Timothy Mo's first novel in a decade is set within the battle for secession in the Muslim regions of southern Thailand. Pure covers epic expanses of time and is told through narrators who range from fanatical zealots to decorated Oxbridge dons. Everything that Mo's readers expect abound in this long-awaited novel: versatile style, memorable characters, insight into those tormented by dual loyalties and the ability to handle the weightiest of themes with a light touch. By examining the cultural wars of the past and present, Pure's themes are among the most important of the day.
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''A fantastic read...he's a wonderful writer.'' --Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times
''A consistent joy of the book is Mo's voice or rather, voices. The cascade of multilingual puns and pan-global references nods to the work of Anthony Burgess, although that writer came to the far east as more of an outsider, and there is a frequent sense in Pure that Mo is setting down sentences that only he has the linguistic and cultural knowledge to write. Should have serious readers on their feet cheering'' --Mark Lawson, The Guardian
''Soaring imagination, blistering wit, verbal felicity, narrative velocity'' --The Independent
''Timothy Mo is a brilliantly inventive writer. Pure is a typically clever, funny, wide-ranging story.''--The Times
"Richly funny...joyous and heartbreaking" --The Sunday Express
''Provides rich opportunities for Mo's wit.'' --The Guardian
''A consistent joy of the book is Mo's voice or rather, voices. The cascade of multilingual puns and pan-global references nods to the work of Anthony Burgess, although that writer came to the far east as more of an outsider, and there is a frequent sense in Pure that Mo is setting down sentences that only he has the linguistic and cultural knowledge to write. Should have serious readers on their feet cheering'' --Mark Lawson, The Guardian
''Soaring imagination, blistering wit, verbal felicity, narrative velocity'' --The Independent
''Timothy Mo is a brilliantly inventive writer. Pure is a typically clever, funny, wide-ranging story.''--The Times
"Richly funny...joyous and heartbreaking" --The Sunday Express
''Provides rich opportunities for Mo's wit.'' --The Guardian
About the Author
Timothy Mo is the author of seven novels including Sour Sweet (1982), An Insular Possession (1986) and The Redundancy of Courage (1991). He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times and won many literary awards, including the E.M. Forster Award and most recently the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his last novel, Renegade or Halo2 (2000).
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I didn't read Timothy Mo's last two books but as an admirer of his earlier work - shortlisted for the Booker Prize 3 times in the 1980s - I thought I would try this one and found it a delight. It's tremendous, certainly as good as any of his previous books - some may say better as it moves along at such a pace. Set predominantly in Thailand and in the Philippines, it's centred around the battle for secession in the Muslim regions of southern Thailand and Mindanao. It's narrated for the most part by Snooky, a Thai Ladyboy of great wit and presence, who is cajoled into joining a mujahedeen `pondok' to spy on their activities on behalf of the Thai police and the British government. Populated by young Thais under the tutelage of an alarming bunch of Imams, their leader, Shaykh - or `Milk Shaykh' as Snooky nicknames him - is on a mission to set up a new Caliphate in S E Asia. A strange concept indeed for a novel you might well think but in Mo's masterful hands this tale of fundamentalist idealism is not only hugely entertaining but covers a deeply serious subject - 5000 people have been slaughtered in S Thailand over the last 7 or 8 years. Courageous, comedic and yet with a extremely important message, Pure is beautifully written and I would strongly recommend it. If you haven't read Mo before, this is as good a place to start as any.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By GFK
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I taught Sour Sweet to A Level Eng Lit students in the UK and really enjoyed it. Not sure about the students!
Anyway now living in Bangkok I was intrigued about Pure's synopsis. The start is good. It details Snooky's life on the streets in Bangkok. He's a katoey (ladyboy) and lives a wild life with a bunch of similar types. As far as I know it feels pretty authentic - descriptions of late night street life in the Sukhumwit area of Bangkok. Certainly beats lazy Daily Telegraph travel guides to the Thailand.
But our hero/heroine gets busted and is forced to the south of Thailand to act as informer in a Jihadist training camp.
Mo has different narrators and a lot of the content - well for me at least - is difficult to follow. A particular problem is the narrator Victor - an old guy who tries to describe colonial history. Also the chapters narrated by the head of the training camp are tedious. Snooky's chapters I find the best-written - well the most interesting.
So my advice. If you're not in Thailand give this this a miss. And don't even think about teaching it as an Eng Lit text.
Finally. Apparently this is Mo's first novel for a decade. Hm.
Anyway now living in Bangkok I was intrigued about Pure's synopsis. The start is good. It details Snooky's life on the streets in Bangkok. He's a katoey (ladyboy) and lives a wild life with a bunch of similar types. As far as I know it feels pretty authentic - descriptions of late night street life in the Sukhumwit area of Bangkok. Certainly beats lazy Daily Telegraph travel guides to the Thailand.
But our hero/heroine gets busted and is forced to the south of Thailand to act as informer in a Jihadist training camp.
Mo has different narrators and a lot of the content - well for me at least - is difficult to follow. A particular problem is the narrator Victor - an old guy who tries to describe colonial history. Also the chapters narrated by the head of the training camp are tedious. Snooky's chapters I find the best-written - well the most interesting.
So my advice. If you're not in Thailand give this this a miss. And don't even think about teaching it as an Eng Lit text.
Finally. Apparently this is Mo's first novel for a decade. Hm.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By tim
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
'Sour Sweet' is one of my all-time favourite reads, so 'Pure' came as a huge disappointment. I virtually never give up on a book but came very close to it with this.
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