The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts

With The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts Louis de Bernières's sardonic pen has concocted a spicy olla podrida of a novel, set in a fictitious Latin American country, with all the tragedy, ribaldry and humour Bernières can muster from a debauched military, a clueless oligarchy and an unconventional band of guerrillas. There's a plague of laughing, a flood of magical cats and a torture-happy colonel. The cities, villages, politics and discourse are an inspired amalgam of Latin Americana, but the comedy, horror, adventure and vibrant individuals are pure de Bernières. This masterpiece, the first of a trilogy, is followed by Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. --James Barry

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At odds - Rated
I guess I'm gonna get crucified here but I did not particularly enjoy this book. I read Corelli from this author first of all, and it was my sheer enjoyment of that book that lead me to buy two more of his books immediately. I wish I'd bought only one (or better, borrowed it). I found this book (and Senor Vivo) over-written and contrived. Sure, I understood the black humour and the biting satire - but it was kinda like being browbeaten with it - in the tactless style of a typical Hollywood movie, rather than being seductively left to draw my own conclusions, like many a French movie. Yes I laughed out loud at some passages. But, whereas the exquisite prose in Corelli simply wafted me from page to page, irresistibly, I found The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts hard going, and it was only applied discipline that made me finish it.

Neisseria's notable triumph! - Rated
In this opening salvo of a trilogy on Colombian society and politics, de Bernieres demonstrates his outstanding abilities. His descriptive powers are vivid, often chilling, in conveying what humans are capable of perpetrating on one another. He produces characters that prance over the pages in a tantalising dance, challenging you to predict their next outrage or fallacy. The story is intricately woven through a loom of surprises, tragedies, and disasters. There are light moments, but they leave you wondering what depth of misfortune is likely to follow. Lest this analysis leave you feeling the book is depressing, take heart. The author portrays solemn realism, but swifts and butterflies of hope and satisfaction will reward the reader, even if their passage seems evanescent.

The "war" is more than simply the manifestations of one man's loins. Don Emmanuel is but one soldier in a wider context. De Bernieres is here campaigning for a broader sense of justice than this semi-imaginary society has been experiencing. What is the justice in a village gathering to defend a local, perhaps the last, virgin from salacious soldiers, only to have a grenade slaughtering the inhabitants. The army, supposedly called up to defend the nation, proves its most rapacious element. How to halt their depredations becomes the focus of this intricately woven tale. In one deliciously described sally, the village uses a local, well, "experienced", young women to visit the army's camp with her charms - and infections, such as neisseria [google it!].

This thinly disguised tale of modern Columbia's stresses depicts a society topped by an oligarchy of vested interests. "Right" and "Left" are but easily swopped labels by elements that have no essential differences. The "natural rulers" are buttressed by a compliant church, which is far more concerned with its own interests than that of the resident peasantry. This agrarian foundation of the country, who have little enough for themselves, occupy remote villages while underpinning the urban society. They are ready victims, easily manipulated or simply ignored. Their attackers are many and defenders few - yet it is typical of de Bernieres' sense of irony that among their champions stands an Army General.

That de Bernieres has copped many awards is adequate testimony to his prowess. He entertains and informs with equal verve. A dash of fantasy added to this story brings home the fact that "religion" is a term requiring expanded definition. The new definition would encompass human feelings more intimately than our present models. Death, never welcome, becomes something less than absolute in this author's hands. If the images he depicts are but our memories of lost loved ones, perhaps we should spend more time celebrating them. These and other questions permeate this book while prompting us to confront and judge our own values. If that's de Bernieres' intent, he's succeeded admirably. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

A dark satire on S American literature and history - Rated
Something that offends no one cannot have achieved greatness. Greatness is not popular. Captain Correlli is popular. I am not surprised that several Captain Correlli readers have not enjoyed this book. Three Tenors listeners are often not going to enjoy a complete opera. Don Emmanuel is not popular, it is a great work of literature. This is where the author found his voice, and like all first times the fresh voice is freshest here, the new ideas are newest here.

This book is also very funny and compelling. If you have read Marquez and/or Vargas Llosa, and loved them, you will be in sympathy with the author's satirical take on magical realism and the horrors of life in South America. But without that background, the satire may be lost on you. The humour is very dark, and one cannot help but feel that if translated into Spanish it would probably be burnt in the streets from Bogota to Buenos Aires. That's the kind of humour I like, but I'm definitely not carrying it in my luggage.

enjoyable but patronising - Rated
Like many readers of de Bernieres I first read Captain Correlli's Mandolin, set on Cephalonia. The author has been accused by many inhabitants of that island of patronising them, changing historical facts and belittling their beliefs. This earlier trilogy of books (of which I confess I have only read this one and the last) is set in a fictional country and, had he set it in a real one, I'm sure he would have received exactly the same reaction from inhabitants there.

Don't get me wrong, he is a very good writer and I did become very involved with the story and characters (particularly the frozen soldiers and plagues of giant cats), but always at the back of my mind was the thought that Louis was being very patronising and even possibly racist in his characterisations of South American people.

I also agree with other reviewers that the scenes of sexual violence can be shockingly graphic. Louis seems to rather enjoy writing these as much as the sickly sweet ones.

I don't think I will read the middle book and if anybody is undecided I would recommend they read Gabriel Garcia Marquez instead. At least he's South American.

Human geography - Rated
First the good things. I think that De Bernieres spent a lot of time in Latin America, and this is a horribly plausible description of life in that part of the world, where they certainly know how to have a good knees-up, but where random and extreme violence can strike you down at any moment, whether you deserve it or not. The book also contains a great description of how an ordinary mediocre person can turn into a torturing monster. I hadn't understood this before, but think I do now.

Now the things I didn't like - mainly the style. He imitates the magic realism of a lot of Latin American writing, but lays it on a bit too thick. The repetition of people's entire names is normal in Spanish but in English it sounds like a new character is being introduced all the time, which struck me as an irritating verbal tic. You can tell the passages he wrote when he had a thesaurus next to him, and the ones where he couldn't be bothered (the style of "Capt Corelli" is more consistent in that regard). Another irritation is the constant repetition of little phrases that obviously please the author (if I ever hear the phrase "strawberries and hay" again, I don't know what I'll do - though that may be from one of the later books in the trilogy, I forget).

De Bernieres has been compared to Dickens, and I think that's fair in some ways. They both have a fantastic eye for the superficialities of place and people, but don't offer much in the way of insight - characterisation is not of interest to them; and they both lapse into icky sentimentality quite often. But de Bernieres' writing doesn't have the same unstoppable sledgehammer poetry.

I wouldn't recommend the rest of the trilogy, which essentially reworks the same themes - I had terrible difficulty getting through the other two books. This one is worth reading though.