A review by emmkayt
King of the Badgers by Philip Hensher

2.0

I read Hensher's [b:The Northern Clemency|2927460|The Northern Clemency|Philip Hensher|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328158427s/2927460.jpg|2954855] a few years ago and thought it was excellent, although I can't remember the plot at this point. Partway through King of the Badgers, I looked back at my review of the earlier book and was surprised to see I had described it enthusiastically as "compassionate," given that compassion for his characters seems to be exactly what is missing from Badgers. A long, detailed novel about the inhabitants of an English town, loosely structured around the mysterious disappearance of a little girl, it has lots of funny, trenchant observations, but everyone in it is a caricature, and an unpleasant one at that, often drawing deeply on expected stereotypes, especially around class. Consequently, the experience of reading it was also quite unpleasant, even when a turn of phrase or an observation made me laugh or nod.