Product Description

Escapee from suburbia, overweight, oversexed … Morgan Leafy isn't overburdened with worldly success. Actually, he is refreshingly free from it. But then, as a representative of Her Britannic Majesty in tropical Kinjanja, it was not very constructive of him to get involved in wholesale bribery. Nor was it exactly oiling his way up the ladder to hunt down the improbably pointed breasts of his boss's daughter when officially banned from horizontal delights by a nasty dose ... Falling back on his deep-laid reserves of misanthropy and guile, Morgan has to fight off the sea of humiliation, betrayal and ju-ju that threatens to wash over him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10026 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
Being a representative of Her Britannic Majesty in Kinjanja is not a bed of roses. What with the sensitive issue of local politics, a rather embarrassing succession of sexual encounters, and ju-ju to contend with, it's all Morgan Leafy can do to keep faith in his own integrity. (Kirkus UK)

Morgan Leafy, First Secretary at the British High Commission in Nkongsamba, Kinjanja (a.k.a. Nigeria), is one of those grandly cynical, infectiously foul and petty anti-heroes who spit and sweat through British 20th-century comic fiction. Fat, balding at 34, conscious of his lowish-middle-class background, Morgan hates "this stinking hot frustrating shit-hole of a country." The only good things about it are "beer and sex" (with promiscuous black mistress Hazel). And, lately, things have gotten especially revolting. Dalmire, the Oxford-educated new Second Secretary, has become engaged to Priscilla Fanshawe, the High Commissioner's daughter (superb body, unfortunate nose), whom Morgan would have won - were it not for the fact that he developed gonorrhea just about the time Priscilla turned lustful. Meanwhile, a native servant at the Commission has been killed by lightning-strike, and complicated ritual laws are preventing the removal of the rotting corpse (just as a Duchess is about to arrive on a Christmas visit). And, worst of all, Morgan, while trying to cultivate one of Kinjanja's political leaders, has slipped into tender adultery with Celia, the white wife of the Party's local chief - so now the Party chief (who knows all) is using the scandalous affair for blackmail: he insists that Morgan be the middle-man in a land-sale scheme to bribe upright Dr. Murray of the University - who just happens to be Morgan's nemesis. ("What was it about Murray, he wondered, that made him want to dash out his brains, mn him over with his car, hack him into dog-meat with a machete?") All this emerges a bit too slowly and repetitiously here, with a large central chunk of flashback. But Morgan's galloping miseries converge quite neatly as Christmas, the Duchess' visit, and a national election coincide: there's the midnight body-removal, which leads to native riots; there are slapstick nudity-encounters with the High Commissioner's imperious wife and with the Duchess; there's the blithe arrival of a poetical Yorkshireman for an Anglo-Kinjanjan literary confab; there's the unmasking of Celia's ulterior motive. And, finally, there's a coup - during which Morgan becomes slightly heroic, is nearly seduced by the unpredictable Commissioner's wife, and changes his mind about virtuous, bribe-refusing Dr. Murray. . . who dies amid the chaos: "Why Murray? he asked himself in despair. A good man like that. . . . Why not Dalmire, why not Fanshawe? Why not me?" True, this mildly upbeat character-transformation is less than convincing or satisfying. And, throughout, Boyd can lapse from credible black-comedy into cheap farce. Still, if the worst of this energetic novel is reminiscent of crude sit-corns, the best recalls Waugh and Amis - in a dark yet cheerful nightmare that's juiced along by humiliation, fury, and a highly unsentimental view of post-colonial Africa. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
William Boyd was born in Ghana in 1952. He was brought up there and in Nigeria. He was educated at the universities of Nice, Glasgow and Oxford. He is the author of a number of acclaimed and hugely popular novels and three volumes of short stories, and the recipient of many prizes, including the Whitbread First Novel Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Sunday Express Book of the Year Award. He is married and lives in London

Customer Reviews

the more you read the better it gets
At first I thought I wouldn't enjoy this book, most of the characters being really hard to like, from the main protagonist Morgan, inefficient, jealous, often mean-minded, to his arrogant, overbearing and pompous boss Fanshawe. And then , Boyd weaves his magic. He makes us understand how Morgan became the way he is, we share all the disappointments that made him bitter and sarcastic...And, I have to admit, the people he portrays are a lot more like real life than selfless heroes and put upon heroins who suffer with great calm and endurance.Each of us can see some of their flaws mirrored in some character and though that might not make comfortable reading it is quite salutary to remind ourselves how mean-spirited,selfish and conniving we can be.
And the comedy is really entertaining so, a complete change of heart from the moment I started on the first pages. By the time I reached the end, I was sorry to let it go...

Funniest book i've ever read
Cannot add any more than has been written in the other reviews. I've nearly read all the author's books, and wish he would write more funny stories.

Grimly comic, desperately ironic
Morgan Leafy is the overweight and morally questionable first secretary of the British High Commission who suffers from an interminable lack of self-esteem which manifests in himself allowing others to manipulate him until the point when he cracks...

The comedy is wince-making because it is more at Morgan's expense, generally, than any other's, and it is a cynical satirical look at the mess of Africa from the perspective of someone who is paid to understand it but really doesn't have a clue. Bribery, corruption, cuckolding, gonhorrea and pidgeon English meld the story into a tour-de-force of little-mindedness and cowardice, stiff-upper-lipped sacrifice and closed-minded stupidity.

It's just wonderful!