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A review by nonna7
King of the Badgers by Philip Hensher
5.0
To say that "King of the Badgers" is a strange book, is putting it mildly. I learned about the book by accident while reading the status of one of my favorite authors. She said that Hensher had made a disparaging statement about "thrillers." I guess it's a matter of taste. I like a good crime novel myself, but I do like to indulge in good literature also.
This book was strange but so well-written, I couldn't put it down. Hensher doesn't like all of the CCTV cameras that are all over Britain. I confess I wouldn't like them either although I must admit that if you are in a crime-ridden area or a large city, you might feel safer.
The book starts out with the kidnapping of a little girl. However, you really don't have a whole lot of empathy for the little girl (who is totally unappealing) or the slatternly mother or awful stepfather. She lives in a working class suburb of a small Devon town that has become very upscale in the last few years. It is on the water, there are lovely little fishermens' cottages now transformed into upscale residences, new flats that have obstructed the views of previous inhabitants, upscale shopping including a cheese shop run by a gay man named Sam and his partner, Harry, also known as "Lord-What-A-Waste."
I don't think Henshaw likes anyone. He has equal disdain for the working class, the middle class and the upper class it seems. We meet the creepy head of the neighborhood watch, appropriately named John Calvin. In addition there is the Brigadier and Billa, an elderly couple, Miranda (she's a marvel) and Kenyon, her husband. Miranda runs the monthly book club with an iron hand. No light reading here when Miranda has anything to do with it. She teaches English literature at a second rate college and is thrilled to have one non-white student.
Kenyon is a Dept of the Treasury employee on indefinite loan to an Aids in Africa project. He spends most of his time in London and one day of that workweek in the arms of his lover who happens to be the father of Miranda's one non-white student. Miranda and Kenyon have a teenage daughter who still plays with dolls that have names like "Child Pornographer" and "Slightly Jewish."
Harry (Lord-What-A-Waste) and Sam consider themselves husband and husband although they do get together with the Bears, a group of bearded and mostly overweight gay men. With the help of drugs and alcohol they have a private orgy every few months.
Catherine & Alec are a retired couple who moved to the town after visiting Alec's former secretary and her husband who live in a nearby town. They buy one of the flats that obstruct other people's views. Their son, David, is visiting. He is fat, unstylish and gay and is bringing along an Italian gigolo named Mauro, passing him off as his boyfriend.
Catherine invites some of the neighbors to meet her son and his "partner." The neighbors come more out of obligation, but find they are having a nice time after all. Winding its' way through the book - a lot in the beginning, then a little at the end - is the missing child. This is one of those somewhat dry but witty books. At the very beginning, the author describes a bee hive: "It looked like a miniature tongue and groove New England lunatic asylum." How can you not want to read more?
This book was strange but so well-written, I couldn't put it down. Hensher doesn't like all of the CCTV cameras that are all over Britain. I confess I wouldn't like them either although I must admit that if you are in a crime-ridden area or a large city, you might feel safer.
The book starts out with the kidnapping of a little girl. However, you really don't have a whole lot of empathy for the little girl (who is totally unappealing) or the slatternly mother or awful stepfather. She lives in a working class suburb of a small Devon town that has become very upscale in the last few years. It is on the water, there are lovely little fishermens' cottages now transformed into upscale residences, new flats that have obstructed the views of previous inhabitants, upscale shopping including a cheese shop run by a gay man named Sam and his partner, Harry, also known as "Lord-What-A-Waste."
I don't think Henshaw likes anyone. He has equal disdain for the working class, the middle class and the upper class it seems. We meet the creepy head of the neighborhood watch, appropriately named John Calvin. In addition there is the Brigadier and Billa, an elderly couple, Miranda (she's a marvel) and Kenyon, her husband. Miranda runs the monthly book club with an iron hand. No light reading here when Miranda has anything to do with it. She teaches English literature at a second rate college and is thrilled to have one non-white student.
Kenyon is a Dept of the Treasury employee on indefinite loan to an Aids in Africa project. He spends most of his time in London and one day of that workweek in the arms of his lover who happens to be the father of Miranda's one non-white student. Miranda and Kenyon have a teenage daughter who still plays with dolls that have names like "Child Pornographer" and "Slightly Jewish."
Harry (Lord-What-A-Waste) and Sam consider themselves husband and husband although they do get together with the Bears, a group of bearded and mostly overweight gay men. With the help of drugs and alcohol they have a private orgy every few months.
Catherine & Alec are a retired couple who moved to the town after visiting Alec's former secretary and her husband who live in a nearby town. They buy one of the flats that obstruct other people's views. Their son, David, is visiting. He is fat, unstylish and gay and is bringing along an Italian gigolo named Mauro, passing him off as his boyfriend.
Catherine invites some of the neighbors to meet her son and his "partner." The neighbors come more out of obligation, but find they are having a nice time after all. Winding its' way through the book - a lot in the beginning, then a little at the end - is the missing child. This is one of those somewhat dry but witty books. At the very beginning, the author describes a bee hive: "It looked like a miniature tongue and groove New England lunatic asylum." How can you not want to read more?