Customer Reviews

INDECENT EXPOSURE

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book must be one of the funniest I've ever read. My girlfrind threw me out of bed at four in the morning because I'd apparently been laughing in my sleep after having read the book. The best thing about any of Tom Sharpe's books is that you can read them again and again and still laugh all over again! Superb!

What more can I say? Go read it! I read it about 12 years ago or more. It was fantastic. I read it at least once every 2-3 yrs after that and it has never failed to make me laugh again and again. Though Apartheid is dead, the humor is still valid worldwide. Read it as satire or just for its humour. Either way, you'll love it. By the way, dont be put off that its British and thus a bit heavy in the reading department. Its not. Its a great read and you could easily finish reading it in one day unless, of course, you fall off your chair or bed and injure yourself laughing. Believe me, I'm not exaggerating.

Tom Sharpe is one of the funniest writers on the planet, and this is his masterpiece. It takes place in the days of southafrican apartheid, and it's weird, wild and wonderful and imposible to explain. For your own good: Read it!

Today I'm back--rebuying this book in hopes of reliving some of the experience it produced 20+ years ago when I read it on a transatlantic flight. Everyone around me was solemnly absorbed in tearjerker movie while I was convulsed to tears of laughter in their midst.

When I realized Indecent Exposure was a sequel to Riotous Assembly I raced from the airport to the bookstore and ordered that one too. It was no disappointment. That came when I voraciously bought nearly every other novel Tom Sharpe wrote and found none of his other works even came close to his 2 South Africa novels.

Small wonder that oppressive regime expelled him. I ought to mention that however slapstick funny this has been described to you (and it is!) it is not an appropriate gift for your 12-year-old niece. The uproarious misanthropy is midnight black and as politically incorrect for many Americans as it was subversive for South African censors.

Tom Sharpe's novels, always popular in Britain, are known for being rude spoofs on the political establishment and of the upper echelons of British society. However his earliest works, as in 'Indecent Exposure', the setting is apartheid-era South Africa. His humour is still very baudy, perhaps repetitively so, and his target are the hypocritical, racist white establishment. Some of the language is a bit vulgar, and I imagine some folks might be offended. But Sharpe hits the bulls-eye on his target: the squabbling, pretentious and myoptic white (English/Afrikaan) establishment.

As for the story? Well, it somewhat doesn't matter. Some nonsense about a rural town's police force trying to fight (imagined) communist insurgents using some rather ridiculous means. It's all very slapstick, farcical. Enjoy the book for its now dated (historical) view of South Africa, not for its paper thin story.

Bottom line: a very curious and funny piece of Sharpe's earlier works. Certainly not his best, but he delivers the laughs.

Tom Sharpe is at his funniest in this hilarious classic. You will laugh out loud.

Tom was thrown out of South Africa for his cutting commentary on the country, and I would thoroughly recommend his witty and original writing.

Follow with Riotous Assembly, Porterhouse Blue and Wilt (pretty close to the bone for prudes).


All available in good, used format from Amazon.

Tom Sharpe is possibly the funniest author I have ever read. I've bought many of his books to give away as gifts. There's no point in laughing alone.

I split my sides with laughter from page one to the end. Tom Sharpe deserves a Nobel prize

Hilarious, extremely funny. This is one of the fiction works that have made me laugh more in my life, including films, comics, or whatever.
I read this book after discovering Sharpe trough Wilt' s saga. One tip: read the african novels first! I have read almost all the books from Sharpe, and I think the two south-african satiras are the best, specially Indecent Exposure.