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Product Description
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.
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
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Morgan Leafy works for the Deputy High Commissioner Fanshawe in Nkongsamba, capital of the mid-west region of the Western African country of Kinjama. When we meet Leafy, he is festering with rage - hatred for the hot, humid, dead-end place he has been posted to for the last few years, simmering resentment for his junior colleague Dickie Dalmire, a thoroughly pleasant plummy Ox/bridge graduate who has swanned in and impressed both Fanshawe and his daughter Priscilla on whom Leafy had designs, and impotent teeth-grinding fury at the dour Scottish university doctor Murray whose dry professionalism thwarts Leafy's sense of entitlement and attempts to slide under various official gates. Leafy is a hilarious character, as funny in his boiling, exploding fury as Basil Fawlty. He is selfish, jealous and covetous yet he is a fascinating character. The book is far more light-hearted and unamibitious than Boyd's later novels but the familiar Boyd wit and eloquence and strong, vivid characterisation are evident, making this a riotously funny comedy of errors pitched halfway between the sharp, innocent drolery of PG Wodehouse and the more lecherous romping laughs of Kingsley Amis. Unlike Kingsley's protagonists, though, the reader gets the impression that Boyd recognises the faults of his hero and doesn't condone them. Intriguingly, Boyd has said that the crisp man of few words characterisation of Murray was based on Boyd's father, who was also a doctor in Africa.
A great light read.
A great light read.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
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!
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!
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Initially I wasn't sure I'd enjoy this book - it began to resemble a Tom Sharpe novel, however the comic situations were entirely more plausible and I defy anyone not to identify with the frustrations and indignities of being a subordinate and having to sort out someone else's problems. Morgan Leafy is a brilliant creation - an anti-hero who wins the reader's heart and sympathy. I look forward to reading more of William Boyd's work.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Frothy fun
I feel a bit guilty only giving this three stars. I think the problem is that the first William Boyd book I read was Any Human Heart which ranks among the most powerful, moving and... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Alexis Paladin
Brilliant
A Good man in Africa brilliantly describes the problems that can arise if you make a promise or get in with the wrong people in a land where you don't understand the culture well... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Junglegirl
A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd
This book is about Morgan Leafy who works as a British diplomat at the Deputy High Commission in the fictional west African country of Kinjanja. Read more
Published 13 months ago by iandliz
Good man great book
I have read quite a few of William Boyd's novels and A Good Man in Africa is the best except for his great opus The New Confessions. Read more
Published 14 months ago by reader 451
Highly recommended
I loved this book. I loved the main character, Morgan Leafy, with all his imperfections, uselessness, black moods...but I think, after all, deep down Morgan is a good man. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Max
Good, but not great...
I suspect that this book must have made quite a stir when it first started getting attention. As a first novel, this is an interesting, funny and somewhat cynical look into the... Read more
Published 23 months ago by aus_books
A story told with tongue in cheek about British rule in a ficticious...
A tale about the less attractive sides of colonist behaviour in Africa but written with humour.
Published on 10 May 2010 by M. ANDREWS
Childish
I know everyone else found this hilarious. But not me. I must have missed something.
I found Leafy boring, stupid, childish, and in need of a slap, and I struggled hard... Read more
I found Leafy boring, stupid, childish, and in need of a slap, and I struggled hard... Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2009 by Financial Phil
Funny,well written book
If you haven't tried william boyd yet,this might not be the easiest start but he is an amazing writer.Restless is one of his best and Any Human heart is in my top ten books.
Published on 4 Dec 2009 by Mrs. J. Lo
Boyd's work does not fail to impress
The book tells the story of Morgan Leafy, a middle aged, overweight man working at the British High Commission, in the African country of Kinjanjan. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2009 by Mr. Alexander W. Judd
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