THREE WOGS

by Alexander Theroux ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 1971

British bigotry de-Bunkered with a wickedly satirical trio of flammable confrontations between England's nastiest patriots and three victims who accomplish some sort of revenge -- a Chinese, an Indian, and one giant African. The first adventure concerns the tidy execution of Mrs. Proby (""like a huge jar. . . all bum and elbow"") who knew where to place the foreign born -- ""Free as Dick's hatband in a country not his."" Mrs. Proby meets her end at a Fu Manchu movie via a cunningly fashioned Chinese blowgun. In the middle story pallid Roland, shaped like a ""cruel broom"" and galvanized by oratory in the park where ""imitation pearls are cast before real swine,"" is gently exposed to the light in his dark cranial tower by a sweetly meditative Indian student. The closing tale concerns an Anglican priest, acolyte to his acerbic crone of a mother, both of whom lament the present Age of Shoddy. He loses his promising black beauty when the African choirmaster opts to wed and the church erupts in joyous celebration, African style. Mr. Theroux writes with multi-tongued cheek -- his street vernacular crackles with seedy metaphor and the speech of the outcasts gleams with dignified malapropisms. Delightfully mean fables that bite.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Gambit

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1971

Categories: FICTION