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Empire Trilogy #3
The Singapore Grip
Singapore, 1939: life on the eve of World War II just isn't what it used to be for Walter Blackett, head of British Singapore's oldest and most powerful firm. No matter how forcefully the police break one strike, the natives go on strike somewhere else. His daughter keeps entangling herself with the most unsuitable beaus, while her intended match, the son of Blackett's partner, is an idealistic sympathizer with the League of Nations and a vegetarian. Business may be booming—what with the war in Europe, the Allies are desperate for rubber and helpless to resist Blackett's price-fixing and market manipulation—but something is wrong. No one suspects that the world of the British Empire, of fixed boundaries between classes and nations, is about to come to a terrible end.
A love story and a war story, a tragicomic tale of a city under siege and a dying way of life, The Singapore Grip completes the “Empire Trilogy” that began with Troubles and the Booker prize-winning Siege of Krishnapur.
A love story and a war story, a tragicomic tale of a city under siege and a dying way of life, The Singapore Grip completes the “Empire Trilogy” that began with Troubles and the Booker prize-winning Siege of Krishnapur.
584 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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About the author
J.G. Farrell
10 books201 followersJames Gordon Farrell, known as J.G. Farrell, was a Liverpool-born novelist of Irish descent. Farrell gained prominence for his historical fiction, most notably his Empire Trilogy (Troubles, The Siege of Krishnapur and The Singapore Grip), dealing with the political and human consequences of British colonial rule. The Siege of Krishnapur won the 1973 Booker Prize. On 19 May 2010 it was announced that Troubles had won the Lost Man Booker Prize, which was a prize created to recognize works published in 1970 (a group that had not previously been open for consideration due to a change in the eligibility rules at the time).
Farrell's career was cut short when he was drowned off the coast of Ireland at the age of 44.
Farrell's career was cut short when he was drowned off the coast of Ireland at the age of 44.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 322 reviews
June 27, 2018
The Tolstoy of the Asian Theatre
A vast and absorbing work of historical fiction, this magnificent novel is set in Singapore, in the months leading to the fall of the city to the Japanese in 1942. The unexpected and total defeat of the commonwealth allies by forces whose fighting abilities they had previously pooh-poohed has been called the worst defeat in British military history. Farrell describes these events very well, both by getting inside the minds of the real-life commanders and by inventing more humble characters on both sides who experience the fighting at first hand. But the main focus of the book is on the civilians, especially the merchant princes whose forefathers founded the colony at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula in the early nineteenth century, and the fictional firm of Blackett and Webb in particular.
The central figure at the start of the book is the rubber millionaire Walter Blackett, immensely proud of his firm's tradition, but concerned about handing it over to the next generation. Recognizing that his son Monty is a useless playboy, he concentrates on finding a suitable match for his elder daughter Joan, who has both brains and beauty. Much of the early part of the book has the romantic wit of Jane Austen, the dynastic maneuvering of John Galsworthy, and the jazz-age pizzazz of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The philosophical antithesis to Walter is Matthew Webb, the estranged son of his long-retired business partner, who arrives to take over his father's estate. Innocent and idealistic, he provides a pair of fresh eyes with which to view the colony. And what he sees first puzzles then horrifies him: exploitation of the native growers, the creation of a dependent economy rather than one that can be locally self-sustaining, and the manipulation of prices through a rubber cartel that holds the rest of the world to ransom. Matthew has much charm; in a rather confused way he eventually discovers passion; by the end of the book he has become a strong man of action; but his naive idealism never leaves him. Here the author who most comes to mind is Tolstoy, with Matthew the spiritual descendant of Levin in Anna Karenina.
Farrell is Tolstoyan too in his apparently effortless juggling of world events with personal intimacies, in the range of his characters from the mighty to the insignificant, in the fact that his people grow or decline, in his social awareness and moral conscience, and in his sheer ability to tell a story. Like War and Peace, this is a long book, and I read it during a three-week period when sometimes I could only manage a chapter or two a day, but never once did I lose the onward momentum or my interest in the characters and their situation; there are very few books that can promise that. The only thing that slightly disappointed me was the love story; Farrell's erotic scenes are somewhat more explicit than Tolstoy's, but there is little sense of grand romance, no Pierre and Natasha, no Kitty worthy of this Levin.
The Singapore Grip is the third novel in JG Farrell's so-called "Empire Trilogy." The books are connected in that all deal with various moments in the decline of the British Empire, but they expand notably in scope. The first, Troubles, though set in the Irish War of Independence, is essentially a social comedy in form, focused on a group of mostly-elderly people living in a crumbling seaside hotel. The small enclave has become larger in the second novel, The Siege of Krishnapur, where it is an entire garrison town under siege by sepoys in the Indian Mutiny of 1857. That book also expands the range and number of its characters, enabling the author to portray through them a great variety of attitudes in Victorian Britain towards religion, duty, and colonialism in all its aspects. With The Singapore Grip, the enclave is now an entire city-state, and the range is wider still, now extending its political vision to the global scale and having a great deal more to say about commerce and economics. It shows an author Tolstoy-like in his vision, and very close to Tolstoy in his powers.
And the meaning of the title? The "Singapore Grip" might be any of several things, such as a rattan suitcase or a touch of the flu. But the most special meaning is revealed only at the end, a last touch of the humor that has never been totally absent from this book, no matter how grim the events that it describes.
May 19, 2014
Warning: some of the characters in this book are immensely irritating! This doesn't make it a bad book, but it did make me want to strangle Walter at regular intervals. And he's fictional. That's an accomplishment.
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
February 28, 2022
This is my favorite of J.G. Farrell’s trilogy.
Japan’s invasion of Singapore via Malaysia during the Second World War was a colonial disaster for Britain. The book shows this not only through its historical details but also on a personal level through the story’s characters, some fictional, some not. The reader learns about life in Singapore both before and during the war. You know a book is good if it affects your emotionally. You are inside the heads of the characters, both the real, historical ones, General and Officer in Command Percival for example, and the invented ones. I want this emotional tie. I want to feel, hear, see the events of the invasion through all my senses, as I did here. I learned and empathized. This is what I am looking for in historical fiction.
There is humor, often ironical in tone. There are love affairs. There are those who live by their principles. Mathew became a hero for me, but a “human” hero because he was certainly not perfect. I felt the heat of the fires as the city burned. I heard the explosions, and I was scared. What I am trying to say is that emotions are as relevant as historical facts. In this book, the two are intertwined. This is as it should be. How is this achieved? Through the right choice of words, through the prose. Farrell masters his writing skill so very well in this novel!
Mike Grady narrates the audiobook. His narration I like a lot. It is easy to follow the text, and all is clearly pronounced. This is always what is most important for me. I am not one who favors dramatization. I want the author’s words to speak for themselves. Four stars for the narration.
*********************
*Troubles 2 stars
*The Siege of Krishnapur 4 stars
*The Singapore Grip 4 stars
Japan’s invasion of Singapore via Malaysia during the Second World War was a colonial disaster for Britain. The book shows this not only through its historical details but also on a personal level through the story’s characters, some fictional, some not. The reader learns about life in Singapore both before and during the war. You know a book is good if it affects your emotionally. You are inside the heads of the characters, both the real, historical ones, General and Officer in Command Percival for example, and the invented ones. I want this emotional tie. I want to feel, hear, see the events of the invasion through all my senses, as I did here. I learned and empathized. This is what I am looking for in historical fiction.
There is humor, often ironical in tone. There are love affairs. There are those who live by their principles. Mathew became a hero for me, but a “human” hero because he was certainly not perfect. I felt the heat of the fires as the city burned. I heard the explosions, and I was scared. What I am trying to say is that emotions are as relevant as historical facts. In this book, the two are intertwined. This is as it should be. How is this achieved? Through the right choice of words, through the prose. Farrell masters his writing skill so very well in this novel!
Mike Grady narrates the audiobook. His narration I like a lot. It is easy to follow the text, and all is clearly pronounced. This is always what is most important for me. I am not one who favors dramatization. I want the author’s words to speak for themselves. Four stars for the narration.
*********************
*Troubles 2 stars
*The Siege of Krishnapur 4 stars
*The Singapore Grip 4 stars
July 27, 2020
They say that one of the symptoms of COVID-19 is the loss of smell. But I smell just fine, even as I know there's at least two ways to take that. I have listened closely to Dr. Fauci and the CDC and the WHO, and none of them has spoken at all about the strange circumstance which has befallen me in these semi-isolating times. To-wit: it appears that whatever book I am reading is invisible to other 'residents.' I mean, if she knew I was reading, she surely wouldn't ask me . . .
Still, this was slow-going, but I never didn't like it. It sat shelved for four years since I read the first two volumes of this trilogy. And I think I liked it most.
We're in Malaya, Singapore. The Brits are doing their Brit thing, sucking the commodities out of a country. Most of the characters are brushed broadly, but not so Joan. She is the daughter of a major rubber magnate, and she is more attuned to their capitalist ways than her feckless brother. There are so many stories about fixed marriages. Here, when Joan's father gives a long-winded speech about why she should marry a partner's son, she replies:
'But Father!' exclaimed Joan, laughing and jumping up from her chair to give her father a hug. 'How old-fashioned you are to deliver such a speech! I took it for granted long ago that you'd want me to marry Matthew for the sake of the firm. And the answer is "yes", of course. I don't care what he's like! You took such a long time to pop the question. I was beginning to think you'd never ask!'
Joan stays true to character but sadly departs too soon (and I'm not spoiling).
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
An amateur chef, I have a few go-to-recipes that call for coconut milk. Matthew, here, was about to drink from a coconut topped with a boiled egg when Vera stopped him:
How delicious! But Vera diverted him. Coconut milk was not good for men, she explained.
'How d'you mean?'
Well, the Malays said it had a weakening effect of them, she murmured evasively, and directed him instead to another stall, insisting he should partake of a strange, meaty, spicy soup of which she would only tell him the Chinese name (it was monkey soup, a powerful aphrodisiac). . . . He would have ordered a third bowl but Vera thought he had probably had enough. . .
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Farrell, the author, painted broadly in satirical tones. Thus:
A great deal of thought must be given to your daughter's marriage. Otherwise she will simply slink off like a cat on a dark night and get herself fertilized under a bush by God knows whom! So mused Walter, the rubber magnate and father.
The same Walter waxed shallowly about 'natives':
A worker with a genuine grievance you can do something about. You can give him more pay, or sack him, or improve his living conditions. But what can you do with a worker who wants you to leave his country or, just as bad, wants to run the business himself?
----- ----- ----- -----
This book pairs well with Tan Twan Eng's The Gift of Rain and The Garden of Evening Mists. In fact, reading those books first informed this one for me.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
While we're tearing down statues:
Percival, as a deeply loyal soldier, was sufficiently nimble to dodge the notion that Churchill, trying to tell him what was best at a distance of several thousand miles, was nothing but a blockhead who had, moreover, already committed his full share of blunders with respect to the Malayan campaign.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Lastly, there is a vignette which the author repeats twice, and rightly so; a fable from long ago. It's about King William, who after some battle gets to a river and a boatman. The boatman asks the king who won the battle. And King William says, 'What's it to you? You'll still be a boatman.'
Such are lashes given.
Still, this was slow-going, but I never didn't like it. It sat shelved for four years since I read the first two volumes of this trilogy. And I think I liked it most.
We're in Malaya, Singapore. The Brits are doing their Brit thing, sucking the commodities out of a country. Most of the characters are brushed broadly, but not so Joan. She is the daughter of a major rubber magnate, and she is more attuned to their capitalist ways than her feckless brother. There are so many stories about fixed marriages. Here, when Joan's father gives a long-winded speech about why she should marry a partner's son, she replies:
'But Father!' exclaimed Joan, laughing and jumping up from her chair to give her father a hug. 'How old-fashioned you are to deliver such a speech! I took it for granted long ago that you'd want me to marry Matthew for the sake of the firm. And the answer is "yes", of course. I don't care what he's like! You took such a long time to pop the question. I was beginning to think you'd never ask!'
Joan stays true to character but sadly departs too soon (and I'm not spoiling).
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
An amateur chef, I have a few go-to-recipes that call for coconut milk. Matthew, here, was about to drink from a coconut topped with a boiled egg when Vera stopped him:
How delicious! But Vera diverted him. Coconut milk was not good for men, she explained.
'How d'you mean?'
Well, the Malays said it had a weakening effect of them, she murmured evasively, and directed him instead to another stall, insisting he should partake of a strange, meaty, spicy soup of which she would only tell him the Chinese name (it was monkey soup, a powerful aphrodisiac). . . . He would have ordered a third bowl but Vera thought he had probably had enough. . .
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Farrell, the author, painted broadly in satirical tones. Thus:
A great deal of thought must be given to your daughter's marriage. Otherwise she will simply slink off like a cat on a dark night and get herself fertilized under a bush by God knows whom! So mused Walter, the rubber magnate and father.
The same Walter waxed shallowly about 'natives':
A worker with a genuine grievance you can do something about. You can give him more pay, or sack him, or improve his living conditions. But what can you do with a worker who wants you to leave his country or, just as bad, wants to run the business himself?
----- ----- ----- -----
This book pairs well with Tan Twan Eng's The Gift of Rain and The Garden of Evening Mists. In fact, reading those books first informed this one for me.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
While we're tearing down statues:
Percival, as a deeply loyal soldier, was sufficiently nimble to dodge the notion that Churchill, trying to tell him what was best at a distance of several thousand miles, was nothing but a blockhead who had, moreover, already committed his full share of blunders with respect to the Malayan campaign.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Lastly, there is a vignette which the author repeats twice, and rightly so; a fable from long ago. It's about King William, who after some battle gets to a river and a boatman. The boatman asks the king who won the battle. And King William says, 'What's it to you? You'll still be a boatman.'
Such are lashes given.
October 15, 2023
The 3rd book in the Empire Trilogy regarding the fall of the British Empire is about the situation in Singapore prior to the start of WW2. The first two books dealt with the Irish situation after WW1 and then back to the time of an Indian uprising in the 1800's. Here we follow the fortunes of the Blackett family as they try to navigate all the pre-war turmoil on the country, consolidate their position in the rubber trade, organize a parade and festival in honor of their company and how they allegedly brought prosperity to Singapore (as long and you were British!). It is a fascinating family and friends and associated but this book took me almost 10 months to finish. The prose was long and tedious and there were not a lot of likable characters in this book. What really made me give this book only a 3*** rating was that after the Japanese invasion, the author just finished the book and brought us to a last chapter set in the 1970's. What happened to these people what we spent 570 pages living with? No idea who survived, how they survived and why the author failed to wrap up every story line is a mystery to me. As for the Trilogy, I thought Book 1 was superb. Book 2 very good, and Book 3 disappointing after the first two books. We had long segments where one character waxed on and on about the League of Nations, had a horrible Blackett daughter who was a total bitch to one and all. The minor characters stood out the most to me. A worthwhile series, very glad I read it, but I feel the author, just like the British Empire, was worn out by the end of this book.
May 23, 2022
I know Singapore well. But the geography of pre World War II Singapore in Farrell's novel left me utterly confused. Things have changed so much. It's a strange place, Singapore. Not so crowded in the streets as you would imagine, because most people take the MRT it seems, leaving the more wealthy to transit in taxis and limousines. So, then, to backtrack on my statement I just made, Singapore may not have changed really since the colonialists ruled atop the masses of Chinese, Indians, and Malays in the days of the British Empire. It's just that the rulers have changed--a point Farrell made often in Singapore Grip. "The Spirit of the Times," as the novel's Walter Blackett constantly alludes to has been altered, however. Hard to believe but that the stiff formalities and unstated rules of civilized colonial behavior would give way to something even harsher. For that is the truth of authoritarian rule in today's Singapore, which is an overly antiseptic plaything of the super rich and their minions. Whatever the faults of the Singapore once defended by the likes of Shenton Thomas, Arthur Percival, and the fictional Blacketts and Webbs, it at least had the elasticity to breathe and change--or so Farrell seems to convince us. I wasn't there, of course, but I can attest to the rigidity and sterility of what exists now. Farrell's novel, in fact, might be the one highlight representing postwar Singapore, whose forays into art, film, culture, and literature these days has all the appeal of an auction house. Even the botanical gardens feel more like a theme park than anything else. The one thing most genuine about the place today is Tiger Balm Garden, or Haw Par Villa. The villa was built in the years right before the war and changed into a public park after the war. No mention of it in Singapore Grip. The only place I really like in Singapore.
December 23, 2013
This is a good book on its own, but a mediocre book when compared with Troubles and The Siege of Krishnapur, J.G. Farrell's previous books about the end of the British Empire.
Another review described The Singapore Grip as more heavy-handed than the previous novels and I would agree. It was hard to really get a handle on the story because instead of characters, there were ideologies with names, all trying to get in a soliloquy about their own stances before the next one could take over the conversation. As with Krishnapur, this started as successful black humor, but as this was a considerably longer book (or felt that way?), became rather difficult to stay engaged with. Even a returning character seems to have entirely changed personality in order to be a mouthpiece for some lengthy speeches. The most effective part for me was when the capitalist Blackett is proudly explaining to a news reporter how he built his firm by various methods of harming local workers - turning them from communal land owners into migrant workers - and the listening Major becomes increasingly horrified. From there, it seemed there was too much repetition in the various speeches made by the characters, and a good portion could have been cut out while not losing any of either the narrative or the characterization.
Despite that, it's a glimpse into Singapore during WWII that's valuable not just for it's take down of imperialism but for its view of the local situation as the Japanese closed in - the uncertainty, first the reluctance to act and then the panic, the mindset of those who chose to stay and those who scrambled to leave. As the story got more into the real situation and not just the situation existing in the British characters' heads (full of their own concerns for their own profits), I did feel that the story became somewhat disjointed and worked less well as a complete narrative.
A confession. When Vera mocks Joan for her small chest and flaunts her larger chest, I started detesting her and couldn't shake that even though she was clearly the objectively more moral character.
Another review described The Singapore Grip as more heavy-handed than the previous novels and I would agree. It was hard to really get a handle on the story because instead of characters, there were ideologies with names, all trying to get in a soliloquy about their own stances before the next one could take over the conversation. As with Krishnapur, this started as successful black humor, but as this was a considerably longer book (or felt that way?), became rather difficult to stay engaged with. Even a returning character seems to have entirely changed personality in order to be a mouthpiece for some lengthy speeches. The most effective part for me was when the capitalist Blackett is proudly explaining to a news reporter how he built his firm by various methods of harming local workers - turning them from communal land owners into migrant workers - and the listening Major becomes increasingly horrified. From there, it seemed there was too much repetition in the various speeches made by the characters, and a good portion could have been cut out while not losing any of either the narrative or the characterization.
Despite that, it's a glimpse into Singapore during WWII that's valuable not just for it's take down of imperialism but for its view of the local situation as the Japanese closed in - the uncertainty, first the reluctance to act and then the panic, the mindset of those who chose to stay and those who scrambled to leave. As the story got more into the real situation and not just the situation existing in the British characters' heads (full of their own concerns for their own profits), I did feel that the story became somewhat disjointed and worked less well as a complete narrative.
A confession. When Vera mocks Joan for her small chest and flaunts her larger chest, I started detesting her and couldn't shake that even though she was clearly the objectively more moral character.
December 20, 2024
В Сингапур в навечерието на Пърл Харбър и японската окупация животът сред привилегированата бяла колониална класа тече все така безметежно и напълно изолирано от действителността.
Собственик на голяма търговска къща плете като паяк интриги за повече влияние и власт. Дъщеря му упражнява хладно и целево чаровете си върху нищо неподизиращите си жертви. Бивш служител от Обществото на Народите разсъждава върху неправдите на света в най-неподходящите за целта ситуации.
В сатиричния поглед на Фаръл няма нито едно адекватно човешко същество. Героите му до един са движещи се пародии: на хищническия капитализъм, на безогледния колониализъм, на удобното и благодушно лицемерие, на самодоволния расизъм, на безсилния, безплоден и чисто абстрактен идеализъм. Самодоволството е истинско, страданията са въобразени, слепотата е пълна и необратима. И дори японската инвазия не успява да ги разклати.
Проблемът на книгата е, че след силните първи две части героите и сюжетът зациклят в една мъртва точка, в която всичко тъпче на едно място. Пародията губи остротата на жилото си и се превръща в разтеглено и безцелно повторение от над 700 страници. Липсва редуване с различните слоеве на колониалното и колонизираното общество, лисват пълнокръвни герои, липсва дори действие. Парадоксално, но тъкмо избухването на войната в Малая бележи началото на поредица изключително дълги, безцелни и лишени от смисъл страници. А краят идва от нищото, напълно пренебрегващ всичко описано до момента и същевременно изстрелян от нищото, и всъщност е по-добре без него.
Не се е получил този идеен завършек на колониалната трилогия, и въпреки чудесния превод и богатия език - е чиста досада.
Собственик на голяма търговска къща плете като паяк интриги за повече влияние и власт. Дъщеря му упражнява хладно и целево чаровете си върху нищо неподизиращите си жертви. Бивш служител от Обществото на Народите разсъждава върху неправдите на света в най-неподходящите за целта ситуации.
В сатиричния поглед на Фаръл няма нито едно адекватно човешко същество. Героите му до един са движещи се пародии: на хищническия капитализъм, на безогледния колониализъм, на удобното и благодушно лицемерие, на самодоволния расизъм, на безсилния, безплоден и чисто абстрактен идеализъм. Самодоволството е истинско, страданията са въобразени, слепотата е пълна и необратима. И дори японската инвазия не успява да ги разклати.
Проблемът на книгата е, че след силните първи две части героите и сюжетът зациклят в една мъртва точка, в която всичко тъпче на едно място. Пародията губи остротата на жилото си и се превръща в разтеглено и безцелно повторение от над 700 страници. Липсва редуване с различните слоеве на колониалното и колонизираното общество, лисват пълнокръвни герои, липсва дори действие. Парадоксално, но тъкмо избухването на войната в Малая бележи началото на поредица изключително дълги, безцелни и лишени от смисъл страници. А краят идва от нищото, напълно пренебрегващ всичко описано до момента и същевременно изстрелян от нищото, и всъщност е по-добре без него.
Не се е получил този идеен завършек на колониалната трилогия, и въпреки чудесния превод и богатия език - е чиста досада.
September 7, 2011
The Siege of Krishnapur succeeds because Farrell let his colonial characters expose their own tragicomic ridiculousness with minimal intervention. Here, in the last novel of his Empire Trilogy, he was much more heavy-handed, resulting in several main characters that are outright caricatures. Walter Blackett, the head of the eponymous British trading firm that grew fat on the pre-war Malayan rubber boom, is the Evil Capitalist-Imperialist-Racist who bumbles through his public and private lives with all the tact and sensitivity of The Office’s Michael Scott. At one point early in the novel, Farrell made him do a Bond villain speech while giving an explanation (to an appalled British army officer) on how his firm managed to drive down the selling price of Burmese rice:
“ ’You see, the Chettyar money lenders in Burma, and to a lesser extent, here in Malaya, too, acted on the peasants like saddle-soap on leather. They softened them up for us. Of course, some of the Chetties became rivals in the milling of crops but that couldn’t be helped. Without them to get the peasants used to dealing in cash (which, of course, in practice meant tricking them into debts they would have to pay up) rather than in barter of produce the merchants would have been all in the poorhouse, including Mr. Webb. One bad crop with forward contracts to fill!’ ”
Walter even has porcine bristles on his back, which “had a tendency to rise when he was angry and sometimes, even, in moments of conjugal intimacy.”
The other main character, Matthew Webb, the son of Blackett’s partner who comes to Malaya to inherit his father’s interest in the firm, is another caricature. Fat, bespectacled, a naïve idealist fresh from a League of Nations job in Geneva, he is the Pierre Bezukhov of the novel, full of lofty ethical notions entirely at odds with Blackett and Webb’s business practices (the book’s polemics on colonial economic policies are conducted largely through these two characters). Yet unlike Tolstoy’s lovable, redeemable dork, he is little more than an annoyingly passive windbag and his character’s naïve idealism is never tested in any meaningful way. He is so inconsequential that Farrell’s attempt in embroiling him in a love triangle reminiscent of the one in War and Peace falls flat on its face. The Prince Andrei character, the American officer Ehrendorf, seemed to be promising, but is then summarily dispatched without much ado once his usefulness as romantic foil is used up. The Helene Kuragin proxy, Walter’s pretty daughter Joan, is just as vacuously farcical and unbelievable as her father. The weakness of the central characters makes long stretches of this 700 plus pages novel (another Tolstoyan emulation?) quite dull indeed. Which is a pity, since Farrell had obviously done his homework and was perfectly capable of conjuring a plausible, grittily exotic version of pre-war Singapore replete with amusing, well-drawn colonial supporting characters.
“There, too, when you staggered outside into the sweltering night, you would have been able to inhale that incomparable smell of incense, of warm skin, of meat cooking in coconut oil, of money and frangipani, and hair-oil and lust and sandalwood and heaven knows what, a perfume like the breath of life itself.”
“ ’You see, the Chettyar money lenders in Burma, and to a lesser extent, here in Malaya, too, acted on the peasants like saddle-soap on leather. They softened them up for us. Of course, some of the Chetties became rivals in the milling of crops but that couldn’t be helped. Without them to get the peasants used to dealing in cash (which, of course, in practice meant tricking them into debts they would have to pay up) rather than in barter of produce the merchants would have been all in the poorhouse, including Mr. Webb. One bad crop with forward contracts to fill!’ ”
Walter even has porcine bristles on his back, which “had a tendency to rise when he was angry and sometimes, even, in moments of conjugal intimacy.”
The other main character, Matthew Webb, the son of Blackett’s partner who comes to Malaya to inherit his father’s interest in the firm, is another caricature. Fat, bespectacled, a naïve idealist fresh from a League of Nations job in Geneva, he is the Pierre Bezukhov of the novel, full of lofty ethical notions entirely at odds with Blackett and Webb’s business practices (the book’s polemics on colonial economic policies are conducted largely through these two characters). Yet unlike Tolstoy’s lovable, redeemable dork, he is little more than an annoyingly passive windbag and his character’s naïve idealism is never tested in any meaningful way. He is so inconsequential that Farrell’s attempt in embroiling him in a love triangle reminiscent of the one in War and Peace falls flat on its face. The Prince Andrei character, the American officer Ehrendorf, seemed to be promising, but is then summarily dispatched without much ado once his usefulness as romantic foil is used up. The Helene Kuragin proxy, Walter’s pretty daughter Joan, is just as vacuously farcical and unbelievable as her father. The weakness of the central characters makes long stretches of this 700 plus pages novel (another Tolstoyan emulation?) quite dull indeed. Which is a pity, since Farrell had obviously done his homework and was perfectly capable of conjuring a plausible, grittily exotic version of pre-war Singapore replete with amusing, well-drawn colonial supporting characters.
“There, too, when you staggered outside into the sweltering night, you would have been able to inhale that incomparable smell of incense, of warm skin, of meat cooking in coconut oil, of money and frangipani, and hair-oil and lust and sandalwood and heaven knows what, a perfume like the breath of life itself.”
January 31, 2015
The decline of the British Empire, compressed into the fall of Singapore. From the title -- which, by the way, never quite is pinned down -- to the "Schrodinger's Cat" ending, Farrell draws romance, commerce, political theory, and an accurate retelling of military blundering. An Edwardian springs-running-down like Evelyn Waugh, but better written. All played with astonishing wit. A one quote summary?
"I read somewhere that the boatman who rowed King William back across the river after the Battle of the Boyne is supposed to have asked the King which side won … To which the King replied: 'What's it to you? You'll still be a boatman.'"
"I read somewhere that the boatman who rowed King William back across the river after the Battle of the Boyne is supposed to have asked the King which side won … To which the King replied: 'What's it to you? You'll still be a boatman.'"
November 1, 2010
The Singapore Grip is the 3d volume of Farrell's Empire Trilogy. Following the gradual destruction of Krishnapur during the 1st volume's depiction of the Sepoy Mutiny and the collapse of an Irish manor house in Troubles, this 3d volume is about the 1941 Japanese invasion of Malaysia and the disintegration of Singapore and British society there. The end of empire, which seems to be Farrell's big theme. The Singapore Grip is my favorite of the 3 novels. I believe it to be the most stylized novel of the trilogy and the one with the most developed themes. There's a richness and maturity in storytelling I'd not suspected from reading the first 2 volumes. Obviously major poles of opposition are those of the British of the colony and the invading Japanese and the military campaign waged as the British are overwhelmed. Another is the continuing dialogue between liberalism/humanitarianism on one hand and the world trade/big business of empire, in Singapore best represented by the huge rubber conglomerates, on the other. Walter Blackett, head of a rubber-producing firm, represents the latter, a symbol of overreaching, overarching empire more concerned with salvaging commerce and trade. In the end he's seen as a kind of Satan and the fires raging through Singapore under attack as a vision of hell. The crumbling of empire is also represented by the Japanese heavy bombing of the city which erodes just as steadily as do the British units forced to retreat south to one position after another until they're backed up against the city and the sea. The defeat isn't just physical, material, though. It's also moral, brought about by loss of energy and despair, a thought carried into criticisms of the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations and its attempts to maintain peace when faced with unreasonable violence. Farrell has a lot to say about ideas like that and about history, race, and empire, and it's grim. But he dilutes the grimness with the humor always embedded in his fiction. He's good with the spirit of the times, too. The Singapore Grip seems to capture the cultural character very well, the popular music, the fascination with movies, the attributes of 1940's speech and slang. All of it adds to the rich tapestry the novel is. I wonder where Farrell's fiction would've gone next. He died young the year after The Singapore Grip was published. Because historians note 2 more events significant to the shrinkage of the empire following the war--the loss of Iran and Suez in the 50s, I wonder if he would've considered another volume, making a tetralogy. It would have needed to be a dandy novel to be better than The Singapore Grip.
April 10, 2017
I was looking forward to reading The Singapore Grip but I was disappointed by it. I paid a small fortune for it in British postage costs when I belonged to an online Booker Prize reading group … we had chosen The Siege of Krishnapur as a book for discussion but I couldn’t buy it here in Australia. (Yes, this was before the Book Depository existed and when the fledgling Amazon focussed on US titles). In for a penny, in for a pound, I thought, and I bought the entire Empire Trilogy comprising Troubles (1970); The Siege of Krishnapur (1973); and The Singapore Grip (1978). The novels explore the decline of the British Empire with wry humour, and not without schadenfreude. (Farrell was Liverpool-born, but of Irish ancestry).
The Siege of Krishnapur won the Booker in 1973, and it was also shortlisted for Best of the Booker in 2008. It’s a great book, not least for the depiction of its central character, The Collector. He starts out as the sort of British colonial fool you’d expect, racist towards the Indians on whom his lifestyle depends, and casually complacent about British power. But he grows in stature and moral complexity when the garrison is besieged by sepoys for four months and everything he has assumed about British power and character and ‘standards’ is inverted. Troubles is a great book too, again tracing the breakdown of society when its military and economic power is tested, in this case, satirising the Anglo-Irish overlords during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921).
So, yes, expectations were high for The Singapore Grip, but the novel drowns under the weight of its own research, and the characterisation is woeful. It’s about the last days of British power in Singapore before the Japanese invasion in 1941, beginning with a depiction of the lost world of British privilege and exploitation, and taking 596 pages to detail the inexorable progress of the Japanese towards victory. Even if I’d had a map I couldn’t have followed it all and I wasn’t interested anyway – because each air-raid, battle, attempt to escape Singapore and struggle to quench the fires is used for diatribes by two characters, Matthew and the American Ehrendorf, who, having met at Oxford, have somehow escaped the prevailing British contempt for the exploited workers – and Farrell spends a lot of printer’s ink on their inner thoughts and dialogue about how morally wrong it all was. It’s as if he thinks his readers are too dim to understand his pontificating and need to be beaten over the head with it.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2016/01/23/th...
The Siege of Krishnapur won the Booker in 1973, and it was also shortlisted for Best of the Booker in 2008. It’s a great book, not least for the depiction of its central character, The Collector. He starts out as the sort of British colonial fool you’d expect, racist towards the Indians on whom his lifestyle depends, and casually complacent about British power. But he grows in stature and moral complexity when the garrison is besieged by sepoys for four months and everything he has assumed about British power and character and ‘standards’ is inverted. Troubles is a great book too, again tracing the breakdown of society when its military and economic power is tested, in this case, satirising the Anglo-Irish overlords during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921).
So, yes, expectations were high for The Singapore Grip, but the novel drowns under the weight of its own research, and the characterisation is woeful. It’s about the last days of British power in Singapore before the Japanese invasion in 1941, beginning with a depiction of the lost world of British privilege and exploitation, and taking 596 pages to detail the inexorable progress of the Japanese towards victory. Even if I’d had a map I couldn’t have followed it all and I wasn’t interested anyway – because each air-raid, battle, attempt to escape Singapore and struggle to quench the fires is used for diatribes by two characters, Matthew and the American Ehrendorf, who, having met at Oxford, have somehow escaped the prevailing British contempt for the exploited workers – and Farrell spends a lot of printer’s ink on their inner thoughts and dialogue about how morally wrong it all was. It’s as if he thinks his readers are too dim to understand his pontificating and need to be beaten over the head with it.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2016/01/23/th...
July 1, 2019
I enjoyed this epic, richly detailed and humorous reimagining of the fall of Singapore hugely. Since reading it I can't see a mangy dog without being reminded of "The Human Condition". This one might be a bit daunting as an introduction to Farrell - Troubles and The Siege of Krishnapur are easier reads, but it is fully deserving of its place among my favourites. Nobody escapes the savage satire.
August 5, 2015
Based on my reading of the first two books in Farrell's Empire Trilogy, I expected this to be the conflict of the British and a native population. Farrell did give us a sort of outline of strikes and unrest beginning in about 1937. It wasn't really until the Japanese invasion of the Malay peninsula had begun that we learned the extent of the British thumb on things.
I come almost entirely of English and Scottish ancestry going back several centuries. We were middle class - farmers and teachers for the most part - and no industrialists among us. It hurts me to see in these novels the gross egotistical domination of the British. Farrell did not like them very much, which, I assume, is why he moved himself permanently to Ireland. But I'm not going to claim he was biased against the British and that these portrayals are entirely untrue, nor unfair.
However, he fails in this one to make this point strongly. He begins his story in such a way that mostly disparages capitalism. One industrialist is decidedly the egotist. Because the time period includes the beginning WWII in the Pacific, there is also the military story. The generals are mostly just incompetent. Farrell spends more time with the characterizations of those running the rubber business, but he spends an almost equal time with the military plot. He tries to give us a civilian hero who I found too idealistic. The military sections were dry, dry, dry.
I hoped for so much more. Had I read this before the other two, I would have missed out on those because I most certainly would not have bothered with them. If you can read only one of these, I would recommend The Siege of Krishnapur, which was excellent.
I come almost entirely of English and Scottish ancestry going back several centuries. We were middle class - farmers and teachers for the most part - and no industrialists among us. It hurts me to see in these novels the gross egotistical domination of the British. Farrell did not like them very much, which, I assume, is why he moved himself permanently to Ireland. But I'm not going to claim he was biased against the British and that these portrayals are entirely untrue, nor unfair.
However, he fails in this one to make this point strongly. He begins his story in such a way that mostly disparages capitalism. One industrialist is decidedly the egotist. Because the time period includes the beginning WWII in the Pacific, there is also the military story. The generals are mostly just incompetent. Farrell spends more time with the characterizations of those running the rubber business, but he spends an almost equal time with the military plot. He tries to give us a civilian hero who I found too idealistic. The military sections were dry, dry, dry.
I hoped for so much more. Had I read this before the other two, I would have missed out on those because I most certainly would not have bothered with them. If you can read only one of these, I would recommend The Siege of Krishnapur, which was excellent.
November 24, 2020
Straits Times
The Singapore Grip is not quite a classic, yet. But, the ideas and culture are beyond classic, going back to 1939. The reader will feel as if having been transported to a world on the Eve of WWII.
In the throes of a tight British grip on all trade coming through Singapore, Japan launches an invasion on the US and Singapore. Though this is a historical novel, it takes some very serious history into the account. The commerce of the Straits, colonization, the plight of the native groups, and the Rubber Restriction scheme is explained, and many other fine points of WWII. The Japanese invasion and other battles are described, in an interesting fashion with quite a bit of irony and tongue-in-cheek humor throughout the book (besides that of the euphemism in the title.)
J. G. Farrell uses 'exposed corpses' as a metaphor of the British empire, which is collapsing all around at that moment. Farrell performs magic with his analogies in this novel.
There is this one scene where an old man (the main character Walter's business partner Old Mr. Webb) is sagging over in a chair half lifeless, and then hoisted up onto a couch. He eventually dies. Later, another old business man Solomon Langfield dies and is laid upon the kitchen table to be embalmed, amidst a war all around. Solomon was Walter's arch rival in business, but his family was staying in Walter's home because their home had been bombed. But, in this scene, the old Doctor is on Walter's phone consulting long distance about embalming techniques (which he's never done before) in preparation to embalm the guy on the table, Solomon. Meanwhile, out in the garden Walter's old partner's son is arguing the injustices that have been done to the Chinese people and other native races in Singapore. Walter is standing at the doorway hearing this conversation in one ear, while hearing the poor doctor in the other ear. In between the social injustice, and the deprivation of a people, are words about embalming alcohols and whiskey and using a bicycle pump. Walter is an old man himself, so both conversations are equally difficult for him to hear .
But, the whole history is tightly embedded into the very human story of a family. Despite the fact of the human foibles of each character, I found there was not a single character I couldn't like. You know how that is, you can not enjoy reading a book about a group of characters you can not identify with or even like. The author lets you know what each character is thinking, and you feel like you really know them.
I had not expected this work of fiction to be so historical. I did not realize it contained an account of the years following the East India Trading Company and included the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, which I had read about in other books on my Journey. There are two other books in the same trilogy which came before, though they were written out of order. One is on the Irish Rebellion, and the other is on the Indian Rebellion. (All three events were great humiliations for the British Empire.) I have not read either of those earlier two, and personally, it is my opinion that it really doesn't matter what order you read them in, since they center around different time periods and events. It didn't hurt to have read this last first.
I read this book on Singapore's Invasion and Fall to the Japanese for my stop in Singapore on my Journey Around the World in 2019-2020 in the Kindle whisper-sync. It is a good sized book and well worth the time it takes to read. The Audible narration was beautifully done, with authentic voices. I can not emphasize enough how good the writing is, and how much I like the author's work. There are no flaws, and Farrell's work is beyond criticism. Keep in mind, some of the topics are adult content matter, and not a book for children. Now, I am literature-ally over in Sri Lanka (old Ceylon) where I am reading The Anarchy by William Dalrymple, an account of the East India Company's heyday in Southeast Asia. Follow me on my Journey as we move among the Island nations.
The Singapore Grip is not quite a classic, yet. But, the ideas and culture are beyond classic, going back to 1939. The reader will feel as if having been transported to a world on the Eve of WWII.
"...you no longer had to support a man and his family all year round, you could now bring him in to do a specific job like planting or harvesting. The traditional village communities were broken up and the Burmese had to learn to travel about looking for seasonal or coolie work...
In the throes of a tight British grip on all trade coming through Singapore, Japan launches an invasion on the US and Singapore. Though this is a historical novel, it takes some very serious history into the account. The commerce of the Straits, colonization, the plight of the native groups, and the Rubber Restriction scheme is explained, and many other fine points of WWII. The Japanese invasion and other battles are described, in an interesting fashion with quite a bit of irony and tongue-in-cheek humor throughout the book (besides that of the euphemism in the title.)
"One of the most astounding things about our Empire, when you come to think about it, is the way we’ve transported vast populations across the globe as cheap labour. Surely we must have their interests at heart..."
‘We in Singapore may have our share of overcrowding and child-labour and slums, but at least it’s not like Shanghai!’...‘You would think the Chinese here would be more grateful considering what their relatives in Shanghai have to put up with!’
J. G. Farrell uses 'exposed corpses' as a metaphor of the British empire, which is collapsing all around at that moment. Farrell performs magic with his analogies in this novel.
There is this one scene where an old man (the main character Walter's business partner Old Mr. Webb) is sagging over in a chair half lifeless, and then hoisted up onto a couch. He eventually dies. Later, another old business man Solomon Langfield dies and is laid upon the kitchen table to be embalmed, amidst a war all around. Solomon was Walter's arch rival in business, but his family was staying in Walter's home because their home had been bombed. But, in this scene, the old Doctor is on Walter's phone consulting long distance about embalming techniques (which he's never done before) in preparation to embalm the guy on the table, Solomon. Meanwhile, out in the garden Walter's old partner's son is arguing the injustices that have been done to the Chinese people and other native races in Singapore. Walter is standing at the doorway hearing this conversation in one ear, while hearing the poor doctor in the other ear. In between the social injustice, and the deprivation of a people, are words about embalming alcohols and whiskey and using a bicycle pump. Walter is an old man himself, so both conversations are equally difficult for him to hear .
"...with bombs raining on the city and corpses laid out everywhere on the pavements the idea of preserving the old goat was perfectly ludicrous."
"I repeat … Liquor formaldehyde, 13.5 cc. Sodium borate, 5 grammes … and water to make up to 100 cc. Is that correct?"
But, the whole history is tightly embedded into the very human story of a family. Despite the fact of the human foibles of each character, I found there was not a single character I couldn't like. You know how that is, you can not enjoy reading a book about a group of characters you can not identify with or even like. The author lets you know what each character is thinking, and you feel like you really know them.
‘Strong nations, Matthew, will always take advantage of the weak if they can do so with impunity.
'asked the King which side won … To which the King replied: “What’s it to you? You’ll still be a boatman.”
I had not expected this work of fiction to be so historical. I did not realize it contained an account of the years following the East India Trading Company and included the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, which I had read about in other books on my Journey. There are two other books in the same trilogy which came before, though they were written out of order. One is on the Irish Rebellion, and the other is on the Indian Rebellion. (All three events were great humiliations for the British Empire.) I have not read either of those earlier two, and personally, it is my opinion that it really doesn't matter what order you read them in, since they center around different time periods and events. It didn't hurt to have read this last first.
"There is something about a large number of dying people, provided you aren’t one of them, that can make you feel extraordinarily full of vitality."
"For, in a competitive society, how could you be wealthy in a vacuum?...
Were you not wealthy against other people poorer than you?"
I read this book on Singapore's Invasion and Fall to the Japanese for my stop in Singapore on my Journey Around the World in 2019-2020 in the Kindle whisper-sync. It is a good sized book and well worth the time it takes to read. The Audible narration was beautifully done, with authentic voices. I can not emphasize enough how good the writing is, and how much I like the author's work. There are no flaws, and Farrell's work is beyond criticism. Keep in mind, some of the topics are adult content matter, and not a book for children. Now, I am literature-ally over in Sri Lanka (old Ceylon) where I am reading The Anarchy by William Dalrymple, an account of the East India Company's heyday in Southeast Asia. Follow me on my Journey as we move among the Island nations.
April 11, 2023
A vivid and colourful tale of ex-pat life in Singapore in the period immediately before and up until its capture by the Japanese in 1942.
The story is largely seen from the perspective of British ex-pats although there are a range of other characters including Chinese, American and French.
The dominant family in the tale are the Blackett's led by Walter who is also head of a hugely successful rubber business. Walter's son and potential heir is Monty who it becomes clear is limited in intelligence and has no real interest beyond a life of leisure and entertainment.Walter's daughter, Joan, is made of sharper material and is closer to her father in temperament.
Despite the outbreak of war elsewhere in the world and the march of the Japanese across Asia, the Blackett family and a number of others largely seem in a state of denial. Walter's focus is on "what is good for business" which seems to blinker him to any other concerns such as the fact that the way of life he lives is unsustainable due to the political realities of the day. Walter has no real concern for his workers and views strikes as a nuisance to be crushed or otherwise dealt with. Walter is actually a good businessman, at least up until now, so his blindness to what the reader knows will happen is an interesting aspect to his personality. Astonishingly, Walter seeks to cut production of rubber despite the war as he wants to maintain prices.
The arrival of the son of Blackett's deceased business partner, Webb, provides a radically different perspective on what is happening both in Singapore and the wider world. Yet Blackett senior views Webb junior with a mixture of pity and suspicion. There is more than a hint of Arthur Birling from Priestly's An Inspector Calls here.
Webb junior brings compassion and humanity into an arena of naked self-interest. It is Webb too who falls in love across old divides, foreshadowing some of the changes that will come.
There is much humour in this book, sometimes dark but often lighter. This is a vivid portrayal of British denial about an impending cataclysm that will sweep away their old way of life entirely. Before that happens, they seem determined to enjoy what time they have and want to live in denial as long as possible.
When war and its full horror eventually hits Singapore, a fight is waged that the reader knows is ultimately futile. Yet despite that some characters are reborn and find new purpose in their previously empty lives. It is almost as if some are relieved that their pointless less comfortable existence has passed away to be replaced by something tougher yet strangely enlivening.
The story is largely seen from the perspective of British ex-pats although there are a range of other characters including Chinese, American and French.
The dominant family in the tale are the Blackett's led by Walter who is also head of a hugely successful rubber business. Walter's son and potential heir is Monty who it becomes clear is limited in intelligence and has no real interest beyond a life of leisure and entertainment.Walter's daughter, Joan, is made of sharper material and is closer to her father in temperament.
Despite the outbreak of war elsewhere in the world and the march of the Japanese across Asia, the Blackett family and a number of others largely seem in a state of denial. Walter's focus is on "what is good for business" which seems to blinker him to any other concerns such as the fact that the way of life he lives is unsustainable due to the political realities of the day. Walter has no real concern for his workers and views strikes as a nuisance to be crushed or otherwise dealt with. Walter is actually a good businessman, at least up until now, so his blindness to what the reader knows will happen is an interesting aspect to his personality. Astonishingly, Walter seeks to cut production of rubber despite the war as he wants to maintain prices.
The arrival of the son of Blackett's deceased business partner, Webb, provides a radically different perspective on what is happening both in Singapore and the wider world. Yet Blackett senior views Webb junior with a mixture of pity and suspicion. There is more than a hint of Arthur Birling from Priestly's An Inspector Calls here.
Webb junior brings compassion and humanity into an arena of naked self-interest. It is Webb too who falls in love across old divides, foreshadowing some of the changes that will come.
There is much humour in this book, sometimes dark but often lighter. This is a vivid portrayal of British denial about an impending cataclysm that will sweep away their old way of life entirely. Before that happens, they seem determined to enjoy what time they have and want to live in denial as long as possible.
When war and its full horror eventually hits Singapore, a fight is waged that the reader knows is ultimately futile. Yet despite that some characters are reborn and find new purpose in their previously empty lives. It is almost as if some are relieved that their pointless less comfortable existence has passed away to be replaced by something tougher yet strangely enlivening.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 22, 2013
A combination of 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Catch-22'. Has everything: memorable characters, action, romance, social commentary, philosophy, and a sprawling historical saga. Absolutely one of the most hilarious reads ever. Wonderfully polished, garrulous, insightful, confiding-in-the-reader-style book; a wry, tongue-in-cheek peek into the lives of quaint, lost, forgotten Britishers and their colonial ways during the height of the Empire. Amusing, exotic, lively. A must for all anglophiles. Farrell's voice is poised, balanced, well-paced, elegant, restrained..a superb read to get utterly lost in for about six weeks!
Read
August 27, 2024I thought I had posted a review but apparently I did not. Until I do let me say that it is a truly great novel, five stars is inadequate. When I post my review it will fail to do the novel justice but not as much as the recent TV adaptation failed. That programme was so bad that I am glad Farrell was dead so he could not see what an execrable mess had been made of his novel.
Don't watch the TV series, read the novel and be patient, I will post my review soon.
Don't watch the TV series, read the novel and be patient, I will post my review soon.
July 9, 2015
One very well written book on the last days of Singapore before the Japanese occupation, humorous, and tense, Farrell nails down the times, the economics, the culture, and the city with plenty of characters fictional and historical.
October 7, 2024
I think this was my favorite book of The Empire Trilogy. Which is difficult to call because of how much I enjoyed Troubles. The book is funny, intelligent, and entertaining.
A big reason why I enjoyed this so much was because I didnt absolutely hate everyone like I did in The Siege of Krishnapur. Having at least a few redeemable characters goes a long way I think. (Speaking of, I was pleasantly surprised to see The Major make a return to the cast.) That being said, it does not apply to Walter, the bastard, who is effectively the villain of the story, alongside his truly awful daughter Joan. Seriously, fuck these people. Walter also acts as a metaphore on top of a metaphore for the British Empire in its final days. The fact that he's the villain speaks for itself I guess. Starting the story prosperous, haughty, and controlling. Only to end it ruined and broken, wandering the streets and grounds of his bombed out empire wondering what the hell happened.
No matter how strong you are, how well entrenched, and how well connected, sometimes things just fall apart. The more you desperately hold on to what was and what could of been, the more likely you are to burn along with it.
As for the ambiguous ending, I'm actually ok with it. Suprising, because I usually hate that shit. Given that the narrative is merely an allegory for the British Empire anyway, an ending like this makes sense. It's as if Farrell is saying, the fate of these characters isn't the point, you pick the ending you want them to have, because ultimately it doesn't matter. The story is told.
A big reason why I enjoyed this so much was because I didnt absolutely hate everyone like I did in The Siege of Krishnapur. Having at least a few redeemable characters goes a long way I think. (Speaking of, I was pleasantly surprised to see The Major make a return to the cast.) That being said, it does not apply to Walter, the bastard, who is effectively the villain of the story, alongside his truly awful daughter Joan. Seriously, fuck these people. Walter also acts as a metaphore on top of a metaphore for the British Empire in its final days. The fact that he's the villain speaks for itself I guess. Starting the story prosperous, haughty, and controlling. Only to end it ruined and broken, wandering the streets and grounds of his bombed out empire wondering what the hell happened.
No matter how strong you are, how well entrenched, and how well connected, sometimes things just fall apart. The more you desperately hold on to what was and what could of been, the more likely you are to burn along with it.
As for the ambiguous ending, I'm actually ok with it. Suprising, because I usually hate that shit. Given that the narrative is merely an allegory for the British Empire anyway, an ending like this makes sense. It's as if Farrell is saying, the fate of these characters isn't the point, you pick the ending you want them to have, because ultimately it doesn't matter. The story is told.
July 3, 2024
The title comes from a particular sexual intercourse technique, though it's also meant to be a (blackly comic) metaphor (as in truly fucked) for Singapore's fate in the wake of its February 1942 capitulation to the Japanese. The reason for that is, I assume, Singapore itself, which emerges, with all of its collection of uneven racial components, as a character itself. At the top of heap are the British. It's their colony and their creation. It's also in a period (1937 to 1942) of marked British colonial decline. The pompous racist arrogance is still there, but the dry rot is everywhere. It only takes a push from smallish Japanese army to see it all collapse in was to be a British Cannae (without the Roman bounce-back).
At the center of the story are the Blanketts, who control one part of a successful rubber trading company. As war clouds gather, rubber is in demand. The company is led by the hard-edged Walter Blankett. His partner, the aging Charles Webb, the original founder of the company, is drifting off into senility. He is often observed pruning his garden in the nude. Walter, at the opening of the novel (1937), is beginning to look for possible suitors for his soon to be marriageable daughter, Joan, who is quite beautiful, but also blossoming into a first class bitch. The set up here is often comedic and reminiscent of Waugh at his most savage. Meanwhile, events in China and Japan are darkening the horizon, and there are ominous rumblings from Europe.
Jump forward a few years, and old Webb has died. His son, Matthew, has come to claim his part of the company. Matthew is an idealist and fresh off a disappointing stint working for the League of Nations. It is at this point, despite the satire, that you realize that the template here comes from Tolstoy rather than Waugh. Matthew is basically a Levin-like character, complete with all the tedious speeches and thoughts on how to save the world and its peoples. He becomes (with Walter's approval) the seemingly unlikely object of Joan's interest. Matthew is overweight, wears glasses, and is, at times, an utter bore. But Joan is a chip off the old Blankett block, so her interests, which revolve around controlling Matthew (and thus his interest in the company, are totally mercenary. Throw into this mix Vera Chiang, the offspring (so she says) of a pre-Revolution Russian princess and a Chinese Tea Merchant. Who knows. What we do know is that Vera, with her red hair and Chinese features, is quite beautifully. She is already a survivor of the Japanese. She is also, with her wit and heart, despite the novel's flaws, one of most remarkable literary figures I've encountered over the last year or so.
At to the flaws or flaw. Farrell obviously did a lot of research on Singapore and its history. The reader is subjected to long digressions on the labor unrest and British colonial practices. And then there's the complicated Singapore campaign, which was basically a series of British retreats in the face of a quick moving Japanese assault. But Farrell is intent to tell you as much of as he can, through the eyes of generals, soldiers (both sides), as well as the characters of the novel. You almost wished the novel had included campaign maps. The one character, mostly missing though the last few hundred pages, is Vera. The history is there, often numbingly so, leaving me to wonder just how many pages Tolstoy expended on the fall of Moscow is War and Peace. The burning of Singapore seemed endless. The burden of the historical telling seemed to at times to weigh down the story itself. I wanted more economy, while the author was intent on Epic. Whatever. Things do pick up with Farrell punctuating the story with vivid, horrific, and often bizarre moments that are the stuff of great cities falling, no matter the time or place. What sealed that fourth star was the ending, the years-later aftermath, where author and some characters occupy a moment of ease and reflection. Tolstoy would have approved of that gentle touch.
At the center of the story are the Blanketts, who control one part of a successful rubber trading company. As war clouds gather, rubber is in demand. The company is led by the hard-edged Walter Blankett. His partner, the aging Charles Webb, the original founder of the company, is drifting off into senility. He is often observed pruning his garden in the nude. Walter, at the opening of the novel (1937), is beginning to look for possible suitors for his soon to be marriageable daughter, Joan, who is quite beautiful, but also blossoming into a first class bitch. The set up here is often comedic and reminiscent of Waugh at his most savage. Meanwhile, events in China and Japan are darkening the horizon, and there are ominous rumblings from Europe.
Jump forward a few years, and old Webb has died. His son, Matthew, has come to claim his part of the company. Matthew is an idealist and fresh off a disappointing stint working for the League of Nations. It is at this point, despite the satire, that you realize that the template here comes from Tolstoy rather than Waugh. Matthew is basically a Levin-like character, complete with all the tedious speeches and thoughts on how to save the world and its peoples. He becomes (with Walter's approval) the seemingly unlikely object of Joan's interest. Matthew is overweight, wears glasses, and is, at times, an utter bore. But Joan is a chip off the old Blankett block, so her interests, which revolve around controlling Matthew (and thus his interest in the company, are totally mercenary. Throw into this mix Vera Chiang, the offspring (so she says) of a pre-Revolution Russian princess and a Chinese Tea Merchant. Who knows. What we do know is that Vera, with her red hair and Chinese features, is quite beautifully. She is already a survivor of the Japanese. She is also, with her wit and heart, despite the novel's flaws, one of most remarkable literary figures I've encountered over the last year or so.
At to the flaws or flaw. Farrell obviously did a lot of research on Singapore and its history. The reader is subjected to long digressions on the labor unrest and British colonial practices. And then there's the complicated Singapore campaign, which was basically a series of British retreats in the face of a quick moving Japanese assault. But Farrell is intent to tell you as much of as he can, through the eyes of generals, soldiers (both sides), as well as the characters of the novel. You almost wished the novel had included campaign maps. The one character, mostly missing though the last few hundred pages, is Vera. The history is there, often numbingly so, leaving me to wonder just how many pages Tolstoy expended on the fall of Moscow is War and Peace. The burning of Singapore seemed endless. The burden of the historical telling seemed to at times to weigh down the story itself. I wanted more economy, while the author was intent on Epic. Whatever. Things do pick up with Farrell punctuating the story with vivid, horrific, and often bizarre moments that are the stuff of great cities falling, no matter the time or place. What sealed that fourth star was the ending, the years-later aftermath, where author and some characters occupy a moment of ease and reflection. Tolstoy would have approved of that gentle touch.
February 18, 2019
"War is only a passing phase in business life."
"Grip" is an uneven and frustrating novel. About 3/5 of it is complete genius, the rest does for literature what the Jonestown Kool-Aid did for kids' drinks. Oh yeah!
"The Singapore Grip" itself refers to a particular, ah, talent that certain Singaporean immigrant prostitutes have. It could also refer to and often does to the similar whorish grip that fat, greasy British, French, and Dutch capitalist hold over Singapore itself on the literal eve of the Japanese conquest. Farrell wisely takes care of the characters, using the Japanese bombing and onslaught as a kind of creeping, creepy threat throughout while high-handed, high-hoggin' businessmen try to deny that the utter collapse of everything they stand for and have is about to smashed down by similarly-minded do-gooder imperialists. Much of "Grip" centers on the obnoxious Blackett family--conniving capitalist running-dog patriarch Walter and his eldest daughter Joan especially, who gleefully acquiesces in trying to seduce into marriage the heads of rival firms. And friendly ones, too, for that matter, including young, newly-arrived idealist Matthew Webb whose late father was Blackett's partner and leader of some sort of nudist athletic cult. Zany shenanigans ensue as the Japanese tear-ass down the peninsula towards Singapore. Farrell excels at both portraying the futility and hilarious absurdity of colonial life at its very moment of destruction, as well as the palpable sense of horror as the war becomes ever-closer.
The book's major failing are weird interruptions of military matters that don't sit well with the rest of the fun and charm. In addition, the exposition of the characters is "Attack of the Clones"-level crassness. Characters spout dialogue on socialism and communism and colonial matters as if they are walking Chomsky lectures. It really does dent the momentum of the story and I almost gave up a few times, but sallied on because the good bits are really good!
"Grip" is an uneven and frustrating novel. About 3/5 of it is complete genius, the rest does for literature what the Jonestown Kool-Aid did for kids' drinks. Oh yeah!
"The Singapore Grip" itself refers to a particular, ah, talent that certain Singaporean immigrant prostitutes have. It could also refer to and often does to the similar whorish grip that fat, greasy British, French, and Dutch capitalist hold over Singapore itself on the literal eve of the Japanese conquest. Farrell wisely takes care of the characters, using the Japanese bombing and onslaught as a kind of creeping, creepy threat throughout while high-handed, high-hoggin' businessmen try to deny that the utter collapse of everything they stand for and have is about to smashed down by similarly-minded do-gooder imperialists. Much of "Grip" centers on the obnoxious Blackett family--conniving capitalist running-dog patriarch Walter and his eldest daughter Joan especially, who gleefully acquiesces in trying to seduce into marriage the heads of rival firms. And friendly ones, too, for that matter, including young, newly-arrived idealist Matthew Webb whose late father was Blackett's partner and leader of some sort of nudist athletic cult. Zany shenanigans ensue as the Japanese tear-ass down the peninsula towards Singapore. Farrell excels at both portraying the futility and hilarious absurdity of colonial life at its very moment of destruction, as well as the palpable sense of horror as the war becomes ever-closer.
The book's major failing are weird interruptions of military matters that don't sit well with the rest of the fun and charm. In addition, the exposition of the characters is "Attack of the Clones"-level crassness. Characters spout dialogue on socialism and communism and colonial matters as if they are walking Chomsky lectures. It really does dent the momentum of the story and I almost gave up a few times, but sallied on because the good bits are really good!
July 21, 2012
Just a fantastic book in so many ways. It works on so many different levels. It's a great, sprawling character study. It describes a time and a place with what seems like honesty. Even though the characters feel real and are vested with human, interior problems, they also act as stand-ins for larger concept: ineffective idealism, self-justifying capitalism and exploitation, lost innocence; somehow, despite its subject matter, it's funny. I could go on and on.
There is a scene where Farrell describes the inexorable march of Japanese tanks through the jungle that is so magnificently presented that I could FEEL the movement of the tanks as I was reading. And yet the book is not about war, or colonialism, or capitalism, or British manners, or the fall of Empires, although it tells of all those things so well. The most "heroic" characters in the book end up spraying tiny streams of water at constantly burning fires and the "better" characters stand and fight even when it is hopeless to do so or are prevented by circumstance from escape. But I don't think Farrell is faulting them for that or making fun of them. I think he's saying that is the best that we can do. This is not a spoiler, but the book ends with a minor character sitting at a kitchen table 30 years after the event doing nothing more than looking out at the window and reading the newspaper. After 600 pages of 1940's era descriptions of war and suffering and BIG characters, it's a peculiar end in some ways, but like so much else in the book, it just works. Time changes things, but also doesn't change things.
There is a scene where Farrell describes the inexorable march of Japanese tanks through the jungle that is so magnificently presented that I could FEEL the movement of the tanks as I was reading. And yet the book is not about war, or colonialism, or capitalism, or British manners, or the fall of Empires, although it tells of all those things so well. The most "heroic" characters in the book end up spraying tiny streams of water at constantly burning fires and the "better" characters stand and fight even when it is hopeless to do so or are prevented by circumstance from escape. But I don't think Farrell is faulting them for that or making fun of them. I think he's saying that is the best that we can do. This is not a spoiler, but the book ends with a minor character sitting at a kitchen table 30 years after the event doing nothing more than looking out at the window and reading the newspaper. After 600 pages of 1940's era descriptions of war and suffering and BIG characters, it's a peculiar end in some ways, but like so much else in the book, it just works. Time changes things, but also doesn't change things.
July 25, 2011
Found it a more well developed and mature novel compared to the critically acclaimed Siege of Krishnapur, perhaps since the geographical setting is much closer to heart. A better literary rendition of pre-war Singapore will be tough to come by. A masterpiece of historical fiction.
Read
January 31, 2013An almost-masterpiece. Only problem: too long! Very intelligent and well researched. The title: a word play between the Engl. "grip" and the Fr. "grippe" (flu).
October 25, 2020
No doubt well-researched and written, but long, dull and SLOW. No plot. Uninteresting characters. Annoying ending.
January 12, 2025
Британците са хванати в сингапурска хватка: https://knigolandia.info/singapurska-...
След набега към Виетнам в „Съпричастният“ на Виет Тан Нгуен реших да започна новата година с мащабната „Сингапурска хватка“ на Дж. Г. Фарел. Предишната му издадена – „Обсадата на Кришнапур“, силно ме впечатли (заедно с „Вълнения“ те формират знаковата „Имперска трилогия“ на автора) и нямах особено съмнение, че и този солиден том, посветен на Сингапур и неговата предопределена участ през Втората световна война, ще си заслужава. Още в началото Фарел пише, че „…обрисуваният в тези страници Сингапур не претендира да е нещо повече от измислица: макар много от тухлите, от които е изграден, да са истински, архитектурата му е изцяло плод на въображението“ – и наистина, макар да изследва мащабен исторически конфликт, то романът по-право може да се характеризира като семейна драма. И все пак основният главен герой си остава самият град, този феномен и на нашето време (добре описан например в „Сингапур и изграждането на съвременна Азия“ на Джийван Васагар), който „просто е измислен една сутрин в началото на деветнайсети век от човек, надвесен над разтворена карта“. И този човек си има име – сър Томас Стамфорд Рафълс, а Фарел го описва пренебрежително като „доста безличен тип, облечен в редингот“. Но не за него иде реч – в центъра на събитията в романа се възправя друг джентълмен, а именно Уолтър Бракет, помпозно представен ни още в началото като „главен изпълнителен директор и председател на борда на прочутата търговска и посредническа къща „Блакет и Уеб“.
Издателство „Кръг“
https://knigolandia.info/singapurska-...
След набега към Виетнам в „Съпричастният“ на Виет Тан Нгуен реших да започна новата година с мащабната „Сингапурска хватка“ на Дж. Г. Фарел. Предишната му издадена – „Обсадата на Кришнапур“, силно ме впечатли (заедно с „Вълнения“ те формират знаковата „Имперска трилогия“ на автора) и нямах особено съмнение, че и този солиден том, посветен на Сингапур и неговата предопределена участ през Втората световна война, ще си заслужава. Още в началото Фарел пише, че „…обрисуваният в тези страници Сингапур не претендира да е нещо повече от измислица: макар много от тухлите, от които е изграден, да са истински, архитектурата му е изцяло плод на въображението“ – и наистина, макар да изследва мащабен исторически конфликт, то романът по-право може да се характеризира като семейна драма. И все пак основният главен герой си остава самият град, този феномен и на нашето време (добре описан например в „Сингапур и изграждането на съвременна Азия“ на Джийван Васагар), който „просто е измислен една сутрин в началото на деветнайсети век от човек, надвесен над разтворена карта“. И този човек си има име – сър Томас Стамфорд Рафълс, а Фарел го описва пренебрежително като „доста безличен тип, облечен в редингот“. Но не за него иде реч – в центъра на събитията в романа се възправя друг джентълмен, а именно Уолтър Бракет, помпозно представен ни още в началото като „главен изпълнителен директор и председател на борда на прочутата търговска и посредническа къща „Блакет и Уеб“.
Издателство „Кръг“
https://knigolandia.info/singapurska-...
April 25, 2019
At the middlebrow fiction level I reckon an author’s level of enthusiasm is one of the big differentiators between a good, average and bad book. On that criteria alone, The Singapore Grip would be a shoo-in five star. As with the first two books in this trilogy, JG Farrell’s vigorous interest in the final days of the British empire is infectious and the atmosphere is powerfully and movingly evoked. This carried me along despite quite a few sections of long-winded exposition and tediously rendered historical detail. Nonetheless, those sections were an issue, as was the one dimensional characterisation and occasionally clunky dialogue. Hence the four stars. I would put this in the category of “jolly good read”, as one of the novel’s characters would no doubt put it. However, I feel it would have been a tighter and better book for having 100 pages lopped off.
January 20, 2022
I really enjoyed The Siege of Krishnapur (see my review) and started looking for more from J.G. Farrell; this book, along with Krishnapur and Troubles, forms what is referred to as Farrell's Empire Trilogy, three historical novels about events overtaking the mighty British empire.
This one opens in Singapore in 1940; the war has started in Europe, but so far the only fighting in the Far East is in China, where the Japanese have been marauding since 1937. The wealthy British merchants who have built Singapore into a prosperous trading hub are whistling in the dark, blindly hoping their comfortable lives will be unaffected.
The story focuses on two families, the Blacketts and the Webbs, proprietors of a trading house that has made them rich by exporting rubber produced with cheap Malayan labor. Walter Blackett wants his beautiful but wayward daughter Joan to marry wisely, preferably to young Matthew Webb, who has just arrived in Singapore after spending most of his life in England and Switzerland. He has some radical ideas about social justice and casts a skeptical eye on the whole enterprise. Just as Joan decides to play ball, Matthew rebels, finding he prefers the company of Vera Chiang, a half-Chinese woman of dubious background and reputation.
It all becomes academic when the Japanese land in Malaya and push quickly down the peninsula toward Singapore. The curtain is coming down on this corner of the British Empire, and as material and moral conditions degrade under the Japanese bombs, people respond well or badly as their character determines.
Like The Siege of Krishnapur, the book vividly portrays the fragility of civilization and the fatuity of imperial delusions. The old Singapore is re-created with a wealth of detail. Farrell had a keen eye for absurdity; the writing is full of deadpan wit and black humor. A memorable cast of characters illustrates Singapore's ethnic diversity and the endlessly fascinating interplay of human beings in crisis. My only quibble with the book is Farrell's decision to play intrusive author at odd moments ("the author with his little red notebook" appears in one scene), culminating in a truly peculiar final paragraph ("...if you have been reading in a deck-chair on the lawn, it is time to go inside and make the tea.") But this minor head-scratcher does not seriously detract from what is a rich and entertaining novel.
This one opens in Singapore in 1940; the war has started in Europe, but so far the only fighting in the Far East is in China, where the Japanese have been marauding since 1937. The wealthy British merchants who have built Singapore into a prosperous trading hub are whistling in the dark, blindly hoping their comfortable lives will be unaffected.
The story focuses on two families, the Blacketts and the Webbs, proprietors of a trading house that has made them rich by exporting rubber produced with cheap Malayan labor. Walter Blackett wants his beautiful but wayward daughter Joan to marry wisely, preferably to young Matthew Webb, who has just arrived in Singapore after spending most of his life in England and Switzerland. He has some radical ideas about social justice and casts a skeptical eye on the whole enterprise. Just as Joan decides to play ball, Matthew rebels, finding he prefers the company of Vera Chiang, a half-Chinese woman of dubious background and reputation.
It all becomes academic when the Japanese land in Malaya and push quickly down the peninsula toward Singapore. The curtain is coming down on this corner of the British Empire, and as material and moral conditions degrade under the Japanese bombs, people respond well or badly as their character determines.
Like The Siege of Krishnapur, the book vividly portrays the fragility of civilization and the fatuity of imperial delusions. The old Singapore is re-created with a wealth of detail. Farrell had a keen eye for absurdity; the writing is full of deadpan wit and black humor. A memorable cast of characters illustrates Singapore's ethnic diversity and the endlessly fascinating interplay of human beings in crisis. My only quibble with the book is Farrell's decision to play intrusive author at odd moments ("the author with his little red notebook" appears in one scene), culminating in a truly peculiar final paragraph ("...if you have been reading in a deck-chair on the lawn, it is time to go inside and make the tea.") But this minor head-scratcher does not seriously detract from what is a rich and entertaining novel.
December 10, 2017
J. G. Farrell published three marvelous books (known as the Empire Trilogy) in the 1970s on very different aspects of the British colonial experience. Had he not been tragically swept to his death at 44 in the Irish Sea by a storm wave, he would probably be much better known.
There is a strong admixture of satire and irony in his treatment of his chosen times and places but it is not outright mockery at the expense of detailed consideration of the moral, economic and political issues of each.
As the title suggests, this book is set in Singapore, specifically starting in 1939 on the eve of the Japanese occupation at the onset of WWII.
The sheer amount of research he must have done for the degree of precise historical detail is quite astonishing - an entire scholarly career could be made of what went into a single book.
The title is a triple-play on words, referring to the grip the city has on its merchant class who won't flee when they plainly should, grip in the sense of flu-like fever, and a sexual practice which the French call "pompoir".
There is a strong admixture of satire and irony in his treatment of his chosen times and places but it is not outright mockery at the expense of detailed consideration of the moral, economic and political issues of each.
As the title suggests, this book is set in Singapore, specifically starting in 1939 on the eve of the Japanese occupation at the onset of WWII.
The sheer amount of research he must have done for the degree of precise historical detail is quite astonishing - an entire scholarly career could be made of what went into a single book.
The title is a triple-play on words, referring to the grip the city has on its merchant class who won't flee when they plainly should, grip in the sense of flu-like fever, and a sexual practice which the French call "pompoir".
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