Mamista [Hardcover]

Len Deighton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1991

As a group of Marxist revolutionaries in Spanish Guiana prepare to unseat their country's leader, a group of high-powered men in Washington prepare to keep the current government intact and capitalize on the small country's newfound oil. Reprint.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Using a broad, dark canvas, Deighton ( The Ipcress File ; Spy Sinker ) follows the convoluted trails of diverse political interests converging in the South American jungle of Spanish Guiana, where a U.S. prospecting team has discovered oil. Comrade Ramon, revolutionary leader of the MAMista ( Movimiento de Accion Marxista ) which opposes the country's right-wing leader, has recently been joined by Ralph Lucas, an Australian doctor investigating medical conditions among the MAMista forces, and Angel Paz, a hot-tempered young Marxist from Los Angeles. Maddeningly infused with stereotypes, Deighton's characters both intrigue and frustrate: Ramon is a ruthless, compassionate realist; the idealistic Paz is oblivious to the aims of the guerrillas; Lucas hides his politics behind his physician's role; the U.S. president's chief aide is untouched by the human implications of his decisions, made after an undercover CIA agent is taken in a bloody MAMista raid. During the revolutionaries' arduous march through the rain forest (with its powerful metaphor of entropy and decay), nature, chance and human ineptitude inexorably claim their victims. While this ambitious, bitter and unredemptive tale has a potent afterlife, it ultimately disappoints, defeated by an intricate plot not fully commanded and by characters who remain elusive. 200,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Deighton's longest, most complex and passionate novel in years: an epic tale, set in a South American jungle, of good men and women crushed beneath the heel of Realpolitik. The world-weary pessimism that seeped into Spy Sinker (1990) stains these pages black; even Deighton's customary whimsy has withered into a pervasive bitter irony. Yet there's valor in his new, brilliantly realized huge cast of characters, beginning with two men who travel for different reasons to Spanish Guiana: Australian M.D. Ralph Lucas, sent by a relief group to research medical conditions in the area controlled by the MAMista Marxist guerrilla movement; and Angel Paz, an idealistic young ``Yanqui'' Marxist determined to fight for revolution. After meeting under the brutal gaze of the country's neofascist rulers, the pair-- accompanied by Inez, a beautiful female revolutionary--endure a harrowing air ride to the south, where they link up with General Ram¢n, leader of the MAMista. There, disillusionment sets in as Lucas is shocked at the rampant disease and malnutrition, and Paz finds himself compared unfavorably by Ram¢n to the wise, if capitalist, Lucas. A guerrilla raid on an American outpost jacks up the emotional tension: Inez, to her shame, kills in cold blood; Paz causes an innocent's death; a CIA man is captured--and proves the key for future horrors. Meanwhile, in mesmerizing scenes set--in contrast to the miasmic jungle--in elegant D.C. power venues, including the White House, the President and his chief advisor hammer out a shady deal with Ram¢n to permit US exploitation of a huge oil find in guerrilla territory. To consecrate the deal, Ram¢n sends Lucas and comrades to escort the CIA man north on a jungle trek that explodes in heroism, betrayal, absurdity, and death. The spirits of Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad hover over this stately, outstanding mix of tragedy and black farce that builds slowly--but inexorably--to its piercing conclusion. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 410 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (August 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060179368
• ISBN-13: 978-0060179366
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,117,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morality and Spycraft, May 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: MAMista (Mass Market Paperback)

Comparing Len Deighton to Tom Clancy works only in that both authors choose from time to time to operate in the shadow world of espoinage. In a Clancy novel there is never any doubt who wears the white hat; it is this distinction that separates Deighton from Clancy. A generation back the comparison between Deighton and Clancy would have been Graham Greene and Ian Fleming. Which you choose says more about the types of novels you read than which story you preferred.

MAMista is a story written by an author quite comfortable examining the moral ambiguities presented, with good detail to his fictional surroundings, direct in his presentation, and very agile in his story-telling abilities. The characters always come alive with the story, including some minor ones you'd rather not have done so. The only complaint; in setting the mood so well, Deighton can go on a bit more than necessary. This is a minor flaw in an otherwise graceful novel.

1.0 out of 5 stars What a waste, July 23, 2011

By 

Srinivas R. Sunder "Ramdas" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mamista (Hardcover)

The book has several nicely built-up and interesting characters, spectacular descriptions of the countryside in "Spanish" Guiana (which, one assumes ia a loosely disguised version of Colombia or Peru), and an interesting (if Machiavellian) plot, which all dissipates into ... something, but I'm not sure what.

Len Deighton loves to display the cynical humanism that believes that there should be a pox on both houses in most conflicts, since neither's objectives are pure. As such, his distaste at the moral ambiguity of the Cold War and post-Cold War conflicts comes through in his novels, as it does in Mamista. However, morally ambiguous plots do not have to leave the reader wildly groping for closure, as this one does.

All too often, one sees movies that start well and then struggle to end well. That perfectly describes this book. What a waste. What a pity.

2.0 out of 5 stars Deighton can write good books; this is not one of them, December 10, 2010

By 

William Wall "xflyboy" (Southeast USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mamista (Hardcover)

This book was a huge disappointment in every respect. The characters were very promising, but the story went absolutely nowhere. Details piled upon details and irrelevant background information in the middle of the story do not make a book that is either worthwhile or enjoyable to read. Add to that an ending (of sorts) that left me wondering why I had even bothered finishing this book and wishing that I hadn't, and you have a book that you, dear fellow readers, would be better off skipping. The reviewer who characterized this book as "dreary" got lambasted with a "0 of 4 found this review to be helpful," but the characterization was dead on. In summary, I loved the characters, but nothing about the story itself.