Pleasured Book

Philip Hensher's third novel is set in the divided city of Berlin in the late 1980s. The novel opens with shiftless young protagonist Friedrich and half-hearted terrorist Daphne ambling through their ineffectual lives. Then along comes the mysterious Englishman, Mr Picker, with a plan to flood East Berlin with ecstasy tablets. The theory is that the importation of pleasure will hasten the course of history and liberate the downtrodden easterners from their servitude. It is a bizarre and frankly unlikely plot device, but it does seem to work in the context of this unsettling and astutely realized novel. The many variants of divisiveness--city, country and continent as well as a myriad of psychological versions--are slyly revealed. Philip Hensher caused a literary stir when the publication of his novel about the fall of Margaret Thatcher, Kitchen Venom, precipitated his sacking from his job as a clerk at the House of Commons. This novel may be set on a larger political stage but is equally sharp on a febrile, closed world--Westminster then, East Berlin just before the wall came down here--and Hensher's wonderful facility for observing half-hidden human motivations and frailties ensure that this absorbing book will further enhance his reputation as one of the most thoughtful of contemporary novelists. --Nick WroeRead More