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HomeShop at BookSurgeFictionReligiousThe Tangier Script |
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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 2 customer reviews )
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Thomas Pynchon Meets Paul Bowles Jun 28, 2005
By Good Book Fan
I've always been a fan of Paul Bowles novels and the way they evoke Tangier. Likewise I've read all the Thomas Pynchon books I can get my hands on. But I never thought I'd get the feeling that they could be combined to write a novel like The Tangier Script. Somehow author Victor Barker gives us the wild, mind-blowing antics of Pynchon-like characters and then sets them in a North African labyrinth that could have been created by Bowles himself.
A middle-aged English actress hides out in Tangier with her younger boyfriend, a cine verity film director, waiting for a good script to turn up. What turns up instead is a stream of characters from Tangier's past - including Samuel Pepys, Kim Philby and Cleopatra's daughter. No, it's not a farce - it's a drama that moves at breathtaking speed through time and space.
It left me with the feeling that I had been smoking the greatest kif in the Rif! No wonder it picked up a few literary awards on the way.
A Tangier Trip! Jun 30, 2005
By Julie M. Burnaby
When I finished reading The Tangier Script I felt like I do after seeing a really gripping movie - so many fascinating people and so much exciting (and mysterious) action.
The author takes you into the heart of Tangier so that you can hear the sounds and smell the odours. And it is not just a geographical trip but a trip into the past with all the colourful characters that have lived in the place - including Hannibal and his elephants and host of international spies.
Part of the action takes place in the room where William Burroughs wrote his book The Naked Lunch - and there is plenty of naked action and a lot of lunch throughout this book.
One character, I believe based on a true historical personage, is Balthazar St. Michel and his rapid descent into the fleshpots of this ancient North African city are as wild as some of Burroughs' own characters.
I have read Paul Bowles books set in Tangier and Morocco but Victor Barker's book has so much more colour and action. Perhaps, at times, the reader feels so involved that it can make you feel quite upset - physically!
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