The Roaches Have No King (A Five Star Title) [Paperback]

Daniel Evan Weiss (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Five Star Title | Publication Date: December 1, 2001

"Dark and erotic in addition to being clever and charming. It is laced with sexual scenes so graphic I hesitate to share them with you"—New York Times Book Review

When Ira Fishblatt’s girlfriend, Ruth Grubstein, moves into his apartment, he has the kitchen renovated to make her feel at home. She is tickled pink, but hundreds of other houseguests aren’t—the cockroaches who’d been living high on the hog before they were starved out. Weiss is a witty fabulist whose animals have profound things to say about the human condition.

Daniel Evan Weiss’s novels include Hell On Wheels, Honk If You Love Aphrodite and The Swine’s Wedding. He lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

A nasty, arch and occasionally funny novel about cockroaches- -first fiction from Weiss, author of nonfiction books 100% American and The Great Divide (not reviewed). In an unnamed city (seems like New York), Ira Fishblatt, a bleeding-heart liberal Legal Aid lawyer, is rejected by his live-in lover, The Gypsy. This is much to the dismay of the other inhabitants of Ira's place: hundreds of cockroaches with names like Bismarck, Rosa Luxemburg, and Julia Child (they were born in bookshelves), who enjoyed The Gypsy's messiness and food-throwing. After a brief despondent period, Ira meets the overweight, matronly Ruth Grubstein. Cosseted into the role of good Jewish boy, Ira goes to such lengths to please Ruth that he renovates the kitchen, forcing the kibitzing circle of Blattelae Germanicae out of their homes. The roaches, led by their ringleader Numbers, who's also the book's narrator, swear vengeance. They disrupt a dinner party of Ira and Ruth and their neighbors, the Wainscotts, by causing a blackout that, in a good bit of screwball writing, forces Ira and Elizabeth Wainscott into close quarters in the dark. But Plan A fails, and thus begins Numbers's long journey of the soul to find a more effective revenge on humankind. What follows are comically gruesome scenes described from Numbers's roachy point of view: from toilets, in Ira and Ruth's bed, in the hair of a coke dealer named Rufus, in the sewer system. Weiss's broad ethnic comedy--in dialogue between Jewish Ira, black Rufus, and old-money racist Wainscott--is bracing at first, then flattens. A well-modulated comic novel (one hesitates to say ``picaresque''), only for those with really, really wicked sensibilities. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'Woody Allen meets Kafka in this wlidly original and funny account of a cockroach consplracy...A novel to make you laugh and squirm' Observer 'The most imaginative and complex novel since Patrick Suskind's Perfume...an implausible, hilarious and beautifully written tale' Vox 'A daring original, an underground Kafka' Time Out

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852427469
• ISBN-13: 978-1852427467
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,453,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story, wonderfully written, downright hilarious..., January 26, 2000

By 

P. Handler "fuzzy cuban jewish rocker" (Reykjavik, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Roaches Have No King (High Risk Books) (Paperback)

I hate roaches. Can't stand 'em. They truly do make me sick to my stomach. A new friend, however, promised consistent laughs and great writing when she gave me this novel--and she was right on target. Every morning and evening for week, I laughed out loud on the el during my commute to work. The story is clever, the characters are familiar, and the writing is top notch. The roach-narrator's point of view--whether he's perched on a kitchen cabinet, clinging to the toilet bowl, or generally assessing the past and future realities of mankind--is full of truth and humor. I loved this story, and I loved reading it. (However...I no longer stomp barefoot through my hardwood-floored Wrigleyville - Chicago apartment, and I've taken to keeping cereal, pasta, and crackers in the fridge. You may want to do the same).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simultaneously Disgusting and fascinating. Loved it!, March 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Roaches Have No King (High Risk Books) (Paperback)

This is one of the best books I've read in a long while. A phenomenal satire. Mr. Weiss was able to hold the proper character tone/perspective throughout the entire book, which is written, unbelievably, from a cockroach's point of view. Not for the squeemish, but for any one with an open mind, it is an EXCELLENT read!.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the few books Ive read over and over., January 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Roaches Have No King (High Risk Books) (Paperback)

I bought this book years ago, and have ended up reading it year after year. In England it was published under a different title:- Unnatural Selection, I recommend it utterly if you want to smile throughout a book. Thank God we have few roaches in this country!