Kowloon Tong (Paul Theroux, 1997)

ISBN 0-14-026645-3

Set in the last days leading up to the hand-over of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong is centred on a few last-ditch Brits holding out to the end. The central character is Bunt, a 43 year old arrested adolescent living with his mother – a narrow-minded and selfish archetype. Theroux crafts them and their values with a gleeful viciousness:

‘His mother slid the three stiff rashers onto his plate and then switched on the radio. It was green-painted bakelite with a yellow illuminated dial, as big as a bread bin, and it crackled. George had bought the radio. "It’s a pup," Betty said, but Bunt still boasted about it for its not being Japanese.’

Theroux is brutal with his Chinese characters – the main villains and the few sympathetic characters are Chinese – but that is the point of the book. Like some play-thing picked up by a dull and cruel child only to be soon cast aside, brutalised and broken, Mei-ping is an analogy for Hong Kong itself. I won’t say any more: do read it.

Recommendation: Cruel and beautiful. Most highly recommended.

Look and Feel: The usual paperback.

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