The Tyrant's Novel

The Tyrant's Novel

by ThomasKeneally (Author)

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Sceptre
Published: 16 Feb 2004

ISBN 10: 0340825251
ISBN 13: 9780340825259

Media Reviews
Keneally has chosen an odd device for this novel, substituting Anglo-Saxon names for Arabic ones to show that asylum seekers are just 'like us' as part of the axe he grinds against the Australian system of detaining refugees. Unfortunately the result makes it difficult to identify with characters who seem like whisky-drinking Westerners living under the tyranny of an oil-rich Saddam Hussein figure nicknamed Great Uncle. Patience is rewarded, however, because a gripping storyline eventually emerges, of a writer commanded to ghost a novel in the tyrant's name to act as propaganda against Western trade sanctions. Torn by personal grief at his wife's death and moral dilemma over his unwanted task, the novelist grapples with appalling knowledge about the terrible fate of those who displease the tyrant, and has some extraordinarily realistic encounters with him.