Madness Is Better Than Defeat - Softcover

Beauman, Ned

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1473613590 ISBN 13: 9781473613591

Publisher: Sceptre, 2017

Synopsis

In 1938, two rival expeditions set off for a lost Mayan temple in the jungles of Honduras, one intending to shoot a screwball comedy on location there, the other intending to disassemble it and ship it back to New York. A seemingly endless stalemate ensues, and twenty years later, when a rogue CIA agent learns that both expeditions are still out in the wilderness, he embarks on a mission to exploit the temple as a geopolitical pawn. But the mission hurtles towards disaster when he discovers that the temple is the locus of grander conspiracies than anyone could have guessed.

About this title

About the Author

NED BEAUMAN was born in 1985 in London. His debut novel, Boxer, Beetle, won the Writers' Guild Award for Best Fiction Book and the Goldberg Prize for Outstanding Debut Fiction. His second novel, The Teleportation Accident, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Encore Award and a Somerset Maugham Award. His third novel, Glow, was published in 2014. He has been chosen by the Culture Show as one of the twelve best new British novelists and by Granta as one of the 20 best British novelists under 40. His work has been translated into more than ten languages.

Review

Beauman writes with rare and bizarre brilliance * Sunday Telegraph * Typically quirky . . . Zany and sprawling * Tatler * Wildly original . . . Madness could easily become a confusing mess but Beauman manages to keep the narrative consistently focused and engaging. This madcap ride about the eccentricities of humans will keep you entertained till the last page * Bookriot * A fun madcap mystery * Daily Mail * Beauman's fourth novel provides his usual humour, oddities, convolutions and impressive writing. * Mail on Sunday * Wildly plotted, comedic . . . One senses that behind the vivacious plotting and baroque characterisation, Beauman's purpose is to question the "madness" of artistic endeavor . . . he emerges from his latest expedition triumphant. -- Carl Wilkinson * Financial Times * I am really enjoying it . . . I have no clue what's going to happen when I turn the page -- Inua Ellams * BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review * It reminded me of a Coen brothers film . . . I found it enchanting, and I was happy to turn every page . . . I really enjoyed it -- Tom Sutcliffe * BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review * Beauman has a gift: he's a natural comic writer. (I've only read one funnier book this year) -- Cal Revely-Calder * Guardian * A teaming shaggy-dog comedy of megalomania and obsession . . . Beauman is a sparkling writer, and his book bustles with diverting micro-narratives . . . A novel of great intelligence and humour, cleverly structured and brimming with tricks . . . a tremendous rainbow -- Tim Martin * New Statesman * Almost perfect . . . This is one of the most purely enjoyable novels I've read in years - by turns sad, moving, thoughtful, intriguing, clever, enlightening, surprising and laugh-out-loud funny - which is more than enough. I can't think of any type of reader who wouldn't enjoy it: whether your thing is genre, literary or, like this, a fizzling, sparking, sparkling mixture of the two. -- Darragh McManus * Irish Independent * Madness is Better than Defeat is a Swiss watch: there isn't a single moving part out of place . . . The jokes are superb . . . a zestful romp? Undoubtedly. But that doesn't quite do justice to the experience of reading Madness is Better than Defeat. The book is certainly a literary performance of a high order . . . The clockwork runs beautifully. Every paragraph gives pleasure. -- Kevin Power * Literary Review * Dazzling . . . his best to date . . . If there is one adjective that describes Beauman's prose it is 'buoyant' - a quality which allows the reader to get through a long book with little effort, and the author to carry the considerable heft of his intelligence lightly. And it is a roaming intelligence. -- David Patrikarakos * Spectator *

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1473613590
• ISBN 13: 9781473613591
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416