Mgungu Yabba Mgungu is living happily on the South Sea island of New Burnt Norton with his three wives, one hundred pigs and assorted children, the last remaining members of the tribe of the Lesser Pimbas. Into this uncivilised land comes Maria Fishburn, strange and beautiful heiress, who decides to marry Mgungu and drag him back to New York City. From his first encounter with airline food and with rock star Kent Gable, who declares he was recently abducted by aliens, Mgungu is plunged into a world much more predatory than anything in the South Seas. Soon Mgungu is the toast of all Manhattan, meeting Parker Junius, unctuous curator of the Museum of Primitive Arts, talking philosophy with Sophie Tuckerman, deli owner, and meeting the illustrious Joey, of pizza parlour fame. It is swathed in a huge fur coat and with his new gold pen through his nose that Mgungu finally marries Maria. But then he falls in with a motley crew who come to threaten them both.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The author of the bestselling Slaves of New York offers here a less successful effort but an equally sardonic view of the wormy Big Apple, narrated in the stilted voice of Mgungu Yabba Mgungu, self-described as a "brutal and violently ignorant savage, though charming in a primitive way, who was fleeing his wives and 13 children for the charms of a young American, possibly even the Hamptons and the New York Film Festival if everything went well and I played my cards right." Bored and narcissistic heiress Maria Fishburn, a Peace Corps volunteer, scoops up Mgungu, a South Seas purple-skinned cannibal and brings him back to Manhattan to dance at the Museum of Primitive Cultures, marry her and serve as a generally useful conversation piece. Mgungu wanders, picaro-style, the streets of New York and satirizes the natives, from the vapid chic to the Bowery bums. The distinctive device of putting into Mgungu's mouth arch descriptions of creamy pink and puce art deco home decors or of civilized small talk ("I realized that what I was bearing witness to was that thing known as innuendo") waxes tiresome and self-conscious. With her unexplained plot gaps and inclusion of photos that feature herself, the late Andy Warhol and other hip folk, Janowitz manipulates her readers as surely as the hapless Mgungu is used by the depraved criminals who swarm the all-consuming jungle that is New York. Major ad/promo.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Mgungu, a reformed cannibal from the imaginary island of New Burnt Norton, marries a New York heiress and Peace Corps volunteer preoccupied with her contact lenses. At cocktail parties he wants to discuss Thoreau, while she advises "If you can't think of anything interesting to say just lean against the wall and look savage." The problem with this absurd premise is sustaining it for an entire novel. The satirical one-liners begin to wear thin by the time gangsters trick Mgungu into cannibalism. A series of forced situations finally puts the articulate, sensitive hero in prisonvictim of American greed and decadence. This outrageous novel should enhance Janowitz's status with the avant-garde. Leonard Kniffel, Detroit P.L.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Inept,
This review is from: Cannibal in Manhattan (Paperback)
Without a doubt, in the BOTTOM ONE PERCENT of any novel I have ever read. The beginning of the downhill slide of Janowitz's premature and now-forgotten fame, the point where she began embarrassing those who overpraised Slaves of New York. Her one idea, grand satire of irresponsibility, is relentless here, the sentences plodding, the character motivations cartoony. A must-read for up-and-coming writers who need the "I-can-do-better-than this!!" push. Pretentious, unimaginative, and awful.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun for the beach!,
By Alvin Orloff (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cannibal In Manhattan (Picador Books) (Paperback)
Cannibal in Manhattan is a comedy of manners masterpiece. Even without the keen social observations, the story would be carried by the amusing, improbable and adorable voice of the cannibal narrator. Tama Janowitz's wacky charm reminds me of Patrick Dennis, the semi-forgotten author of Auntie Mame. She's never meanspirited or condescending as she sends up human foibles. Three cheers for this unpretentiously funny little gem.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Years after reading this book I still remember it.,
This review is from: A Cannibal in Manhattan (Paperback)
I read this book years ago. I was searching for it and found it on Amazon! The level of satire is truly wonderful. Her description of the characters is right out of this world. It really is a social commentary from an unlikely outsider's point of view.
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