Customer Reviews

Singapore Grip

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If you were to select a subject for a droll and howlingly funny novel, it is doubtful that the fall of Singapore would be high on your list. Nevertheless, that's what you have here! The action centers on the British expat community who, intent on their usual trivial rounds of partying and copulating, are completely oblivious to the fact that the Japs are inexorably creeping down the Malay Peninsula. The novel properly darkens in tone as the city's situation becomes obviously desperate, but it maintains its ironic tone throughout. The result is an absolute masterpiece, and I don't use that term lightly.

The UK's History Learning web site (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fall_of_singapore.htm) does a marvelous job of sound biting World War II and offers these quotes about the fall of Singapore:
"Once the Japanese expanded throughout the region after Pearl Harbour (December 1941), many in Britain felt that Singapore would become an obvious target for the Japanese. However, the British military command in Singapore was confident that the power they could call on there would make any Japanese attack useless. One story told about the attitude of the British Army in Singapore was of a young Army officer complaining that the newly completed defences in Singapore might put off the Japanese from landing there.
"'I do hope we are not getting too strong in Malaya because if so the Japanese may never attempt a landing.'
"British troops stationed in Singapore were also told that the Japanese troops were poor fighters; alright against soldiers in China who were poor fighters themselves, but of little use against the might of the British Army.
"The Japanese onslaught through the Malay Peninsula took everybody by surprise. Speed was of the essence for the Japanese, never allowing the British forces time to re-group. This was the first time British forces had come up against a full-scale attack by the Japanese. Any thoughts of the Japanese fighting a conventional form of war were soon shattered. The British had confidently predicted that the Japanese would attack from the sea. This explained why all the defences on Singapore pointed out to sea. It was inconceivable to British military planners that the island could be attacked any other way - least of all, through the jungle and mangrove swamps of the Malay Peninsula. But this was exactly the route the Japanese took." ...
"For the British military command in Singapore, war was still fought by the `rule book'. Social life was important in Singapore and the Raffles Hotel and Singapore Club were important social centres frequented by officers. An air of complacency had built in regarding how strong Singapore was - especially if it was attacked by the Japanese. When the Japanese did land at Kota Bharu aerodrome, in Malaya, Singapore's governor, Sir Shenton Thomas is alleged to have said 'Well, I suppose you'll (the army) shove the little men off.'"

James Gordon Farrell makes the gross hubris of the British Empire never more clear than in The Singapore Grip, published in 1978, as the third of the "Empire Trilogy". This trilogy should be read in its entirety, but each novel stands on its own. The theme of all three is the time before a major change in the British Empire. Troubles focuses on Ireland, Krishnapur on India and Singapore the British Pacific Empire at the beginning of World War II. J. G. Farrell was born on 23 January 1935 and died on either 11 or 12 August 1979. He was both an Irish and British writer of historical novels. These are his most famous novels with The Siege of Krishnapur winning the 1973 Booker Prize. Farrell died while fishing when a freak wave, the result of the same storm which killed 17 people in the 1979 Fastnet race disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Fastnet_race), washed him out to sea.

The book takes the reader through the society of Singapore as the Japanese attack down the Malay Peninsula. The hubris of the officers, civilian leaders, wealthy merchants and the "man on the street" is criminal. But, the book is well written, well conceived and a fantastic read. Of the three, this on is my favorite. Read the Singapore Grip - and discover the phrase's three meanings. You will not be disappointed.

`Singapore Grip' recreates the world of pre-WWII Singapore. Farrell centers his tale around the Blackett and Webb conglomerate based on rubber plantations, but extends to wide-ranging export-import business. Singapore was created to be a trading center for the British Empire and it succeeded beyond any reasonable expectations.

As war edges closer the air of unreality gets thicker. Even when the Japanese attack Malaya in late 1941, these people just don't get it. Singapore Grip explores this world in detail and from many different perspectives. The higher in the colonial hierarchy, the harder it is for reality to penetrate. Walter Blackett, scion and head delusionist is still planning the company's 50th Jubilee while the Japanese are bombing the island and even Singapore town proper.

`Singapore Grip' is a vignette in what Huxley called "the descending road of modern history". The war gathers slowly, life begins to change, but not dramatically at first. But, the vise inexorably tightens and the world of the characters crumbles under the relentless pressure. Escape from the island seems at first an absurd idea, but it gradually becomes ever more desirable until it finally becomes impossible in the crush at the quays.

If you are tempted to turn away from this book, don't. `Singapore Grip' gathers force and clarity as Farrell slowly adds the pieces to his masterful mosaic and the reader is duly rewarded. The book has been recently reprinted in the excellent New York Review of Books Classics series. Highly recommended.

(Four-and-a-half stars) In "The Singapore Grip," Farrell convincingly recreates Singapore, 1942, on the verge of its fall to the Japanese. Each of the novels in Farrell's Empire trilogy are fantastic. "Grip", unlike its predecessors, suffers perhaps from a slight case of logorrhea; even so, it's a formidable, fascinating, at times downright funny book. Farrell has an uncanny ability to root out and deflate pretension and hypocrisy wherever it exists, and that's what he does here, to incredible comic effect. The buffoonish tycoon Walter Blackett is a solid stand-in for British imperalism at its blindest--having convinced himself of the great service he's supposedly done for the natives of Singapore, he struggles to maintain his rubber empire even in the face of steadily encroaching chaos. He is surrounded by characters of depth and interest: the skeptical Dupigny; the well-meaning but naive Matthew Webb; the "divided" Ehrendorf; and the wonderfuly droll Major Archer (already familiar to readers of Farrell's equally-terrific "Troubles"). Each of these men, in their own way, flesh out the novel's vision of colonialism and the pitfalls of world diplomacy.

Amid spectacular battle scenes and a dizzying wealth of information about the rubber industry, tax shelters, and military strategy, Farrell manages to hop nimbly from scenes of tragedy to hilarity to suspense and political commentary. In short, "The Singapore Grip", like the previous works in the Empire trilogy, has it all (including a terrifically ambiguous title--what is the "Singapore Grip" anyway? Read this book and you'll be able to answer that in 1,001 ways.)

Thanks to the New York Review of Books, American readers can now enjoy Farrell's work; which is great, since he deserves the widest possible readership.

Finished this book today on the uptown train and let pass a moment of silence before my stop. J.G. Farrell was a prophet of the Lord of All Blessings. Hard to believe this book isn't required reading. It features one of the greatest depictions of combat I've ever read, a very funny study of more wacko brits and a scene of corpse embalming that features a one sided argument about labor exploitation. That sounds tiresome, but when Farrell is roundly mocking all parties, including the corpse, a good time is guaranteed. Not that the book isn't shot through with human empathy, but it's that empathy that appeals to our common humanity often for the purpose of cracking wise. All of this in no way obscures his pointed insights. If you want to find out what really matters, read Farrell and have confirmmed your sneakign suspicions.

The first two-thirds of this excellent novel are a sharp, funny satire of colonial society: greedy businessmen, fierce young women out to get husbands, hapless and callow young men. After the Japanese overrun Singapore, the tone shifts with tragic force; the flimsy world of the British expats is smashed to bits and the characters violently swept away.

A really fine novel by the superb British writer, J.G. Farrell. I got this title because of the overwhelmingly favorable Amazon reviews (hats off to those who praised the book in this forum) and because of my own positive experience with one of Farrell's other sagas of British colonialism, "The Siege of Krishnapur".

"The Singapore Grip" is a social satire as incisive and entertaining as some of Evelyn Waugh's better books and certainly as good in capturing the cracks in the facade of empire building and maintenance. The story opens in the late 1930s with an unsparing look at the British business community which was running the Malaya/Burma/Singapore branches of the colonial empire and which was focused entirely on the maximum exploitation of the natural resources of those territories on behalf of the metropole, and very much at the expense of the native populations. That ruthless selfish behavior is boasted of and lionized by "...Grip's" business characters. The same characters speak of the "virtues" of classism, racism, anti-intellectualism, anti-humanism--and the list goes on. Entering the scene is the scion of one of an important Singapore business family who is a relative naif to all of this, having labored fruitlessly for a number of years for the League of Nations. He becomes the ineffective critic of all the much-prized bad behavior of his peers, but also a bridge to the local native population and hence to some kind of sanity and humaneness.

While the war of manners goes on and economic exploitation continues unabated, the Japanese are closing in the colonial territories. Ignored and then denigrated as a military force until they invade Malaya through friendly Thailand, the Japanese Army is soon pounding down the Malay peninsula toward the stronghold of Singapore. The rest of the story includes some amazingly good accounts of infantry and tank battles, military strategy and tactical bungling. Eventually Singapore's defenses disintegrate and the city falls. The reaction of the besieged population to the attacks on the city is rather brilliantly imagined and told. There are some comeuppances doled out here, but not nearly in the amounts merited. The author's message being that life is never fair and the weak will always be at a disadvantage in the face of adversity.

These few paragraphs don't come close to doing justice to this extremely skillful and engrossing story that has a terrific storyline and plot (mostly following the true line of history) and brilliantly sketched characters who are mostly flawed but all accurately reflecting their time and place. A wonderful read by a very talented writer.

THE SINGAPORE GRIP examines late-stage British colonialism through the mediums of gentle farce, improbable romance, and superb action writing. When using gentle farce, J.G. Farrell primarily plays off the attitudes of two characters--the scheming Walter Blackett, a wealthy Singapore-based merchant prince who utterly dismisses any notion there are serious shortcomings in England's colonial economic system; and Matthew Webb, a verbose peace-nik and idealistic wonk, who sees exploitation everywhere.

While the term Singapore Grip has a licentious meaning for servicemen in this novel, Farrell primarily uses this term to refer to the British colonial economic system. Depending on a character's point of view, this grip channels capital to underdeveloped Asian countries and creates jobs. Or, it causes ruinous social change that almost exclusively benefits privileged Westerners. With Farrell's gentle farcical touch, the reader sees how this system both works and prevails without ideological harangues by any characters.

As Walter personifies this colonial and economic system and Matthew makes enlightened but futile arguments for change, the Japanese invade what was then Malaya and begin a brutal military campaign that culminates with the surrender of British troops in Singapore, which was, before World War II, considered the Gibraltar of the East. In describing this military campaign, Farrell's work is absolutely first-rate. On one level, you-are-there, in the action, as the Japanese, essentially unchallenged by the RAF, bomb and strafe civilians or use their superior weaponry to route British forces. On another level, you-are-there with General Percival, the British commander, who ponders strategic and leadership issues as the British defense collapses in only a few weeks.

Romance is also an element in TSG. When Matthew faces the possibilities of romance, he finds himself connecting to a highly complex and diverse Asia that is an amalgamation of ideas and cultures. But for Walter, romance is simply a scheme for perpetuating his business. His scheming hinges on Joan, his beautiful, yet cruel and spoiled, daughter.

Major Brendan Archer, a character from TROUBLES, Farrell's first novel in his terrific Empire Trilogy, reappears in TSG and also thinks about romance. The Major, who was a shell-shocked twit in TROUBLES, emerges in TSG as a thoroughly decent and quietly heroic leader, who represents an existential midpoint between the greedy and controlling Walter and the bright and boyish Matthew.

Highly recommended.

This is a wonderful book, just the sort I love to read. I like it almost as much as Farrell's unfinished The Hill Station.

But see if you can find a different edition. This one (New York Review Books) is teeming with typos, each of which is a jarring note and interrupts the superb flow.

The Singapore Grip is an astounding work of historical fiction by a master of the genre. Set in Singapore on the eve of the Japanese invasion, the reader is brought into the world of the Rubber magnates, Blackett and Webb. The firm is about to celebrate it's 50th Jubilee but of course the turning of events make the preparations seem incredibly silly as Singapore is suddenly attacked and the world order that they were to celebrate literally goes up in smoke. Farrell writes with humor and more than a touch of anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist rhetoric. His 3 novels in this series capture different locations and aspects as well as different periods in the British empire. Beyond the lampooning of the imperialist lifestyle, he populates his book with an incredible range of characters who represent different points of view but also builds plot and settings that are realistic and at times gripping in their portrayal of normal life being upended by historical events.
The Singapore Grip is filled with all of these qualities and is a magnificent read.