IN THE VILLAGE OF THE MAN

by Loyd Little ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1978

When CIA agent Martin Borjek (pathetically disguised as a Catholic missionary) comes to the Laotian village of Sop Hao to find out what happened to CIA agent George Violette, the result is not the suspense you might expect--but rather a literately earthy, darkly comic series of oriental diversions for the whimsically inclined. True, there are murders to be solved (that missing CIA agent was poison-gassed), and Borjek himself must survive poison arrows and a cobra in his cassock. But the meandering appeal here comes from the interaction of a few Westerners with the maddeningly oblique, immensely dignified Sop Hao villagers--members of the tribe of Man who believe they're the oldest continuing civilization on earth. And the hot issue at stake--how much opium the villagers should grow--is less important than the day-to-day community rituals and crises: a hapless Baptist missionary's single triumphant Coca-Cola conversion-baptism and his timid lust for a village beauty; a farmer's embarrassment over his copulating pigs; the local sorcerer's courteously lethal machinations; an ex-Green Beret doctor's attempts to protect the villagers from ignorance (medical scenes somewhat derivative of M*A*S*H) and from outside forces like the CIA. An odd but surefooted mixture of comedy, action, and East-meets-West sentiment that may have trouble finding its special audience.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION