I recently read Paul Theroux’s Hong Kong handover novel Kowloon Tong. This novel is a bit of a satire, a bit of an allegory, and a bit of a thriller. Well, it’s not much of any of these things, hence my dissatisfaction with it. I wish he would have taken any of these possible motiffs and developed them more fully. And, to be honest, it wasn’t much of a thriller, there's no resolution. I don’t think it was as good as his other fictional efforts like My Secret History and My Other Self. Nor does it have the energy or life of his travel books. He is a bit over the top with the stiff upper-class blueblood types; the main characters, Bunt and his mother Betty. However, it is often for comedic effect. The locals don’t fare much better; there aren’t any characters that you can really relate to, because the only character worthy of any pity, Mei-ping, is scarcely more than a caricature. And Hung, the mustache-twisting villain, is essentially one dimensional, without a background. Overall, a short, mild diversion, it’s not one of those novels that stay with you beyond the short time you spent with it.
Comments