About this title: A historical account of Britain's loss of Singapore to the Japanese in World War II--the last of Farrell's novels about the decline of the British empire.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Berkley Pub Group (Mm)
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780425045039ISBN:042504503X
Description: Acceptable. MAY HAVE COVER WEAR, SPINE CREASES, HIGHLIGHTING, UNDERLINING & PAGES YELLOWED FROM AGE. FASTER SERVICE FROM US! ! ! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9781590171363ISBN:1590171365
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Near very good, some corner wear/curling. Little other edge wear, binding moderately pliable, clean pages. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 584 p. New York Review Books Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Fontana
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780006160144ISBN:000616014X
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. significant readers crease-crease down back cover-pages outer edges soil spots-corner creases front cover-no creases in spine. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Phoenix, London
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9781857994926ISBN:1857994922
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Pages are clean and tight, 1 page corner creased, spine creases. 601 p.; 20 cm. Originally published: London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1978. Bibliography: p[600]-601. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: New York Review of Books, New York
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9781590171363ISBN:1590171365
Description: Near Fine. Very modest shelfwear, slight bends in areas on back cover. Apparently unread, pages are clean and unmarked, corners are sharp. One of the few novels by an outstanding 20th century Irish novelist. This one explores life in Singapore before and during WW2, a fascinating maelstrom of ambition, treachery, intermingled cultures, and mayhem. 572 pp. 5" x 8" read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: NYRB Classics
Date Published: 2005-01-31
ISBN-13:9781590171363ISBN:1590171365
Description: Excellent Condition. Softcover, Excellent Condition, text is clean/unmarked, tight binding, minor edge/cover wear, from a private collection. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Fontana
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780006160144ISBN:000616014X
Description: Acceptable. Cover Creases-Spine Creased And Curved-Yellowing Pages-*** Expect to receive a well read copy-The condition of the book will be readable, perhaps with heavy creasing and some damage. You wouldn't want to give it as a present-Dispatched in padded packaging. ** UK SELLER-Get it in days not weeks ** read more
"A place and people that I have more personal knowledge of than his Booker Prize-winning, "The Siege of Krishnapur". I liked this as much as the other. I'm not sure if others will, but it's strong, well-written fiction with firm historical underpinnings."
"Wonderful novel. The fall of Singapore! The author conducted meticulous research into the Japanese military campaign, which reads as gripping miltary history. He explains in layman's terms, the cut-throat economic approach we know as colonialism - no sentimentality here. One of the best characters is a White Russian prostitute...... We are given nine or ten possible definitions of just what exactly the Singapore Grip may be... as to which is true, you decide :-)"
"Farrell, author of the Booker award winning SIEGE OF KRISHNAPUR, tells the story of the Japanese invasion of the Malay peninsula and the fall of Singapore from the viewpoint of British businessmen who had thrived in Singapore. The first chapters describe the lives of the wealthy owners of a firm preparing to celebrate an anniversary with a parade to entertain the locals. The lavish dinners and flirtations among the young continue for a while as the attackers begin bombing Singapore. The story is one many Americans do not know since it did not involve U.S. forces. It is a long novel, but I was sorry to see it end because I felt the people were real. There is romance, danger, and tragedy here."
"Like From Here to Eternity, The Singapore Grip tells a story about the Second World War and about a small group of people at the same time. Like the film, you are never sure if the individual dramas are there to embellish the larger drama of the war or vice versa nor does it seems like the question is made to be answered. Like his earlier book The Siege of Krishnapur set during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Farrell uses The Singapore Grip to lovingly trace the cracks in the marble walls of British imperial arrogance and entitlement in a moment of upheaval. Like that book, the cast of characters here is full of types--the idealistic young man who spent the interwar years in Geneva at the League of Nations, the rubber baron staunchly certain of his own colonial benevolence, the young Chinese-Russian nudist gymnast would-be revolutionary. All of which seems like it might lead to a schematic feeling in the plot. Farrell's constant smuggling in of satire and camp means that it never does though, and if it does, it feel like it's supposed to. It's almost a tragicomic Mel Brooks version of decolonization but the bodies are real and the distortion of an entire region's economy for the sake of faraway profit is real and the smug British heir sailing away as Singapore burns is real too."
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