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Home > Fiction and Literature > Fiction: general and literary > Snakepit
Snakepit

Snakepit


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About the Book

From the author of "Abyssinian Chronicles" ("one of the most impressive works of fiction to have ever come out of Africa"--"Kirkus Reviews"), a powerful new novel set in Uganda in the 1970s--a dark picaresque that brilliantly depicts the life and death of a nation run by men gorged on power and paranoia. Bat Katanga is a Ugandan just returned to his homeland after two years in Britain. While he completed a postgraduate degree at Cambridge, he watched from afar as "flag independence [gave] way to economic independence" in Uganda, his chances to make a fortune there increasing with each "reform" imposed by Idi Amin. Now, when Bat lands a job as Bureaucrat Two in the Ministry of Power and Communications, he feels himself entering the top echelons of government, his sense of honor and honesty firmly intact: "Everything seemed to have been building to this moment, his triumphant entry into the bastions of power." But when he is threatened into taking a bribe from a Saudi prince, he unwittingly begins a journey--both psychological and physical--into the darkest and most dangerous precincts of the madness that was Amin's Uganda. As Bat's life begins to unravel, we see the men and women whose lives intersect his: General Bazooka, his superior at the ministry--"a creature of people's fears and prejudices"--a man slowly losing Amin's approval, and with it any sense of safety or sanity; Victoria, who bears both Bat's child and a deadly grudge against him; Bat's family and friends, coping with the advantages and disadvantages of connection to someone in high places; Bat's wife, Babit, who pays the ultimate price for his mistakes; Robert Ashes, the mercenary Englishman who insinuates himselfinto Amin's trust--and who will be the only one left standing after Amin's downfall. "Snakepit "is an extraordinarily revealing, deeply humanizing exploration of the experience of virulent corruption. It is a fiercely compelling novel.

Review :
"To read Snakepit" . . ." is to understand the seduction of power in its most naked form." --"The Boston Globe " "A devastating portrait of a country on the brink of implosion. . . . C]mplicated and intense. . . . Full of visceral, graphic language and acts of premeditated violence, Snakepit offers a dark, queasy-making vision of a country hijacked by greed and megalomania, though Isegawa allows for a glimmer of hope." --"San Francisco Chronicle ""This diverting, absorbing read . . . makes us wonder where Isegawa's creative genius will take him next."" -St. Louis Post-Dispatch ""Isegawa's painful honesty and his unwillingness to spare any of his characters make "Snakepit" a work of fiction that bears the hallmark of truth." --"Newark Star-Ledger ""This diverting, absorbing read . . . makes us wonder where Isegawa's creative genius will take him next."" -St. Louis Post-Dispatch ""Isegawa's painful honesty and his unwillingness to spare any of his characters make "Snakepit" a work of fiction that bears the hallmark of truth." --"Newark Star-Ledger ""Reads like a macabre horror tale-the special agent comes home to find his wife with her head cut off-but the fiction is grounded in the facts of Idi Amin's dictatorship in Uganda in the 1970s, when atrocity was 'business as usual'...Unforgettable." --"Booklist " "Isegawa has the raw talent to become one of Africa's leading literary voices in the years to come." --"Chicago Tribune" " ""Isegawa...one of Africa's premier writers, has crafted a savage portrait of a society gone mad, where maintaining one' s power and the favor of the dictator at all costs are the only ends." -"Library Journal " "Sharp, harrowing, indelible." --"The Seattle Times " "Isegawa assembles a devastating portrait of a paranoid society riddled with rivalries and enmities and fuelled by quests for one-upmanship and revenge... High-octane melodrama bearing a potent political and moral message. Isegawa delivers the goods." -"Kirkus Reviews" "From the Trade Paperback edition." "To read Snakepit" . . . is to understand the seduction of power in its most naked form." --"The Boston Globe "A devastating portrait of a country on the brink of implosion. . . . C]mplicated and intense. . . . Full of visceral, graphic language and acts of premeditated violence, Snakepit offers a dark, queasy-making vision of a country hijacked by greed and megalomania, though Isegawa allows for a glimmer of hope." --"San Francisco Chronicle "This diverting, absorbing read . . . makes us wonder where Isegawa's creative genius will take him next."" -St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Isegawa's painful honesty and his unwillingness to spare any of his characters make "Snakepit a work of fiction that bears the hallmark of truth." --"Newark Star-Ledger "This diverting, absorbing read . . . makes us wonder where Isegawa's creative genius will take him next."" -St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Isegawa's painful honesty and his unwillingness to spare any of his characters make "Snakepit a work of fiction that bears the hallmark of truth." --"Newark Star-Ledger "Reads like a macabre horror tale-the special agent comes home to find his wife with her head cut off-but the fiction is grounded in the facts of Idi Amin's dictatorship in Uganda in the 1970s, when atrocity was 'business as usual'...Unforgettable." --"Booklist "Isegawa has the raw talent to become one of Africa's leading literary voices in the years to come." --"Chicago Tribune " "Isegawa...one of Africa's premier writers, has crafted a savage portrait of a society gone mad, where maintaining one' s power and the favor of the dictator at all costs are the only ends." -"Library Journal "Sharp, harrowing, indelible." --"The Seattle Times "Isegawa assembles a devastating portrait of a paranoid society riddled with rivalries and enmities and fuelled by quests for one-upmanship and revenge... High-octane melodrama bearing a potent political and moral message. Isegawa delivers the goods." -"Kirkus Reviews "From the Trade Paperback edition.


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Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9780375414541
  • Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
  • Publisher Imprint: Alfred A. Knopf
  • Height: 220 mm
  • No of Pages: 259
  • Spine Width: 26 mm
  • Width: 149 mm
  • ISBN-10: 0375414541
  • Publisher Date: 16 Mar 2004
  • Binding: Hardback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: N
  • Weight: 463 gr


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