THE SAVAGES

by Ronald Hardy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1967

We find middle-aged Dr. James Cadett torn between the sword and the scalpel in the newly independent Congo of 1960. He had accidentally shot his own sergeant while fighting in the Yemen and his self-imposed punishment brings him to a Baptist mission in the Congo where he again takes up a doctor's tools and snarls bitter things about missionaries; Cadett is cast as the total loner until he is moved to togetherness by a Baptist maiden that had been ill-used by Congolese. (The author's artlessness in the narrative form is particularly evident in the regular and solemn reports on Cadett's every fleeting or sustained response.) When the mission is wiped out by Congolese running amok, Cadett is left with his knees nailed to a tree. He insists on being carried to a Catholic mission where an aged orthopedist fixes his legs and where he again works as a doctor, snarls bitterly about missionaries, and is again drawn to a native, Catholic, who has been ill-used by natives... This is a pretentious action/adventure novel that flirts with theology, politics, and philosophy. The mayhem of Congolese independence is a fact, but there are no good or same Africans in this book. At the end, the author has a priest ask, ""What does it all mean?"" Well, with a gaudy, gory cover it probably means good sales in paperback to undemanding men.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1967

Categories: FICTION