I picked this up from the house we were staying at in Windermere...and started reading on the hot and interminable journey back down sarf. Funny and rude so far; a good start for an award-winning first novel :)

(12/01) First, to allay your fears, this book is not about Politics, but it is about the politics of sex, Jewishness, and of friendships, between couples, threesomes (of which more later!) and the love between a daughter and her father. I really enjoyed this quirky book and the conversational style of Thirlwell’s writing. The sex, although explicit is strangely sex-less, part of the plot, not gratuitous. And as AT says, comparing himself to the Marquis de Sade, ‘[he] was not an expert in kinkiness. He was too theoretical. When it comes to kinkiness in prose, I am a better writer than the Marquis de Sade.’ I can’t vouch for this but I learnt some stuff, including a new term, ‘undinism’ (you look it up!)

Not wanting to give too much away, the main plot is about Nana introducing a third person (Anjani) into her loving relationship with Moshe with unexpected results; there are lots of asides about communism(!), and famous menage a trois ‘Jules et Jim’ and the leads in Casablanca.

To repeat; funny, insightful, quirky…a real pleasure :)

RELEASE NOTES:

Taking along to the Ipswich meet-up to share or help to stock the OBCZ shelves.

If you find this book, please write a journal, and enjoy :)

It looked light and the reviews were positive - so it came home with me.

The Prolgue sets the tone for this book; straight into the sex and funny with it. There is nothing titillating about this sex though. The relationship between Moshe, Nana and Anjali is told through a series of sexual encounters, in graphic detail, but documenting the mundanity of it all. I was waiting for someone to construct a shopping list during a sex act, but sadly it didn't happen.

The author talks directly to the reader frequently, explaining what he is doing and quirkily interspersing the story with handy historical illustrations of the point he is making about his characters and their behaviour.

This is the first book I've read which includes troilism and Nikolai Bukharin. Politics but not as we normally know it.

Midsummer's Day Release.

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I picked this book up in the Nero's on Kings Parade in Cambridge while waiting for a frien an not having anything to read. I wasn't sure what to expect from the book, but I really enjoyed Thirwell'a narrative style, and particularly the way that he treats himself as a character in the book, even though he explicitly points out that he is not a character in the book. I think it is interesting that while the book is seemingly about sex, it is rather about the emotions of social interaction. I also found it refreshing that the humour and plot development was not centered around humiliation, which is the basis much British humour, and was rather about kindness. Overall I think it was a great read.