I've had this book on my to-read list for over 40 years but just never got to it until this month. This is actually the first book I've read by Kingsley Amis.
This is his only really alternative history parallel world science fiction novel. The story about a young boy singer takes place in a world ruled by a totalitarian catholic church during the year 1976. It is a world where the protestant reformation did not take place and there is a Christian/Muslim cold war. The society is viciously controlled by the papal authority through the manipulations of the Holy Office which is a Gestapo/KGB kind of organization. This repressive government is also extremely anti-science. Electricity has been banned in the papal run parts of the world.
It is a very different modern world. There are some interesting parts of the story concerning historical figures and cultural references that had a drastically different life experience in this world. The world is very different with the North American continent divided among the European powers that became a group of different countries such as New England instead of the USA that practices apartheid against native indigenous peoples.
The alteration in the book title is the castration of the boy singer in order to preserve his voice and his attempts to flee the church rulers. There is a coda to the story that takes place in 1991 and the boy is then a famous male castrati living in Rome.
Overall a very interesting and fascinating book. It only took me a few days to read this.
No comments:
Post a Comment