky) gets the Mark Twain she deserves, and Winkler is ours. . . I mean, Mark Twain is a pretty high bar. But now, I've learned, so is Anthony C. Winkler.

This is the story of Aloysius Hobson, the eponymous Lunatic, although I read him as more Idiot, or just slow, to be kinder. He ruminates that he might have been a barrister, for example, if he had only learned to read and write. Instead, he lives in the wild, does odd jobs. He has a high sex drive, but no outlet for it (in human form). He talks, often, to trees and bushes, which, yes, might make him an Idiot. But the trees and bushes talk back to Aloysius, which I suppose might make him a Lunatic after all.

Still, Aloysius is kind-hearted, harmless, and a helluva cricket player, so he is more than tolerated.

Along comes Inga Schmidt, a stout-legged German, in Jamaica to photograph flora and fauna. The author has this to say about Germans:

In these newest of days most of the tourists were Americans, and a few were English, but many were Germans--people of a growling tongue and the dogmatic mien of a parson sermonizing about hellfire to a Sunday school. Blond, blue-eyed, these new tourists resembled the Americans in many ways, except that their big bellies were not wrapped in gaudy cotton shirts and they did not smile or laugh as easily as Americans. When these Germans first stepped off the airplanes the sun licked greedily at their pale skins like a hungry dog licking meat off an old bone.

Inga will soon answer Aloysius' sex drive issues, but how they first met deserves to be served by the author:

. . . when a hood has had no pum-pum for two years it will rise like the Union Jack in the glory days of the Fallen Empire. It will ascend into the air like a bishop into a pulpit, a muffin in an oven. So as Aloysius slept his hood rose up and flew over the tattered fly of his pants, stiff and stylized like the American flag on the moon. And the white woman took photographs of it. . . .

Let me pause on the plot to relate some of the axiomatic writing I so enjoyed.

On marriage:

For sometimes when a man and woman have been married many years, a bone will come between them. It will be buried deep below the layers of daily affection, small talk, bimonthly copulation; it will lie between them on the marriage bed, goad them around the breakfast table, jab them in the church pew. It was Busha whom the bone tormented and made sleepless. Even now, as he sat nibbling on fish, his wife of twenty-five years no more than ten feet away, he was gnawing restlessly on his bone like an old dog with a toothache.

On government administration:

A form in the hands of a Socialist was as bad as a gun.

One thing I've always liked in novels as well as movies is the scene-stealer. The classic example is Wilford Brimley's character in Absence of Malice. Well, the scene-stealer in this novel is also a lawyer; the barrister Kenneth P. Linstrom, a very prosperous Jamaican lawyer with a soft spot for the occasional downtrodden sap being abused by an uncaring system.

Without plot-spoiling, let me just say that a crime has been committed and Aloysius, Inga, and another fella have been arrested for it. Reading about it in the newspapers, Barrister Linstrom feels drawn to Aloysius' cause. He was on his way to the small courthouse in Ochos Rios to defend good against evil, mercy against malice, principle against bumpkin. The trial was a tour de force.

Linstrom rose to give his summation. He rolled up his sleeves and asked the jurors what color his arm was. Their answers ranged from light brown to khaki to chestnut. He then told the jurors he didn't live in America, where he would be famously wealthy, because he wouldn't be any of those colors there; he would just be a black man.

He paused for this sad state of affairs to sink into the twin tiers of bumpkin stacked attentively before him.

"Now everyone here see dat I am a brown man, except de American. To him, I am a black man. To de American a brown man, a red man, a sepia man, a chestnut man, a khaki man, is one and de same: Him is a black man. But notice dis about Americans. Dey don't call a brown horse black. Dey don't call brown dog black. Dey don't call brown house black. Is only brown man dey call black. Because over dere dey have more color for horse and house and dog dan dey have for man. For a man dey have only two color: white and black.

The barrister did a little spin around the room and wound up face to face with bumpkin row.

"But here in Jamaica we have our brown man, our dark brown man, our yellow man, our red man, our pink man--dat is you Chiny man--our Indian man, and our blueblack man! Because we don't see a man only in two color in Jamaica, because God don't make man in only two color. God make man in at least thirty, forty color, and here in Jamaica we see dem all."

And so the book transported into something more than a little earthy comedy.

I closed the book, and looked at a beautiful setting, felt something like hope. My immediate thought was this book should be on one of those lists about the number of books you had to read before you die. I wanted to read a book about Jamaica, and instead read a book about everywhere. My next thought was how could I possibly tell my Goodreads friend how wonderful this was.

[Karen·]

A hot and languid afternoon, that has ended with a tropical downpour: no more suitable conditions could I imagine for this Jamaican delight, even if the very European bird song in my garden ruins the illusion of being on a Caribbean island. (Lovely it is though: I am in awe of the mistle thrush)

It was this review that brought me here, and my sky-high expectations were by no means disappointed. I also found it to be hilarious, joyous, and yet profound, quite the achievement. However my favourite character alongside Aloysius, in the end, was actually Mr Shubert. Go figure.

One small detrimental effect: I shall no longer be able to use the word hood without a small smile.

[BookOfCinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Updated June 29th

I remember reading The Lunatic at least ten years ago. At the time I remember laughing out loud at everything I read. If you read my review below you see where I call it the funniest nook I've ever read. So much so I didn't want the book to lose it's magic by me re-reading it. I went into this re-read with an open mind and I am happy to report, while I have definitely matured in age and reading material The Lunatic still remains one of the funniest books I have ever read!

The Lunatic is set in Jamaica in a village , in that village we meet Aloysius. Aloysius is known through the village as a madman. He is generally accepted into village life as he is one of those madman who is harmless and who the villagers grew up knowing. Aloysius lives off the land and gets extra money by diving for coins thrown overboard by tourist on cruise ships. Our village madman is starved for love and real human companionship, this comes in the form of Inga Schmidt, a German woman visiting the island photographing flora and fauna, she also ends up photographing a sleeping Aloysius penis... this begins the love affair of Inca and Aloysius.

Life is good, for the first time Aloysius have a real companionship and what he thinks love. While him and Inca are the village laughing stock, Aloysius is use to this and Inca doesnt care. Things become a bit dicey when Inca decides that Aloysius alone cannot satisfy her sexual needs and goes after the village butcher Service. While Aloysius isn't pleased about this arrangement, he succumbs to Inca's rules because of love. When Inca's father stops sending her money, she hatches a plan to steal from the richest man in the village. Things get from bad to worse in a blink!

Anthony Winkler is the king of dialogue and he proves this in this book. This man took me into the inner workings of a madman mind and it was so good! I highly recommend picking this up, if only for the dialogue.

Reviewed June 2012

The FUNNIEST book I've EVER read. I sat and laughed for the ENTRIRE 400 pages. Anthony Winkler took me into the mind of a madman and I soooo wanna go back there!!!!! MUST READ!!!!

[Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The principal character here is, who else, the lunatic. He traipses about the Jamaican countryside mad. How can a contemporary novelist succeed with a character like this, so common already, a staple of comic novels and literary humor we've seen before? I expected Anthony C Winkler to fall flat on his face. I went on reading. Aloysius is the village madman's name, but when you asks him what it is, he'll enumerate a thousand. Several comic situations using this. A little bit inspired, yes. Then he talks to the trees and the bushes and they talk back to him. Easy. But what they say to each other--genius, Mr. Winkler. Enter the solidly built, strong, white (she hates when you call her white!) German tourist Inga Schmidt. She first saw Aloysius sleeping under a tree with his hood up. She takes her camera and shoots the hood in all possible angles. From then on, it's her pum-pum and his hood, imaginative comic situations, an unstoppable reading with a permanent grin on your face, like you're being tickled nonstop. I've seen a lot of jokes and laughable what-nots so I simply couldn't help but be amazed by the virginal comedy I got from this Jamaican-born writer I've never heard of before. And then amidst all these craziness, he even manages to inject some pointed social commentaries in the novel. I'm going to look for your first novel, "The Painted Canoe" and maybe also your latest, "Dog War", Mr. Winkler. And nice to meet you, sir.

[Kit Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the funniest novels I've read in a while. This nice tweaker dude at a book convention gave it to me saying that I'd read it and then pass it on to all of my friends, which I actually did. This book'll have you running around and screaming "bloody out of order" and "what is this rass foolishness?" with reckless abandon. I want to meet the author and drink spiced rum with him while playing dominoes.

[Tanya Patrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself laughing out lood on more than one occasion and all week I've been telling everybody that "pum pum rule". To get this book, you have to understand Jamaican lingo - patois! A pretty solid read, and definitely memorable.

[Lisa K · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lunatic was well written, with a really good use of dialect throughout making it accessible to both the international reader while still retaining the whole Jamaican identity of the characters and landscape which were then contrasted against Inga’s German accent which Aloysius ends up picking up. Winkler has a sort of dry humour similar to Douglas Adams, just more Jamaican which brings light to most of the situations Aloysius finds himself in.

I found myself really liking Aloysius, he is a very nice guy, happily living under a tree and seemingly reasonably content with his life. The fact that he is happy and not apparently seeking much else brought to light the distinction (in my head anyway) of the difference between someone who is homeless and miserable and someone who has a home, it just happens to be outside. Aloysius is undeniably a madman, just as described, but he is loveable and willing to love and learn. Inga is hilarious all by herself. A slightly mad, martial arts trained, photo taking German tourist who comes to Jamaica seeking adventure and ends up living with a local madman under a tree? Yep, very entertaining.

By the end of the book you can’t help but feel sorry for Aloysius and the great pickle he has ended up in. The story is amusing and definitely Jamaican, with the Caribbean flavour ever present but the story does bring to light some of the social problems the country was facing (many of which it is still dealing with now) in 1987 when the book was first published. The tranisition from 8 years of socialism, the contrast between the rich and the poor and the idea that you don’t need much to be happy are all ideas threaded throughout the story.

Overall, it was a great read and one I would highly recommend.

This review was originally posted at BaffledBooks.

[Mrs.]

Oh gosh! Anthony C Winkler has done it again! Only he could write a story about a lunatic that mixes elements of entertainment, sympathy, bachannal, rich Caribbean flavour, the rich, the poor, the ugly and the beautiful all in one!! De man could write! Get any of his books and start reading!!!

[Robert Wechsler]

One of those novels where I found the setup much better than the rest of the novel, at least what I read of it. It’s a very funny Jamaican novel with a unique protagonist, an excellent narrative voice, and loads of potential. But about halfway through, the novel becomes a series of escapades with repetitive dialogue. I put it down so as not to spoil the wonderful first half. I'm very happy I gave it a try.

[Naomi Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is just the dose of comedy i needed...i'm reading lots of caribbean fiction these days and loving it.

[Stacia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, raunchy, out-of-order outrageousness that packs a bit of a morality tale. Plus, it has some of the best verdurous characters ever set down in print. Thoroughly delightful & well-recommended.

[Ilze Zelgalve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mu absolute favourite of Winkler’s bibliography. I was laughing so often when reading The Lunatic. Through smart humour Winkler has revealed the soul of Jamaica island.

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

**laughs out loud**
**gets side_eye from others on the bus**

The Lunatic was one of the books on the UWI literature degree for LITS 2508  'West Indian Prose Fiction: The Novel'. It is an outright representation of the dynamism of the Caribbean writer. It can be said that the average person who hasn't really indulged in the West Indian novel assumes it to be tales of long suffering, left overs from colonization and talks about self hate. The Lunatic presents, in abundance, the language, the landscape and the people that make Caribbean Literature its own. Our protagonist lives his day to day life as the village mad man. Speaking to bushes and trees (these bushes had me cackling with their insultive wit!) reciting is thousand names and longing for intimacy. He becmes entangled with a German tourist and his life is taken into new directions, initially for the better but ultimately for the worst.
I enjoyed this read, as i read more West Indian literature seriously the aspects i have always enjoyed the most is the dialogue, the Jamaican patois isnt difficult to read or inauthentic and adds to the novel. Though this one is mostly a comedic read the final chapters touch on colourism and racism which, though it was a contrast to the rest of the read, it didn't feel thrown in.
I highly recommend

[Bill Krieger · Rating 1 out of 5]

 
DNF. I read about a third of the book. The best thing I can say: it's weird. Whatever the point of The Lunatic is, I just don't get it.

It's a satire on fill-in-the-blank. A parable, perhaps? The book is literally about a "lunatic" who wanders the Jamaican countryside. It's neither funny nor interesting. Repeat: I just don't get it.

Well, there's this. The phrase "pum-pum" is slang for "lady parts" (more slang, ha). The lunatic focuses quite a bit on pum-pum in the book. (shrug)

QOTD

For all his unkempt and wild looks he was still a man, and to a man a pum-pum is like a bone to a hungry dog. It is a thing a man will dream about even if he is hungry and sick. He cannot help himself, for Almighty God put pum-pum between the legs of women and then he put dreams about it into the heads of men, even into the head of a lunatic.

Not a good read. thanks...yow, bill
 

[Nakeshia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about pum-pum... what people think of it, what it does to people, and what people do to get it (somewhat). The story follows Aloysius, a person of unsound mind who, other than talking to inanimate objects and having a thousand names, seems to be completely harmless. Aloysius lives in the bush, and one day, Inga, a German woman visiting Jamaica, stumbles upon him. Inga has a voracious appetite for sex and befriends Aloysius to fulfil her sexual needs. However, in my estimation, Inga is more insane than Aloysius and can be downright cantankerous. For all his "madness," Aloysius troubles no one and has a good heart. Inga comes and turns Aloysius's life upside-down.

This is a laugh-out-loud funny book. It is entertaining and intermingled with social commentary. If you are easily bothered by Jamaican colloquial references to the vagina and the penis or Jamaican curse words, then stay away from this one. If not, you will thoroughly enjoy this.

[Gina Salvatore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun easy read. I enjoyed the dialect writing even though there were entire sections of the book where quotation marks were conspicuously absent, which could be confusing considering the main character had entire conversations with foliage owing to the face that he suffered from mental illness.

Every culture has its own superstitions, and reading Jamaican culture through the eyes of a madman and with the perspective of a European woman as counterpoint, was interesting. Especially with the perspectives around sex and gender.

[Saeeda Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to study this book for a West Indian course, and I was but confused at first as to why this was on the list. BUT! It's an amazing read, and was such refreshing material to study. It was rude, and hilarious, and certainly made a lasting impression. Definitely not one of my favourite novels, but it was worth a read.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where do I start?

Let me just start by saying I wasn’t a big fan of Inga. I love the lunatic and his friend the tree. Oh yes and the bush that thought he was a southern American preacher, LOL! Service gave me the heebie-jeebies. All these characters mixed together made me laugh time and time again. This book is so so funny! I would recommend this book to any mature adult that is not squeamish about sex or pom-pom and hood references. Do you want a quick and funny read this is your book. So so so hilarious!!!

[Cherry-Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot honestly report that this was my favorite Winkler. I have always enjoyed his books and found them funny yet insightfully attuned to the Jamaican culture especially the underbelly of this class of Caribbean natives. However, despite its categorization in the satire genre, there was just too much pum pum and hood in the book for me.

[Ann Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, unique, and well written. The perfect book to read on a Jamaican beach as I did. I bought it as a paperback, it didn't arrive on time so I bought the ebook, and then when I got home and found the ebook I decided to keep both even though I had already read it.

[lumi-reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely legendary. Read it so many years ago but I can never forget the plot. Perfect combination of good storytelling and humour. Some real authentic Jamaican culture. Will surely have you rolling on the floor with laughter. The movie is also worth a watch

[Richardo Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anthony Winkler superbly captures the 'essence' of Jamaican life, delivered in clear crisp writing, served in delectable humour!

[Diedra Eby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very long winded

I can't recommend this book because I didn't think it got the Jamaican accent right and the 'model's didn't come up til the very end. Not on my winner list.

[r0b · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. Excellent!

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my type of book

I do like reading out of my comfort zone, and the story was interesting. Overall this book is not my type of book.

[Mary Ritter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cardboard characters; buffoonery; crude humor; no character or plot development. Not a winner.

[Isabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange book. Close to the middle, i enjoyed it but did not last till the end. Had to force myself to finish it. And did not really find it funny, unlike other readers,

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre but good.

[Zep · Rating 2 out of 5]

er.... the end!

not. uch to the story. it just kinda finishes. I can't say I found it amusing, enlightening, or deep. just meh.