Customer Reviews

Pleasure Beach

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Many of Manton's books utilize multiple first person narrators to good effect; PLEASURE BEACH does it better using only one.

Manton novels with a lone first person voice are invariably the BEST books he's ever written: THE BLUE TRAIN; TOMBOY (also under various imprints retitled as DEPARTURE FROM THE GOLDEN CROSS or GIRL'S REFORMATORY); and both DeVane narratives chronicled in THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF CAPT. CHARLES DEVANE and BOMBAY BOUND. PLEASURE BEACH can breathe the same rarefied air as the aforementioned four books, it rounds out a Richard Manton top five list. Breezily readable, surprisingly literate and, of course, delightfully vulgar in Manton's grand style.

The language he employs and his phrasing in this book evoke a stiff veddy veddy British English akin to Dickens and Wodehouse. Manton focuses on one narrator and not three or four, using outrageous sarcasm to transform the narrator into an actual character vested with emotions.

Like the other four titles, PLEASURE BEACH's protagonist is in over his head and embroiled in a highly unlikely situation thrust upon him by society. The novel's premise finds its footing on Kafka-esque ground alongside various other out of control Manton scenarios: the man afraid of his job in a girls school; a military officer stationed in a war zone; an everyday guy running illegal errands for a powerful white slavery ring.

The episode triggering the plot is absurd but original. An Edwardian era Englishman gets in trouble with the cops for picking a pair of panties up off the ground. The plot development is sublime. So his family not face public scandal the narrator trundles off to do a penance on sex island or sex university or sex airlines or . . . you get the idea.

As previously stated PLEASURE ISLAND is a top five Manton book. Add NOREEN in with the rest and you'll have yourself half a dozen essential RM classics.