Not that long ago, I read a dual biography of the Dulles brothers, who were responsible for the failures in American foreign policy and intelligence in the 50s. This book was a hilarious and all too plausible counterpoint. The name Dulles was mentioned in passing at the businessmen's banquet, in fact.
I loved it, as I said above. It was simultaneously highly comic, pertinent, penetrating and menacing, as well as supremely inventive. I had so much fun reading it that I could forgive it for the prolonged and rather flat ending. I still snickered at bits, including their fetching up at a temperance hotel, for a man who was used to a mid-morning daiquiri for his pick-me-up. In itself, it expressed the vast gulf between the lush tropical life in Havana and the yet cold and gray life in England in the 50s.
One very minor quibble is that I didn't think the two women, Millie and Beatrice, were quite as credible as the men, but that might have been due to the inherent issue of a male narrator. At that, they were still believable to me, even to Millie's religious devotions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ccowie
I actually laughed out loud when he dismantled the vacuum, drew the pieces and added a two inch man below the nozzle and "dressed him neatly in a dark suit, and gave him a bowler hat and an umbrella."
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This was my single favorite moment, too. I'm so glad you nominated this! Thanks.