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Madness is Better than Defeat
A wild, astonishing literary thriller by arguably England's most accomplished young writer, about Manhattan and Hollywood in the 1930s, Mayan gods, and a CIA operation gone terribly wrong--the Booker short-listed Ned Beauman's magnum opus thus far.
In 1938, two rival expeditions descend on an ancient temple recently discovered in the jungles of Honduras, one intending to shoot a screwball comedy on location there, the other to disassemble the temple and ship it back to New York. A seemingly endless stalemate ensues, and twenty years later a rogue CIA agent sets out to exploit it for his own ends, unaware that the temple is a locus of conspiracies far grander than anyone could ever have guessed. Shot through with insanity, intrigue, ingenuity, and adventure, showcasing Beauman's anarchic humor, spectacular imagination, and riveting prose, Madness Is Better Than Defeat teases, absorbs, entertains, and dazzles in equal measure.
In 1938, two rival expeditions descend on an ancient temple recently discovered in the jungles of Honduras, one intending to shoot a screwball comedy on location there, the other to disassemble the temple and ship it back to New York. A seemingly endless stalemate ensues, and twenty years later a rogue CIA agent sets out to exploit it for his own ends, unaware that the temple is a locus of conspiracies far grander than anyone could ever have guessed. Shot through with insanity, intrigue, ingenuity, and adventure, showcasing Beauman's anarchic humor, spectacular imagination, and riveting prose, Madness Is Better Than Defeat teases, absorbs, entertains, and dazzles in equal measure.
16 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 2017
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September 4, 2024
An intertextual book that, after an unique opening scene, featuring a man-octopus wrestling match, with the later contestant putting a tentacle in the rectum of the diver, doesn't slow down one bit. Labyrinthine and over the top, an account of unyielding obsession clashing with incredible overestimation of own skills
But crazy is better than giving up
A rollercoaster of a ride, lots to think about in this novel of Ned Beauman.
Madness is Better than Defeat at times is as lush and impenetrable as the Honduran jungle and summarising the plot is very difficult.
From an epic start scene, featuring an octopus-men wrestling match, this book doesn't stop with vivid imagines and crazy scenes. There is for instance a reclusive film magnate, who lives literally in the hot air balloon in which he crashed, and a young film director who is so goal orientated that it gives the book a whimsical feel. Still I kept reading on, interested where the story, narrated initially by a CIA agent standing trial. Very soon the reader discovers intertextuality in the book, with the film plot and the heir being send to the jungle reflecting each other. These two groups of Americans come to a standoff at a Honduran half temple, which turns into a decades long staring match.
The narrative jumps around a lot, featuring colourful people and bold quotes like: There are 3.5 million men in New York I would rather fuck than you
Or:
The reason I can afford my reporters such a level of autonomy is that they do what I fucking tell them to do.
Someone sending a woman to an asylum for a mediocre media job, is a foreshadowing of how in the veritable jungle things will get out of hand even more. This newspaper man turns out full on psychopath, signalled by statements like: Our interests were aligned, which was much better than trust
In the jungle a mini economic systems and dictatorship starts up, with full on psychological warfare between the film director his crew and the heir send by his father to pick up a temple.
There is an extremely long narration of making film, with complicated chemistry and just jungle resource, which reminded me of a sketch in terms of hilariousness. I think this is a scene that shows the key theme of the book: unyielding obsession clashing with incredible overestimation of own skills.
We often venerate unyielding, obsessed people who disregard others, Steve Jobs or Elon Musk as entrepreneurs for instance, but this book shows the kooky other side of such unrelenting dedication.
The will to power is another definite theme of the book, exemplified by a German soldier residing in the jungle who tries to use the fact that the Americans missed the whole Second World War.
The talkative CIA agent who might be darker than you imagine who starts of the narration reminds me of the main character of Ada Palmer Terra Ignota series, an as bonkers, over the top book as this novel.
The plot at times is totally daft, involving hot air balloons, droppings in the night, super complicated forging of company printed money, going to a clinic in Texas just to have a picture to blackmail someone with...
People have too much time and too much conviction.
And then I a haven't even talked about the magical fungus that turns people into observers of the universe like one of the last scenes of Interstellar.
You must know that the fourth wall is unbreakable a character says at the end of the book, but
the twist and turns are so over the top and involve 19th century family drama tropes that this must have been a sentence the author snickered at while writing it down.
The paranoia is on par with Foucault's Pendulum of Umberto Eco.
The characters seem to be calculating the odds of power relationships in their community at every turn, there is Indiana Jones style action, there are convenient rare bronze armours to sell, natives who have sayings like: Don’t burn the milkmaid until you see the third tit
This is a book that is far from perfect, but somehow it works, is amusing, and it certainly is unlike anything I read before, which is quite the achievement.
I will definitely read more of Ned Beauman!
But crazy is better than giving up
A rollercoaster of a ride, lots to think about in this novel of Ned Beauman.
Madness is Better than Defeat at times is as lush and impenetrable as the Honduran jungle and summarising the plot is very difficult.
From an epic start scene, featuring an octopus-men wrestling match, this book doesn't stop with vivid imagines and crazy scenes. There is for instance a reclusive film magnate, who lives literally in the hot air balloon in which he crashed, and a young film director who is so goal orientated that it gives the book a whimsical feel. Still I kept reading on, interested where the story, narrated initially by a CIA agent standing trial. Very soon the reader discovers intertextuality in the book, with the film plot and the heir being send to the jungle reflecting each other. These two groups of Americans come to a standoff at a Honduran half temple, which turns into a decades long staring match.
The narrative jumps around a lot, featuring colourful people and bold quotes like: There are 3.5 million men in New York I would rather fuck than you
Or:
The reason I can afford my reporters such a level of autonomy is that they do what I fucking tell them to do.
Someone sending a woman to an asylum for a mediocre media job, is a foreshadowing of how in the veritable jungle things will get out of hand even more. This newspaper man turns out full on psychopath, signalled by statements like: Our interests were aligned, which was much better than trust
In the jungle a mini economic systems and dictatorship starts up, with full on psychological warfare between the film director his crew and the heir send by his father to pick up a temple.
There is an extremely long narration of making film, with complicated chemistry and just jungle resource, which reminded me of a sketch in terms of hilariousness. I think this is a scene that shows the key theme of the book: unyielding obsession clashing with incredible overestimation of own skills.
We often venerate unyielding, obsessed people who disregard others, Steve Jobs or Elon Musk as entrepreneurs for instance, but this book shows the kooky other side of such unrelenting dedication.
The will to power is another definite theme of the book, exemplified by a German soldier residing in the jungle who tries to use the fact that the Americans missed the whole Second World War.
The talkative CIA agent who might be darker than you imagine who starts of the narration reminds me of the main character of Ada Palmer Terra Ignota series, an as bonkers, over the top book as this novel.
The plot at times is totally daft, involving hot air balloons, droppings in the night, super complicated forging of company printed money, going to a clinic in Texas just to have a picture to blackmail someone with...
People have too much time and too much conviction.
And then I a haven't even talked about the magical fungus that turns people into observers of the universe like one of the last scenes of Interstellar.
You must know that the fourth wall is unbreakable a character says at the end of the book, but
the twist and turns are so over the top and involve 19th century family drama tropes that this must have been a sentence the author snickered at while writing it down.
The paranoia is on par with Foucault's Pendulum of Umberto Eco.
The characters seem to be calculating the odds of power relationships in their community at every turn, there is Indiana Jones style action, there are convenient rare bronze armours to sell, natives who have sayings like: Don’t burn the milkmaid until you see the third tit
This is a book that is far from perfect, but somehow it works, is amusing, and it certainly is unlike anything I read before, which is quite the achievement.
I will definitely read more of Ned Beauman!
February 20, 2018
Ned Beauman’s new novel, “Madness Is Better Than Defeat,” begins with a wrestling match between a man and an octopus, which offers a fair warning of what it feels like to get wrapped up in this tentacled book. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on his shapeshifting plot, Beauman sprays more ink and leaves you wondering where he’s darted off to next.
I have to confess that as the pages of “Madness Is Better Than Defeat” furled on toward 400, I wasn’t always entirely sure what was happening (I was never sure why it was happening), but it’s all so weirdly delightful that I kept racing along after him muttering, “Madness is better than defeat!”
I thought Bauman was joking — it’s never entirely clear when he isn’t — but that phrase does actually come from the end of a script Orson Welles wrote for an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” Although Welles never completed that film, it’s the gonzo centerpiece of Beauman’s novel, which stares into the menacing jungle and whispers, “The humor! The humor!”
The narrator is a CIA agent named Zonulet who’s struggling to. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
To watch the Totally Hip Video Book Review of this novel, go here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
I have to confess that as the pages of “Madness Is Better Than Defeat” furled on toward 400, I wasn’t always entirely sure what was happening (I was never sure why it was happening), but it’s all so weirdly delightful that I kept racing along after him muttering, “Madness is better than defeat!”
I thought Bauman was joking — it’s never entirely clear when he isn’t — but that phrase does actually come from the end of a script Orson Welles wrote for an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” Although Welles never completed that film, it’s the gonzo centerpiece of Beauman’s novel, which stares into the menacing jungle and whispers, “The humor! The humor!”
The narrator is a CIA agent named Zonulet who’s struggling to. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
To watch the Totally Hip Video Book Review of this novel, go here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
July 24, 2017
Although I have not read all of Ned Beauman’s novels (having missed his first), I have read, and enjoyed, “The Teleportation Accident,” and “Glow,” so was delighted to receive this for review. It is fair to say that Beauman is not an easy writer – he makes you think, he throws in the unexpected and he likes to play around, and experiment, with his novels. If you haven’t tried him before, it might be better to begin with a shorter novel, such as “Teleportation,” although “Glow,” is my personal favourite. Still, if you are willing to give him a try, then you might just find something new and a little bit special, even if he can be a bit frustrating at times…
This story begins in 1938, Manhatta. Elias Coehorn, Jr, is dragged from a nightclub to visit his wealthy father. News has reached the Coehorn Missionary Station near San Estaban, in Spanish Honduras, that a group of archaeologists have discovered a temple in the jungle. Elias is immediately packed off to dismantle the temple and bring it home – or he may find his allowance cut off. Meanwhile, the reclusive chairman of Kingdom Pictures summons a young man named Jervis Whelt to his mansion. Whelt teaches directing and screenwriting, but Spindler wants him to direct a movie from a novel, “Hearts of Darkness.”
So it is that a varied, and disparate, group of people converge on a temple in the jungle – one to make a movie, the other to take it apart. A stalemate ensues and, what should take a matter of weeks, ends up lasting for years. Outside, the Second World War happens, but those hidden away in the jungle have their own dispute to content with. Many years later, a CIA agent is writing his memoir and we hear the story from his point of view.
This is a novel of conspiracies and a wonderfully, over the top, stalemate in the jungle. There are a fantastic cast of characters – bizarre misfits, the disenchanted and the lost. Those that try to take advantage of the situation, those who are almost secretly relieved to have been somehow removed from the world and those who have their own secrets, some of which will be exploited by others. There are factions, disasters, violence, secrets and – should you decide to immerse yourself in the novel – then just relax and let the author take you on a madcap ride through the implausible. However, it is never so strange, or bizarre, that you lose contact with the plot or lose sympathy with the characters and that is what makes the novel work. Certainly something original and out of the ordinary, this is a fascinating novel.
This story begins in 1938, Manhatta. Elias Coehorn, Jr, is dragged from a nightclub to visit his wealthy father. News has reached the Coehorn Missionary Station near San Estaban, in Spanish Honduras, that a group of archaeologists have discovered a temple in the jungle. Elias is immediately packed off to dismantle the temple and bring it home – or he may find his allowance cut off. Meanwhile, the reclusive chairman of Kingdom Pictures summons a young man named Jervis Whelt to his mansion. Whelt teaches directing and screenwriting, but Spindler wants him to direct a movie from a novel, “Hearts of Darkness.”
So it is that a varied, and disparate, group of people converge on a temple in the jungle – one to make a movie, the other to take it apart. A stalemate ensues and, what should take a matter of weeks, ends up lasting for years. Outside, the Second World War happens, but those hidden away in the jungle have their own dispute to content with. Many years later, a CIA agent is writing his memoir and we hear the story from his point of view.
This is a novel of conspiracies and a wonderfully, over the top, stalemate in the jungle. There are a fantastic cast of characters – bizarre misfits, the disenchanted and the lost. Those that try to take advantage of the situation, those who are almost secretly relieved to have been somehow removed from the world and those who have their own secrets, some of which will be exploited by others. There are factions, disasters, violence, secrets and – should you decide to immerse yourself in the novel – then just relax and let the author take you on a madcap ride through the implausible. However, it is never so strange, or bizarre, that you lose contact with the plot or lose sympathy with the characters and that is what makes the novel work. Certainly something original and out of the ordinary, this is a fascinating novel.
August 24, 2017
(3.5) Madcap and complex; definitely not historical fiction as we know it. Madness Is Better than Defeat takes its title from a line in Orson Welles’s never-filmed screenplay of Heart of Darkness. We open in 1959 with Zonulet, a 43-year-old alcoholic CIA officer, writing a tell-all memoir about what happened when two parties set out to find a Mayan temple in Honduras in 1938. Sadistic business magnate Elias Coehorn, Sr. sent his feckless son, Elias Jr., to dismantle the temple and bring it back to New York City, while Arnold Spindler, chairman of Kingdom Pictures, tasked Jervis Whelt with directing a movie on location at the temple: Hearts in Darkness, a comedy about a spoiled society boy who’s sent on an archaeological dig to a Mayan temple and opens a nightclub when he gets there.
The scene is set for a clash of cultures: the New York faction bent on destruction versus the Los Angeles crew intent on creation. They’re joined by Joan Burlingame, a stuffy Cambridge anthropologist, and Leland Trimble, a gossip journalist who was formerly Zonulet’s colleague at the New York Evening Mirror. To start with, the screwball plot is uncannily similar to that of Hearts in Darkness itself, and it seems the stalemate between the two groups will be mined purely for comic potential. But as the years pass and the deadlock continues, this becomes more of a psychological study of a community in isolation, rather like The Lord of the Flies or T.C. Boyle’s The Terranauts.
Alliances are formed and broken based on blackmail over the characters’ past and present indiscretions; routines and workarounds are developed (though an attempt to recreate Bloody Marys and Eggs Benedict bombs); soon a whole new generation is being raised with little knowledge of what’s happened outside this jungle for more than a decade; all they have to go on is false information about the outcome of World War II conveyed by an ex-Nazi.
One of the hardest things to believe about the story line – so you’ll simply have to suspend your disbelief – is that no one was overly concerned when these two groups failed to reappear after assignments that were meant to last only a matter of weeks. Not until Zonulet gets to Honduras in 1956 to learn more about a secret CIA guerrilla training camp in the area is there sustained interest in what became of these exiled Americans, and it’s another two years before their jungle idyll comes to an explosive end.
What we have here is a twist on the Mummy’s Curse trope, with the temple causing many to lose their minds or their lives. I wish the novel could have retained its initial screwball charm without going quite so dark and strange, but that’s Beauman for you. I also thought that this was a good 100–150 pages too long, with many more secondary characters, subplots and asides than necessary. Ironically, even after nearly 500 pages, its conclusion left me wondering about some loose ends. But the writing is consistently amusing, particularly the voices captured in letters or diaries and the wacky metaphors:
I’ve been a Ned Beauman fan ever since I read his debut, Boxer, Beetle, in 2011. Born in 1985, the Londoner is now the author of four novels and was named one of Granta’s 20 best British novelists under the age of 40. If I tell you that some common elements in his work are Nazis, pharmaceuticals and gay sex, and that his first two books reminded me most of Nick Harkaway, you’ll get some idea of the niche he’s working in.
If you’re new to Beauman, I’d suggest starting with The Teleportation Accident, my favorite of his novels. From there you could move on to Boxer, Beetle or Glow; this one can wait until you’re a confirmed admirer.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
The scene is set for a clash of cultures: the New York faction bent on destruction versus the Los Angeles crew intent on creation. They’re joined by Joan Burlingame, a stuffy Cambridge anthropologist, and Leland Trimble, a gossip journalist who was formerly Zonulet’s colleague at the New York Evening Mirror. To start with, the screwball plot is uncannily similar to that of Hearts in Darkness itself, and it seems the stalemate between the two groups will be mined purely for comic potential. But as the years pass and the deadlock continues, this becomes more of a psychological study of a community in isolation, rather like The Lord of the Flies or T.C. Boyle’s The Terranauts.
Alliances are formed and broken based on blackmail over the characters’ past and present indiscretions; routines and workarounds are developed (though an attempt to recreate Bloody Marys and Eggs Benedict bombs); soon a whole new generation is being raised with little knowledge of what’s happened outside this jungle for more than a decade; all they have to go on is false information about the outcome of World War II conveyed by an ex-Nazi.
They spoke in American accents and they had all been taught a sort of eschatology in which they would one day return with their parents to Hollywood or New York. But they belonged to the rainforest and to the temple. And the geometry of the latter … was so primal to them that any talk of disassembly or reassembly struck them as abstract, almost paradoxical.
One of the hardest things to believe about the story line – so you’ll simply have to suspend your disbelief – is that no one was overly concerned when these two groups failed to reappear after assignments that were meant to last only a matter of weeks. Not until Zonulet gets to Honduras in 1956 to learn more about a secret CIA guerrilla training camp in the area is there sustained interest in what became of these exiled Americans, and it’s another two years before their jungle idyll comes to an explosive end.
What we have here is a twist on the Mummy’s Curse trope, with the temple causing many to lose their minds or their lives. I wish the novel could have retained its initial screwball charm without going quite so dark and strange, but that’s Beauman for you. I also thought that this was a good 100–150 pages too long, with many more secondary characters, subplots and asides than necessary. Ironically, even after nearly 500 pages, its conclusion left me wondering about some loose ends. But the writing is consistently amusing, particularly the voices captured in letters or diaries and the wacky metaphors:
“The sky in the west was mixing an Old-Fashioned”
“All her blood had thickened in her head like the last of the catsup”
“They were so slathered in mulch that their two bodies together might have been some octopod newly burped from a mudpot.”
“To describe the truck as temperamental would have been condescending; rather, I had the impression it had been earnestly wrestling with a deep crisis of personal faith about the very principle of internal combustion as a motive power.”
I’ve been a Ned Beauman fan ever since I read his debut, Boxer, Beetle, in 2011. Born in 1985, the Londoner is now the author of four novels and was named one of Granta’s 20 best British novelists under the age of 40. If I tell you that some common elements in his work are Nazis, pharmaceuticals and gay sex, and that his first two books reminded me most of Nick Harkaway, you’ll get some idea of the niche he’s working in.
If you’re new to Beauman, I’d suggest starting with The Teleportation Accident, my favorite of his novels. From there you could move on to Boxer, Beetle or Glow; this one can wait until you’re a confirmed admirer.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
September 3, 2017
I have no idea how to review this. I think it might actually be impossible to describe. The blurb sums up the plot well enough: in the late 1930s, two rival American expeditions find themselves in a stalemate over an ancient temple in Honduras, and when the objectives of one group can't be achieved without the assent of the other, the situation descends into a ludicrous stand-off. Twenty years later – with both groups still there – a CIA agent heads into the jungle to track them down. But that did not prepare me for the deranged blend of conspiracy and farce I found myself grappling with (and, perhaps inexplicably, enjoying).
Beauman's verbose style is familiar from his other novels, but here there's something looser about it, a rambling feel, a less snappy timbre. I often found myself reading a passage or a long run-on sentence with no clue what point it was going to end up making; having to flick back and forth to figure out where and when in the story I was; making it through two pages of dialogue before realising I was reading only one side of a conversation. This may well sound like... well, not much of a recommendation. Yet it's also true that I found the book gripping – perhaps precisely because I so frequently had no idea where the story was going, what it was about, or even who the protagonist was.
Madness is Better than Defeat is peppered with references to Heart of Darkness; it reminded me of Martin MacInnes' Infinite Ground and Kea Wilson's We Eat Our Own (both idiosyncratic jungle-set novels, the latter of which also involves the shooting of a film). Despite that, there isn't really anything else like it. If you relish the type of stories you cannot predict, that keep you on your toes – where the author is always about twenty steps ahead of the reader – this one's for you.
I received an advance review copy of Madness is Better than Defeat from the publisher, Sceptre.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
Beauman's verbose style is familiar from his other novels, but here there's something looser about it, a rambling feel, a less snappy timbre. I often found myself reading a passage or a long run-on sentence with no clue what point it was going to end up making; having to flick back and forth to figure out where and when in the story I was; making it through two pages of dialogue before realising I was reading only one side of a conversation. This may well sound like... well, not much of a recommendation. Yet it's also true that I found the book gripping – perhaps precisely because I so frequently had no idea where the story was going, what it was about, or even who the protagonist was.
Madness is Better than Defeat is peppered with references to Heart of Darkness; it reminded me of Martin MacInnes' Infinite Ground and Kea Wilson's We Eat Our Own (both idiosyncratic jungle-set novels, the latter of which also involves the shooting of a film). Despite that, there isn't really anything else like it. If you relish the type of stories you cannot predict, that keep you on your toes – where the author is always about twenty steps ahead of the reader – this one's for you.
I received an advance review copy of Madness is Better than Defeat from the publisher, Sceptre.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
July 23, 2017
It went on a bit.
Beauman is clearly very talented but also very clearly knows he is talented. He's not as talented as he thinks he is.
3.78
Beauman is clearly very talented but also very clearly knows he is talented. He's not as talented as he thinks he is.
3.78
June 13, 2018
4.5 stars, going up
I have to say that there was at least one reviewer on Amazon that called this book "dreck," and the reader only made it 100 pages and did a DNF on the book. That is a shame. Although it is beyond challenging, and you really do need a reservoir of patience to get through it, it is funny as hell, quirky and so right up my alley.
I was introduced to Ned Beauman's writing with his The Teleportation Accident, which also made me laugh out loud more than once (although given the subject matter I felt guilty in doing so). Madness is Better Than Defeat begins in 1938 and follows two different expeditions into the Honduran Jungle, both focused on a particular Mayan temple with a design very different from the norm. One of these has to do with the production of a movie, the other involves actually taking the temple apart and returning it to New York, where it will be reconstructed at the home of a wealthy and powerful businessman. A standoff ensues between the two sides when the movie people discover that the New York faction has already started demolishing the temple, but each side is determined to follow through with their assigned tasks. As the decades go by and no one is sent in search of these people (which should raise flags immediately!) , they create their own society, which evolves through several forms over the years. If that's not weird enough, the arrival of the CIA in Honduras makes things even more strange. While we live in their jungle world for a while, the narrator of this story, an OSS/CIA veteran who may or may not be under the influence of psychotropic spores, has his own problems, busy day and night in an impossible search for evidence buried deep in a warehouse, which he hopes will exonerate him from charges stemming from his actions in Honduras.
The author brings into his work a number of movie references, history, and philosophy before all is said and done; satire and allegory combine, especially when it comes to the CIA. It is crazy good, and highly recommended, especially for fans of Beauman's work. If you want straight plot and straight narrative, forget it -- you won't find it here. I loved this book.
I have to say that there was at least one reviewer on Amazon that called this book "dreck," and the reader only made it 100 pages and did a DNF on the book. That is a shame. Although it is beyond challenging, and you really do need a reservoir of patience to get through it, it is funny as hell, quirky and so right up my alley.
I was introduced to Ned Beauman's writing with his The Teleportation Accident, which also made me laugh out loud more than once (although given the subject matter I felt guilty in doing so). Madness is Better Than Defeat begins in 1938 and follows two different expeditions into the Honduran Jungle, both focused on a particular Mayan temple with a design very different from the norm. One of these has to do with the production of a movie, the other involves actually taking the temple apart and returning it to New York, where it will be reconstructed at the home of a wealthy and powerful businessman. A standoff ensues between the two sides when the movie people discover that the New York faction has already started demolishing the temple, but each side is determined to follow through with their assigned tasks. As the decades go by and no one is sent in search of these people (which should raise flags immediately!) , they create their own society, which evolves through several forms over the years. If that's not weird enough, the arrival of the CIA in Honduras makes things even more strange. While we live in their jungle world for a while, the narrator of this story, an OSS/CIA veteran who may or may not be under the influence of psychotropic spores, has his own problems, busy day and night in an impossible search for evidence buried deep in a warehouse, which he hopes will exonerate him from charges stemming from his actions in Honduras.
The author brings into his work a number of movie references, history, and philosophy before all is said and done; satire and allegory combine, especially when it comes to the CIA. It is crazy good, and highly recommended, especially for fans of Beauman's work. If you want straight plot and straight narrative, forget it -- you won't find it here. I loved this book.
February 3, 2023
Very glad to be done with this book. It was just a weird book with weird characters, weird plot line, weird writing style. It was a chore to get through and I am happy to be done with it. Glad I rented this book from the library than bought it.
May 5, 2021
It was only a few pages into Madness is Better Than Defeat that I realised I'd made a mistake. This was just terrible. It's perhaps the closest I've ever come to breaking my iron-clad rule to finish every book I start; it was only by dipping into it in short doses over the space of a month – while reading other, actually competent, books as a restorative – that I could finish it. My iron-clad rule has always been based on the idea that some books take a while to warm up, that otherwise I might get lazy and never commit to anything remotely challenging, that even bad books have lessons (even if only in what not to do). But from first page to last, Ned Beauman's book gave me absolutely nothing.
It is remarkable that Beauman can write in English and make it seem like you, the reader, are an alien trying to decipher a strange language. The book has no plot, no protagonists for orientation, no character or flair or sense of place, no anything – just a grey slab of words forcing itself against your skull. About three-quarters of the way through (by which point most people will have given in), there is a slight whiff of method in the madness, but it is still buried in Beauman's verbose, tedious, contrived word fungus. There is not one genuine moment of fillip for the reader; only the sort of zany, oh-so-clever prosing that makes you wish harm upon the writer. I began to look at the author photo on the book jacket in the way you might look at a photo of a serial killer or mass murderer, trying to fathom how such an unassuming and mild-looking person could bring such pain and misery into the world.
I'm really thankful this is over. I don't even want to dissect the book to show how bad it is; I only want to write my review (another iron-clad rule for every book I read) and kick it to the kerb. When the coronavirus lockdown started and people were hoarding toilet paper, I joked that, given how many books populate my shelves, if it ever really came down to it, it shouldn't become a problem for me. It was a joke, but with this book it might be an improvement in its utility. I would put the book into a time capsule of things to survive the end of the world, if only to show the race of beings that comes after us that we deserved to fall.
It is remarkable that Beauman can write in English and make it seem like you, the reader, are an alien trying to decipher a strange language. The book has no plot, no protagonists for orientation, no character or flair or sense of place, no anything – just a grey slab of words forcing itself against your skull. About three-quarters of the way through (by which point most people will have given in), there is a slight whiff of method in the madness, but it is still buried in Beauman's verbose, tedious, contrived word fungus. There is not one genuine moment of fillip for the reader; only the sort of zany, oh-so-clever prosing that makes you wish harm upon the writer. I began to look at the author photo on the book jacket in the way you might look at a photo of a serial killer or mass murderer, trying to fathom how such an unassuming and mild-looking person could bring such pain and misery into the world.
I'm really thankful this is over. I don't even want to dissect the book to show how bad it is; I only want to write my review (another iron-clad rule for every book I read) and kick it to the kerb. When the coronavirus lockdown started and people were hoarding toilet paper, I joked that, given how many books populate my shelves, if it ever really came down to it, it shouldn't become a problem for me. It was a joke, but with this book it might be an improvement in its utility. I would put the book into a time capsule of things to survive the end of the world, if only to show the race of beings that comes after us that we deserved to fall.
February 24, 2018
The author's writing style was not a good match for me, to put it mildly. It was trying so hard to be madcap, quirky and crude. I not so much abandoned this book as fled as quickly as I could. Others may like it so I suggest trying a preview before buying. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
September 3, 2017
49th street in Manhattan, a diver wrestling an octopus, all bets are off.
This eccentric event is the catalyst, the moment in time that sets the tone to what follows, a tale that goes against all odds and possibly all reason.
Spanish Honduras: the epicenter.
1938. Word has it that a group of French archeologists ran into an unidentified Mayan temple while exploring the deep jungle near the town of San Esteban. Only two returned from a party of nine, delusional but disturbingly lucid in regards to the ruins.
With World War II on the verge of breaking, only two enterprises seem to take interest in the matter: Elias Coehorn’s Eastern Aggregate Company and Arnold Spindler’s Kingdom Pictures. While the first summons his rabble-rousing son of the same name to disassemble the temple and bring it back to New York, the latter allures the aspiring director Jervis Whelt to use the ruins as scenario for a new picture titled “Hearts of Darkness”.
The two expeditions, unaware of each other’s existence, set off into the unknown.
Chaos ensues when, running a few days behind, Whelt arrives to find only half a temple standing – and that’s just the beginning. As weeks become months and months years, the plot at the settlement develops in a “Lord of the Flies” fashion.
The elaborate events depicted in this novel are brought to us by Zonulet, a dying reporter turned CIA operative who is writing his memoir to use as evidence on the case for which he is being tried. Step by step, his retell will unearth obscure secrets and uncover astonishing twists that are but the tip of the enigmatic iceberg that is this story.
Is madness better than defeat?
To read more...
This eccentric event is the catalyst, the moment in time that sets the tone to what follows, a tale that goes against all odds and possibly all reason.
Spanish Honduras: the epicenter.
1938. Word has it that a group of French archeologists ran into an unidentified Mayan temple while exploring the deep jungle near the town of San Esteban. Only two returned from a party of nine, delusional but disturbingly lucid in regards to the ruins.
With World War II on the verge of breaking, only two enterprises seem to take interest in the matter: Elias Coehorn’s Eastern Aggregate Company and Arnold Spindler’s Kingdom Pictures. While the first summons his rabble-rousing son of the same name to disassemble the temple and bring it back to New York, the latter allures the aspiring director Jervis Whelt to use the ruins as scenario for a new picture titled “Hearts of Darkness”.
The two expeditions, unaware of each other’s existence, set off into the unknown.
Chaos ensues when, running a few days behind, Whelt arrives to find only half a temple standing – and that’s just the beginning. As weeks become months and months years, the plot at the settlement develops in a “Lord of the Flies” fashion.
The elaborate events depicted in this novel are brought to us by Zonulet, a dying reporter turned CIA operative who is writing his memoir to use as evidence on the case for which he is being tried. Step by step, his retell will unearth obscure secrets and uncover astonishing twists that are but the tip of the enigmatic iceberg that is this story.
Is madness better than defeat?
To read more...
March 28, 2018
I don't even know what to say. I wanted to absolutely love this book due to its originality and its quirkiness -- and because it opens in my hometown of Springfield, Virginia, an unincorporated town in Fairfax County, and a place literally no one outside the Beltway has ever heard of. But unfortunately, as quickly as I zoomed through most of it, it would frequently fail to hold my attention. I would read a passage, and have to go back and re-read it, completely unsure of what I just read. This could happen three or four times before I finally grasped what was going on.
I think Beauman is trying to be very clever, and he really is. But at times he's trying too hard to be too clever, and it's just flying over some of his readers' heads. I am impressed with his writing on the whole; it's hard to remember that Beauman is still a young man, only in his early 30s, because there's a maturity there that makes one think that he's a decade or two older than he really is.
For me, this was like reading a Coen brothers movie. That could be a bonus for some, but it's not for me.
I think Beauman is trying to be very clever, and he really is. But at times he's trying too hard to be too clever, and it's just flying over some of his readers' heads. I am impressed with his writing on the whole; it's hard to remember that Beauman is still a young man, only in his early 30s, because there's a maturity there that makes one think that he's a decade or two older than he really is.
For me, this was like reading a Coen brothers movie. That could be a bonus for some, but it's not for me.
September 1, 2017
Three and a half stars from me!
First of all, thank you so much to Sceptre publishers, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a copy of this intriguing novel in exchange for an honest review. I finished this book a couple of days ago and to be perfectly honest, I'm still trying to collect my thoughts to write a coherent review about it! I've only previously read Glow by Ned Beauman which I did a mini pin-it review about HERE and I have to admit I wasn't blown away, so I was interested to read something else by him as it's perfectly obvious that his writing is stunning. Even now, I'm struggling to rate Madness Is Better Than Defeat - some parts confused the hell out of me and I felt like I had to concentrate and be completely immersed in the story without distractions, other parts were utter brilliance.
It's also such a tough book to describe! The synopsis above pretty much says it all, two rival expeditions are sent into the jungle to an ancient Mayan temple for two completely different reasons. One expedition wants to tear the temple down and take it to New York, the other expedition wants to film a movie there so requires the temple to be fully intact. As soon as the rival teams meet each other, of course there are fireworks aplenty. It ends up with the two groups at stalemate, each refusing to submit and each person in the team refusing to leave the jungle. They end up spending their lives out there (we're talking DECADES) - foraging for food, fighting between themselves and even making babies. However, the temple and what it holds within its walls is stranger and more bizarre than anybody could have imagined and as the jungle dwellers begin to succumb to a strange madness, there are people on the outside in New York with their own agenda for the temple who will stop at nothing to get what they desire.
A lot of this book doesn't make any sense at all but in a way, that's part of its charm and quirkiness. In the very first pages we are treated to a scene where a man is betting on who will win in a fight between an octopus and a diver (yes, you read that right!) and throughout the novel, we get some wonderful, snarky humour from Ned Beauman that really lifted the slower parts of the narrative for me. Some might call this book a bit of a slog and at times, I did feel that I must admit. It jumps around perspective wise and sometimes it can take a minute to get your head around which character you're hearing from - and there are a lot, believe me. There was a huge variety in characters and they all seemed very well rounded, even those we hear from just briefly but at times, I did feel like I didn't have a clue what was going on and it was a bit too much. However, I have to say that even at a particularly slow part, I never felt like I wanted to give up on the novel. I did want to see it through to the end, even if I finished it wondering just what on earth happened?! This novel might not be for everyone but if you fancy a unique read that's refreshingly different from everything else out there at the moment, I would recommend Ned Beauman.
For my full review and many more please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com
First of all, thank you so much to Sceptre publishers, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a copy of this intriguing novel in exchange for an honest review. I finished this book a couple of days ago and to be perfectly honest, I'm still trying to collect my thoughts to write a coherent review about it! I've only previously read Glow by Ned Beauman which I did a mini pin-it review about HERE and I have to admit I wasn't blown away, so I was interested to read something else by him as it's perfectly obvious that his writing is stunning. Even now, I'm struggling to rate Madness Is Better Than Defeat - some parts confused the hell out of me and I felt like I had to concentrate and be completely immersed in the story without distractions, other parts were utter brilliance.
It's also such a tough book to describe! The synopsis above pretty much says it all, two rival expeditions are sent into the jungle to an ancient Mayan temple for two completely different reasons. One expedition wants to tear the temple down and take it to New York, the other expedition wants to film a movie there so requires the temple to be fully intact. As soon as the rival teams meet each other, of course there are fireworks aplenty. It ends up with the two groups at stalemate, each refusing to submit and each person in the team refusing to leave the jungle. They end up spending their lives out there (we're talking DECADES) - foraging for food, fighting between themselves and even making babies. However, the temple and what it holds within its walls is stranger and more bizarre than anybody could have imagined and as the jungle dwellers begin to succumb to a strange madness, there are people on the outside in New York with their own agenda for the temple who will stop at nothing to get what they desire.
A lot of this book doesn't make any sense at all but in a way, that's part of its charm and quirkiness. In the very first pages we are treated to a scene where a man is betting on who will win in a fight between an octopus and a diver (yes, you read that right!) and throughout the novel, we get some wonderful, snarky humour from Ned Beauman that really lifted the slower parts of the narrative for me. Some might call this book a bit of a slog and at times, I did feel that I must admit. It jumps around perspective wise and sometimes it can take a minute to get your head around which character you're hearing from - and there are a lot, believe me. There was a huge variety in characters and they all seemed very well rounded, even those we hear from just briefly but at times, I did feel like I didn't have a clue what was going on and it was a bit too much. However, I have to say that even at a particularly slow part, I never felt like I wanted to give up on the novel. I did want to see it through to the end, even if I finished it wondering just what on earth happened?! This novel might not be for everyone but if you fancy a unique read that's refreshingly different from everything else out there at the moment, I would recommend Ned Beauman.
For my full review and many more please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com
August 30, 2018
Two groups of Americans, one from Hollywood intent on making a movie, one from NYC on an extravagant souvenir expedition, descend on a newly discovered Mayan temple in Honduras. They each occupy one half of the temple for 20 years. The CIA gets involved.
The book is long, very clever, intricately plotted, ultimately boring, and goes down (our maybe up) in the flames of its own genius long before its conclusion. It's a surreal vaudeville, showbiz, family drama, adventure story. It's wildly inventive, and it's too much. My thought while reading: I don't know how this is going to end, I don't really care how it's going to end, I just wish it _would_ end.
It ends.
I am no better a human being for having read it, but Ned Beauman remains a clever writer.
The book is long, very clever, intricately plotted, ultimately boring, and goes down (our maybe up) in the flames of its own genius long before its conclusion. It's a surreal vaudeville, showbiz, family drama, adventure story. It's wildly inventive, and it's too much. My thought while reading: I don't know how this is going to end, I don't really care how it's going to end, I just wish it _would_ end.
It ends.
I am no better a human being for having read it, but Ned Beauman remains a clever writer.
April 2, 2018
This book as so much potential but slides into the trying-to-hard business by failing at quirkiness and numerous ridiculous vocabulary choices reminiscent of grade-school students blindly using thesauruses to pad their papers. The book has an interesting premise but boring prose and unlikable characters.
Also, the book incorrectly uses the word "Mayan" as an adjective and the word to use is "Maya". "Mayan" only refers to the language. FFS, if you are going to write about it then research it.
Also, the book incorrectly uses the word "Mayan" as an adjective and the word to use is "Maya". "Mayan" only refers to the language. FFS, if you are going to write about it then research it.
July 11, 2021
Sounded weirdly intriguing, but turned out to be mostly just weird. To be honest, I had no idea what was going on most of the time or why I should care - and the further I got without being able to answer the second question, the less interested i was in the answer to the first. Just... not my kind of book, I guess.
August 27, 2018
I'm generally a really big fan of Beauman, whose comically purple prose and wild ambition and willingness to go pretty much anywhere makes him an incredibly fun read while also feeling like you're reading the next David Mitchell. But this one didn't quite work for me.
The basic set-up, that there's a movie crew in the Amazon in the 40s who get lost for twenty years, could be fun, I guess, given its shades of, among other things, Terry Gilliam's attempts to film Quixote, or Apocalypse Now or take your pick. But this didn't quite deliver; maybe it was too outlandish from the start, but there's a lot of wheel spinning, at least to me, sections on how to make film in the jungle from the existing elements there. It's not Moby Dick, but many of the digressions here felt like they weren't fun enough to stand on their own, and which didn't really add much to the overall story. The long view that Beauman takes of his adventure means that characters don't generally develop as much as just lurch through stations of the cross....
It's not terrible, and there are funny and strange and some really funny writing here about Hollywood and some good riffs on journalism. But it doesn't come together effectively.
The basic set-up, that there's a movie crew in the Amazon in the 40s who get lost for twenty years, could be fun, I guess, given its shades of, among other things, Terry Gilliam's attempts to film Quixote, or Apocalypse Now or take your pick. But this didn't quite deliver; maybe it was too outlandish from the start, but there's a lot of wheel spinning, at least to me, sections on how to make film in the jungle from the existing elements there. It's not Moby Dick, but many of the digressions here felt like they weren't fun enough to stand on their own, and which didn't really add much to the overall story. The long view that Beauman takes of his adventure means that characters don't generally develop as much as just lurch through stations of the cross....
It's not terrible, and there are funny and strange and some really funny writing here about Hollywood and some good riffs on journalism. But it doesn't come together effectively.
July 4, 2024
Really REALLY tired of reading casual sexism, descriptions of rape, and racism just for the sake of "edginess" and "being weird" or whatever the hell Beauman was trying to do. (If meant point out how ridiculous such things are, it was ineffective at best, reinforcing at worst.) I was intrigued by the plot, characters, and setting, with the first being extremely hard to grasp beyond the very direct premise. The time jumping purposefully lacked infrastructure, making it hard to understand what happened when and to whom. I also spent a lot of time referencing the dictionary, frequently frustrated by words that either weren't listed or were listed as different parts of speech than Beauman used them for. Maybe this is your kind of book, but it sure as heck wasn't mine.
March 9, 2021
Brilliantly crafted, from fine, long, ripe, sentences, bustling with hilarious metaphors, and oddball characters who are arch and philosophic and wry and tough and foolish and luminous with filmic qualities, and with a story so superbly constructed, that dashes off in all directions but just about manages to keep it all chugging along; this should be one of my favourite books, but something in its over-construction renders it very slightly less than the sum of its parts. It is, nevertheless, a wonderful read and I shall certainly be reading more from him.
December 14, 2022
DNF'd on page 177. Parts of the story were interesting, and at a different time I might really enjoy this (or at the very least be able to finish it), but the piecemeal plot and unenergetic prose has put me in a bit of a reading slump, so off it goes.
March 18, 2018
Awesome. Ned Beauman has probably been my favorite of the writers I’ve discovered since I started reading fiction again a couple years ago. I liked his last novel *Glow,* and loved *The Teleportation Accident.* This one did not disappoint. As in those books, there are a lot of moving parts here, and elements of the plot are complex and layered: e.g., there are stories about stories about stories. It wasn’t clear to me how everything could get wrapped up, but the last few pages of the book bring things to an eerily brilliant end, leaving open this sort of supernatural question in a way that seems in keeping with the spirit of the novel. As is evident from the opening section, Joseph Conrad and Leibniz loom large—as a professional philosopher, I’m glad to see Leibniz get his due! Parts of this book are funny, as are his previous books, but this one felt a bit more profound to me in a way that might be hard to articulate, but might have something to do with the way it addresses madness. I rarely reread works of fiction, but I think I should probably have another go at this one—but alas, due back at the library.
If you’ve read his other work and liked it, you will almost certainly enjoy this.
If you’ve read his other work and liked it, you will almost certainly enjoy this.
February 7, 2018
It pains me to have to give this book only three stars. Beauman is one of my favorite writers, and I was looking forward to MiBtD for a while (pre-ordered it as soon as that option was available). Alas, while it is intelligent and funny, and of course very original (as one might expect after reading Beauman's previous books), I simply could not connect to it's cadence. MIBTD doesn't seem to flow, the jumps back and forth time are anything but Vonnegutian, and I experienced it to be very slow reading.
So that basically leaves a good plot and lots of funny jungle anecdotes, but difficult reading nonetheless.
So that basically leaves a good plot and lots of funny jungle anecdotes, but difficult reading nonetheless.
September 4, 2017
Like a sun bathing octopus this glorious novel sprawls out in all its majestic glory. I'm not sure where to place it in the Beauman pantheon just yet, but gad it's good - possibly his most mature least 'mad-cap' work yet, it continues his bigger picture from Glow and paints a wonderful jungle picture with a fun plot and a splendid conspiracy of well drawn characters and mildly preposterous relationships so unlike the temple the whole thing remains intact. Heartily recommended, and I just hope the next in bae's output follows soon.
July 5, 2019
I have no idea what happened in this book. I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone because I barely know how I feel about it myself. It's confusing and demands concentration to keep track - if like me you have trouble, maybe taking notes and making a timeline will help. But definitely an interesting read ... The title holds true
April 13, 2018
.5
UNreadable. Not a palimpsest. An upturned waste bin, chaotic, pretentious, and vulgar. This is not art. Reading this in full is to allow yourself to be poked in the eye by a stick by a miscreant who is picking your pocket.
UNreadable. Not a palimpsest. An upturned waste bin, chaotic, pretentious, and vulgar. This is not art. Reading this in full is to allow yourself to be poked in the eye by a stick by a miscreant who is picking your pocket.
May 16, 2018
Delightful, thought-provoking, complex, and hilarious. Full review: https://www.kenyonreview.org/2018/05/...
June 8, 2019
So I'm really struggling to put my thoughts into words. On one hand this book is an absolute gem. The setup and story is so unusual and interesting, while the delicate characters are original, the clever prose top notch, and exactly what you'd expect from Ned Beauman. However, the plotting and narrative were very confusing, and at times it felt like a wild, blinded journey though a Caribbean jungle.
But maybe that was the point?
Some books work so well with a non-linear narrative (NB kicked ass at this in 'Teleportation Accident') and I'm a big fan of unreliable narrator (At times I was really reminded of Doc from Pynchon's 'Inherent Vice') but it took me fumbling halfway through the book before I realized that's what was going on here. Until that halfway point, I was so baffled on timing, POV, and character relationships, that my bookmark was a note card where I desperately tried to keep track of it all. There's little transition between decades, and the different POVs meld together in a confusing mess that had me setting it down and scratching my head for well over a year.
However, once I realized who was important and who wasn't, learned that the main narrator once had a major hallucinatory experience that shifted his motivations (This was a big light bulb moment), and, most importantly, embraced the madness, the story blossomed and became something extraordinary.
If you've never read Ned Beauman, start with Boxer Beetle or Teleportation Device. If you have, pay careful attention, take notes, and maybe read it a second time (like I'm very much considering.)
But maybe that was the point?
Some books work so well with a non-linear narrative (NB kicked ass at this in 'Teleportation Accident') and I'm a big fan of unreliable narrator (At times I was really reminded of Doc from Pynchon's 'Inherent Vice') but it took me fumbling halfway through the book before I realized that's what was going on here. Until that halfway point, I was so baffled on timing, POV, and character relationships, that my bookmark was a note card where I desperately tried to keep track of it all. There's little transition between decades, and the different POVs meld together in a confusing mess that had me setting it down and scratching my head for well over a year.
However, once I realized who was important and who wasn't, learned that the main narrator once had a major hallucinatory experience that shifted his motivations (This was a big light bulb moment), and, most importantly, embraced the madness, the story blossomed and became something extraordinary.
If you've never read Ned Beauman, start with Boxer Beetle or Teleportation Device. If you have, pay careful attention, take notes, and maybe read it a second time (like I'm very much considering.)
September 4, 2018
"A story about a story about telling a story . . . "
Deep in the Guatemalan jungle, a magnificent, ancient temple is discovered. A New York financier and a Hollywood mogul simultaneously send teams to the site and are never heard from again.
Narrated by a tabloid reporter turned C.I.A. agent, "Madness is Better Than Defeat" is a madcap, recursive farce that takes on the United Fruit Company, the movie industry, and the symbolic meaning of language, among other things. Opening with a man wrestling an octopus in the basement of a Prohibition era speakeasy, "Madness is Better Than Defeat" gets progressively zanier. It's exhausting at times, but it's one of those rare novels that makes you want to read it again to find more clues to it's hidden meaning(s).
Deep in the Guatemalan jungle, a magnificent, ancient temple is discovered. A New York financier and a Hollywood mogul simultaneously send teams to the site and are never heard from again.
Narrated by a tabloid reporter turned C.I.A. agent, "Madness is Better Than Defeat" is a madcap, recursive farce that takes on the United Fruit Company, the movie industry, and the symbolic meaning of language, among other things. Opening with a man wrestling an octopus in the basement of a Prohibition era speakeasy, "Madness is Better Than Defeat" gets progressively zanier. It's exhausting at times, but it's one of those rare novels that makes you want to read it again to find more clues to it's hidden meaning(s).
September 2, 2025
I don't... know...
I bought this book in a hurry at a train station, read maybe one chapter and forgot about it for several years.
I decided to give it another shot recently and this time I could barely put it down. it's weird, chaotic and creative. There were a few moments of "ugh" or "was that really necessary", but I had a good time overall. The writing style is sometimes a bit hard to get through, which is probably what deterred me the first time. But it makes sense for the character and the story. It's just not to be taken too seriously, but I think maybe the big words make people fall into the trap of trying to do so anyway.
I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless you're, like me, a little bit pretentious and you like weird books.
I bought this book in a hurry at a train station, read maybe one chapter and forgot about it for several years.
I decided to give it another shot recently and this time I could barely put it down. it's weird, chaotic and creative. There were a few moments of "ugh" or "was that really necessary", but I had a good time overall. The writing style is sometimes a bit hard to get through, which is probably what deterred me the first time. But it makes sense for the character and the story. It's just not to be taken too seriously, but I think maybe the big words make people fall into the trap of trying to do so anyway.
I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless you're, like me, a little bit pretentious and you like weird books.
October 24, 2020
Ned Beauman has become my new go to author. A gem of a novel, thoroughly entertaining and superbly structured. A wonderful example of a writer who refuses to over extend the plot and keeps the story taut with excellent refined touches sprinkled with clever vocabulary that delights the reader. It’s one of those books every writer wishes they had written at least once in their career. Hopefully it will manifest into a movie but for the moment be dazzled by a great talent. Fun, adventurous and delightfully intriguing.
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