The Shanghai Gesture [Paperback]

Gary Indiana (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

"Indiana has gloriously revived an obscure Hollywood film of the same name, infused it with eroticism and intrigue - and added Dr. Fu Manchu! The result is a lustrous, laugh-out-loud world of bawd and mayhem; an erudite, charmingly operatic opium den of decadence that seesaws between high brow and low camp and reads as though Cormac McCarthy had rewritten Austin Powers."—Arthur Nersesian

"Ambitious... gonzo social satire." —Publishers Weekly

“A fearless and valuable writer.”—The Washington Post

"[Gary Indiana] is the primary reporter of the underground, the dissociation of cultures, the new behaviors; there is a sense that if you want to understand what has happened in America, you would have to read Gary Indiana. And this newest book is a leap forward."-Michael Silverblatt

"Like The Wizard of Oz meets Naked Lunch... this strange, filthy, uproarious little novel is a riveting read from start to finish."—Boldtype

In the internationally acclaimed author’s first novel since Do Everything in the Dark, Gary Indiana applies his prickly wit, nihilistic vision, and utterly original voice to this side-splitting spin on Fu Manchu.

A mysterious bout of narcolepsy has overtaken the seaside hamlet of Land’s End, a funk endemic to the region since the wreckage a century earlier of the ship the Ardent Somdomite. Inspector Weymouth Smith and unconvinced cohort Dr. Obregon Petrie attempt to thwart Fu Manchu’s latest ploy for world domination while confronting South American Piyas, matching wits with a club-footed ex-Stasi, as well as battling the latest technological crazes and their own drug dependencies.

The Shanghai Gesture is not a genre farce, but a compelling tale that merges the author’s trademark eye for social satire with the beautifully poetic sensibilities of his previous novels.

Among Those That Know, a cabal our story will elucidate in the fullness of time, rumors fluttered that Dr. Obregon Petrie defied the laws of gravity when it suited his caprice.

Gary Indiana is the author of several previous novels: Horse Crazy, Gone Tomorrow, Rent Boy, Resentment, Depraved Indifference, and Do Everything in the Dark, as well as nonfiction works: Three Month Fever: The Andrew Cunanan Story, The 120 Days of Salo, Let It Bleed: Essays 1985–1995, Schwarzenegger Syndrome, and Utopia’s Debris.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Indiana's ambitious but flawed latest (after Do Everything in the Dark), unconvincing characters adventure to save the world from an ill-defined threat. Two narrators, Dr. Obregon Petrie and another who remains nameless through most of the book, tell the parallel stories of a Scottish seaside town, Land's End—whose residents are suffering an epidemic of somnolent days and insomniac nights—and the hunt for criminal mastermind Fu Manchu. Petrie, a heroin addict who lost his medical license, accompanies a rogue Scotland Yard inspector in a push to capture Fu Manchu. The anonymous narrator, meanwhile, watches the situation in Land's End deteriorate, as prostitutes turn up murdered and genetically modified insects invade with nefarious intent. Indiana's stylized, elevated dialogue does no favor to this pseudo-pulp adventure, as Petrie and the other narrator sound virtually identical. While the author's take on Fu Manchu has some clever quirks, much of the book's humor appears forced and affected (the introduction, for instance, of a club-footed ex-STASI agent plays as camp). The book seems to aim for gonzo social satire, but it lacks the genuine human experience that makes such commentary effective. (Apr.)
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About the Author

Gary Indiana is the author of thirty-two books, including Do Everything in the Dark, Depraved Indifference, Rent Boy, Resentment, and Let It Bleed.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Two Dollar Radio (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0982015100
• ISBN-13: 978-0982015100
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #499,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars make yourselves at home in the future past, April 19, 2009

By 

Ronnie Cordova - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shanghai Gesture (Paperback)

Gary Indiana's first novel since Do Everything in the Dark is a hilarious satire, the most linguistically exuberant work yet from an author already deservedly admired for his astonishing prose. Giddy anachronisms abound in this bawdy tale that features a drug-addicted doctor accompanying a Scotland Yard inspector in pursuit of the fiendish Fu Manchu, who may or may not have something to do with strange occurrences in the seaside town of Land's End, a damp pocket of sleaze that time forgot, whose denizens sleep during the day and emerge for depraved revels come nightfall. Along the way there are all sorts of wonderfully sketched cameos, including Thalidomido the dwarf, Dr. Philidor Wellbutrin, "the fartsome abortionist," and Earl Sludge, the garbage truck driver turned opportunistic necrophiliac. Among the most comically inspired bits are the gossipy phone conversations between the diabolical Fu Manchu and his mercenary employee, the club-footed ex-STASI Roswitha Klebb, whose logistical discussions concerning Fu's campaign for world domination get continually sidetracked by their shared passion for the labyrinthine plot of a Brazilian soap opera. Ribald satire, narcotic phantasmagoria, a gruesome Cronenbergian transformation, mysterious portals in spacetime, corrosive (and hysterical) social commentary all amazingly cohere in a satisfying narrative due to Indiana's prose mastery, simultaneously flamboyant and rigorously controlled. This is a wonderfully unhinged book, Indiana totally unfettered.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun romp that's sure to entertain many a reader, June 7, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shanghai Gesture (Paperback)

Narcolepsy is a strange disorder. It's stranger when it takes an entire community by storm. "The Shanghai Gesture" is a comedic mystery thriller following Weymoth Smith and Obregon Petrie, who are out to stop the world domination plans of one Fu Manchu. As if one madman was not enough, they also must deal with being behind on the times, and the cravings of their own bodies. "The Shanghai Gesture" is a fun romp that's sure to entertain many a reader.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, April 12, 2009

By 

L. Mello (NYC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Shanghai Gesture (Paperback)

Gary Indiana's most recent novel, "The Shanghai Gesture" treads a delicate line between side splitting satire and classical lyricism. The resurrection of Fu Manchu could not be more appropriate as could not be more relevant the plight of those living at "Land's End". The struggle is not about power and it shows, in blaring contrast to conventional story-telling, that it's not about whether there are winners and losers, but rather, everybody always loses... some more than others.
A great read - written in a form that can only be described as eloquent and cutting.