That's right ... this is prestigiously Bum filled Book
Recommendation of the Month . This is where
Yoni Sapir
will announce his monthly recommendation from the great world of literature
. After all ... the Professional Bum needs to stimulate his mind while
he sits on his ass doing nothing . Yoni will start the ball rolling but
others will be doing recommendations as well. Submissions are accepted
by all of the coalition and freelancers as well. Submit away!
This is a delightful novel that tickles
the fancy of the historian, the political scientist , the psychologist
and the literature fan, in you. Faye Weldon
is an expert in all the aforementioned above . Ms. Weldon has an intriguing
writing style that allows her to weave historical accounts with her subject
and in the process make a mockery of them and satirize them as well.
Ms. Weldon achieves the rare objective
of a novel that makes one laugh, and cry because of it, at the same time.
To call the novel brilliant would be an understatement. Simply superb and
utterly riveting.
The novel takes place at a country-side
military academy where a prominent Military man is supposed to deliver
an annual speech to the academy and a few of the select guests. The novel
takes place the night before the proposed lecture as a group of the guests
are invited for a formal dinner. To make a long story short , upstairs
are the guests and the "celebs", downstairs lurks the under classed servants
that are numbered in the hundreds and led by an insane butler bent on revenge
on "The Man".
The fun ensues as a snowstorm traps everyone
in the powder keg of an academy, murder is an issue and many beautiful
twists ensue.
The thing that makes this novel such a
treasure is how Weldon savagely interrupts the story line with an informative
historical presentation of certain famous military men of the last two
thousand years. Whether it be Napoleon , Attila the Hun or even Alexander
the Great, Weldon delivers a barrage of history to school the reader in
the fine art of military history.
Grouping that with her fine understanding
of certain human idiosyncrasies and how people react when placed in uneasy
situations makes for an incredible reading experience. The fact that the
novel is unbelievably fast paced and devilishly allegorical makes ones
head spin with enjoyment.
A bit of the fun in the novel is the few
continuance mistakes that Weldon makes that both myself and the great York
University Professor Dr. Dick Ewin have found. See if you can find them
. If you do , e-mail me and we shall compare notes.
Basically, If you love history and
human psychology mixed with political allegories, shaped in the form of
a lab. rats maze, then The Shrapnel Academy
is definitely for you .
