A surreal comedy about cats and coca (The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts - Louis de Bernieres)

Member Name: indychick_uk

Product:	The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts - Louis de Bernieres
Date:	30/10/01 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny

Disadvantages: none

To anyone who has read Captain Corelli's Mandolin, the style of Louis de Berniers will be instantly recognisable. An infinitely funny story interspersed with amusing, frightening and sometimes horrifying side stories and anecdotes.

In this book (and two further books "The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman" and "Senor Viva and the Coca Lord") de Bernieres creates an imaginary South American country controlled by Coca barons and peopled with a self centred President married to a former stripper, a corrupt government, an ethereal Indian with magical powers who talks with his dead daughter, a resurrected spanish conquistador and a town full of eccentrics.

The story is slightly surreal and filled with magic and myth. Dona Costanza, the haughty wife of the local landowner decides to divert the river to fill her swimming pool and sparks a battle with the locals, lead by Don Emmanuel, an exile from England. These battles become so fierce that the government send in the army, who quickly find themselves beset by plagues of laughing fits and giant cats. The townspeople battle valiantly but eventually they decide they have to leave and so the whole town sets out to find a new place to live. They head for the mountains and found their new civilisation at the magical "Cochadebajo de los Gatos"

Along the way Dona Constanza is kidnapped by guerillas and, when her husband refuses to pay the ransom, falls in love with her captor and becomes a guerilla, the President dabbles in sexual alchemy and his wife gives birth to a huge black cat and the government becomes steadily more corrupt.

If you enjoyed Captain Corelli then you will probably love this as much, it has the same wonderful portraits of the characters, the same descriptions of the countryside and in addition a qwerky sense of humour all of it's own. In addition it also tells a serious story of the effect of Cocaine on a poor South American c
ountry and may open your eyes a little to the problems of a developing nation

Summary: