THE LAND OF A MILLION ELEPHANTS

by Asa Baber ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 17, 1970

A hortatory comic fable about an invasion of a gentle southeast Asian paradise by the imperialistic drek of all nations. Mr. Baber has selected the most reliable caricatures in past ventures of this sort and neatly flips through the pack. But he's a wizard at satirical stabs. In the small kingdom of Chanda, Buon Kong, a sage attuned to hash and the wily phi (life-affirming spirits) and beloved of the elephants, eventually leads an assortment of expendable nationals to a heavenly vale. This after a coup by an itchy militaristic Chandian, which in turn melds an American general, a Russian ambassador and the King of Chanda in a plan to blow the escaped populace to dust. Among the refugees from anti-personnel peacekeeping--a lovely deaf-mute named Dawn attached to a black American dropout; an American pilot of acrid tongue and heart of endearing dross; a brace of pleasant homosexuals (career men of Britain and the U.S.); a minor Greek entrepreneur and a voluptuous Russian bureaucrat; two U.S. aides carrying a dead comrade who later receives a merry funeral; and other Chandians. Happy peaceful thoughts and finagling by the phi defuse the bomb. This amusing morality tale has been serialized in Playboy.

Pub Date: June 17, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION