Number 36 - The Cockroach - Ian McEwan

 

Before I start, I will apologise,  there will be slight spoillers in this review.  it's almost impossible to discuss the story and the themes of this one without giving away some plot details that can't be gleaned from the blurb on the book.

This opens brilliantly. The first few pages are an almost perfect takedown and reversal of the opening of Kafka's most famous work. 

A cockroach wakes from uneasy dreams to find himself transformed into a gigantic creature, with only 4 limbs (two arms and two legs), binocular vision instead of compound, his skeleton on the inside of a mound of pink flesh...

Yes the cockroach has woken as a human.

Not just any human. the Prime minister of Great Britain... The country is in a fragile state, it recently voted narrowly in a referendum to enact a totally ridiculous and disastrous piece of  legislation which will inevitably isolate the country and destroy the economy.

This is a distinctly unsubtle dig at British politics over the last few years. Can the cockroaches in command force through the results of the referendum regardless of the damage to the country? What starts as confusion into the knowledge the Roach has in his new role gives way to a mix of amusement and an icky disturbed sensation as the explanations become clear by the end of the book.

This book is a short exercise of concentrated chutzpah on McEwan's part. It's a vitriolic commentary on the state of UK politics. It also feels too close for comfort to a genuine explanation of the last 6 years. We now know who will actually benefit from the whole fiasco.

I loved this unreservedly even if some of the political machinations initially went over my head and I had to reread a section to understand what had just gone down.

For the cynically minded, this is a real treat.