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The Cockroach

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The Cockroach

By: Ian McEwan
Narrated by: Bill Nighy
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Kafka meets The Thick Of It in a bitingly funny new political satire from Ian McEwan

That morning, Jim Sams, clever but by no means profound, woke from uneasy dreams to find himself transformed into a gigantic creature.

Jim Sams has undergone a metamorphosis. In his previous life he was ignored or loathed, but in his new incarnation he is the most powerful man in Britain – and it is his mission to carry out the will of the people. Nothing must get in his way: not the opposition, nor the dissenters within his own party. Not even the rules of parliamentary democracy.

With trademark intelligence, insight and scabrous humour, Ian McEwan pays tribute to Franz Kafka’s most famous work to engage with a world turned on its head.

 Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Satire Comedy Witty Funny
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Critic reviews

A comic triumph… How do you make a show of people who are doing such a fabulous job of making a show of themselves? McEwan manages to do so with great style and comic panache. (Fintan O'Toole)
The Cockroach is a satirical novella for our times, sharply observed and often very funny… an entertaining read, confronting the reality of Britain today.
The latest instalment in his [McEwan’s] imaginative scrambling of English social history and of reality… [McEwan] finds room, amid all the Hansard send-ups and diplomatic silliness, to allude to more troubling physical-philosophical quandaries, while positing an alternative history of economic thought that culminates in a wayward version of our present. (Leo Robson)
Brexit has such a camp, knowing, performative quality that it is almost impossible to inflate it any further… McEwan manages to do so with great style and comic panache… very funny… McEwan’s comic parable at least provides some relief from a political farce that has long gone beyond a joke. (Fintan O'Toole)
A well-constructed novella by a master of the art. (Stephen Bush)
The satire is impeccably managed. Cleverly rendered, yet imprecise parallels ensure there is sufficient distance for the humour to be effective… it is comic relief in the darkest sense. (Cora MacGregor)
Like McEwan's other work, The Cockroach is a beautifully written novella and an in-depth critique of Britain's current political situation… I found this an exciting and inventive retelling of Kafka's classic tale, and a clever commentary on not just Brexit, but modern British politics as a whole. (Meg Horridge)
All stars
Most relevant
A book that explains how and why we've got ourselves into such a mess :-)

Enjoyable political satire

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Ian McEwan has written the allegorical novel for the Brexit generation to look back on. Bill Nighy provides a wonderfully droll and low key narrative.

On a par with Animal Farm

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An interesting commentary on the current UK political climate. Best to read it sooner rather than later however, as I suspect the impact of its satire will diminish over time. The central plot point mirrors Kafka's famous Metamorphosis, but doesn't develop this concept beyond a superficial level.

The narration by Bill Nighy was superb. Hilarious characterization of the US president!

Brexit: Kafka's Metamorphosis meets Animal Farm

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This is a brilliant piece of Ian McEwan, who I had the opportunity to photograph during an assignment with AP.
I cover British politics and certainly I am amazed how far he has gone into understanding political characters and mentality of the destructive politics the conservatives m have been pursuing since they took over the government in 2010.

The BREXIT Story

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A short audio-book, but exquisitely read by Bill Nighy who displays a sure ability to render this story and its characters with unerring skill. His American president is faultless. The audiobook will perhaps best be appreciated by those able to recollect the history of what led to Brexit - and its aftermath, especially with more recent revelations of what behaviours and attitudes prevailed at the time. No one with a position on Brexit will listen to this without a strong response. For others it might create one. Listeners may inevitable be running a parallel stream of thought as they listen to the story and listen to their own heads' recording of history. Be in no doubt, this is a treat listen.

Truth Will Out

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