That Time In Malomba [Paperback]

James Hamilton-paterson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Soho Press (1990)
• ASIN: B000IWIJB2
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,125,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read it With Mango!, May 10, 2000

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: That Time in Malomba (Paperback)

This is an enchanting book about the ubiquitous misreadings between West and East. Here the twain is met, with both comic and tragic results.

Satirizing the eclectic "industry" of religions and cults in the impoverished town of Malomba, the author effectively parodies the spiritual/physical healing quest of Mrs. Hemony, towing along her daughter, Zoe, and son, James. Zoe, in particular, is an appealing character (raised chiefly in an Italian commune, she is told by a representative of their entrepreneurial guru, "you'd be a sensation in California!") who drifts from her mother's well-intentioned control to the more secular/sexual appeals of Malomba.

The book takes a few too many cheap shots at the Westerners, and Laki, the hotel's poorly-paid concierge, is written somewhat too broadly. Laki is eventually punished after his successful courting of the Hemodys, and this denouement seems contrived, as if to make up for the oh-so-loveable portrait previously drawn. However, enjoy it for the farce, and the sensual descriptions of the author's holy-city fantasy!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a gritty vision, elegantly written, June 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: That Time in Malomba (Hardcover)

Once again, the well-heeled deluded Americans make fools of themselves in the Third World, which in turn does its best to delude and fleece them. But the neatly crafted charm of the writing slips the message down painlessly, and the goofy innocence of the Americans and the jolly, cynical resilience of the downtrodden cast a peculiarly merry light over this dark comedy.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dud, June 1, 2006

By 

S. G. Barrett "but call me Simon" (London, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: That Time in Malomba (Paperback)

A downer even as 'escapism' - a fantasy set in all-purpose 'exotica', but shallow, cold, repugnant (that'll teach me to take celebrated composer and diarist Ned Rorem's advice as literary critic!) The NYT review flagged on the back cover inviting comparison with Forster is way off beam, actionable even - wait a minute, YES! UNLESS he is alluding to the author's covert gayness; but Forster never tried to do sex scenes, to my limited knowledge - at least surely not hetero ones!! My advice is stick to what you know. Coincidentally, I've just been reading an even bizarrer example, Muriel Spark's Mandelbaum Gate, which though absurdly creakily plotted and totally unconvincing sexually is far more rewarding as a piece of writing. But it's probably unfair to compare literary styles, particularly when societal disapproval of 'inversion' meant Spark was having to work in the same pressure cooker as Proust (now why doesn't Ned read HIM?) whereas H-P, free to imagine whatever he wishes, merely indulges in a little harmless fantasising...