Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: satire

  • The Sufi Surfer

    The Sufi Surfer

    If you are looking for a read that is vastly different, totally irreverent and full of entirely weird and whacky happenings The Sufi Surfer from Sharif Khan is the book for you.

    Ayo, privileged and the top salesman at the In-Sight Institute is trying to end it all, but it is not going according to plan, as it seems to be taking longer than anticipated and there is something over in the nearby trees and bushes which is making a noise.

    Amer Fateh, frog faced and body shaped, with a deep, croaking voice arrives at the window demanding to use Ayo’s ‘hookah’, telling him the  ‘Shiah is Shit’,  and so a read on the crazy side begins as the two men find they have something they can offer each other, friendship, well of a sort.

    Working for somewhat dodgy Cult, they vie with each other to hit top sales figures, while in a very convoluted way, beginning to explore the true pathway to enlightenment; Amer the man with deep knowledge, Ayo beginning to walk a different pathway.

    Filled with a variety of nonsensical bits and pieces which encourage the reader to look deeper into not only the words, but the underlying pathway the collection of misfits that are gathering together under ‘guidance of Amer are taking, there is much to consider within the pages, which in a long and somewhat ‘barrelling’ way, as Amer is a dedicated and obsessive surfer, as well as a Sufi Mystic, leads to a more than spectacular finale.

    The Sufi Surfer is a cult classic in the making and certainly not one for the fainthearted to read, as you do need a certain sense of the ridiculous to thoroughly enjoy the journey.

  • The Life of Violet: Three Early Stories

    The Life of Violet: Three Early Stories

    The excitement generated by The Life of Violet three very early works penned by Virginia Woolf is very special. In 1907 a young Virginia Wolf drafted three stories about a very large lady called Violet. It was only in 2022 that a scholar discovered a final, revised edition of these stories.

    After carefully checking with all the known collections of Virginia’s work, Urmilla Seshagiri concluded that this was Woolf’s first fully revised literary experience and “a work that anticipates her later masterpieces.” The stories are a blend of fantasy, satire and fairy tale where the heroine defeats sea-monsters and social traditions.

    The preface is an extraordinary tale. Firstly, it describes Violet on whom these stories are based, but then the author reveals how it came about that this manuscript was located in Longleat House, where it had been archived for eighty years.

    It was entirely by accident the editor discovered these works. Delays caused by the pandemic and international copyright laws set back her publication. To read Virginia Woolf is a privilege that many have not experienced. This book of short stories is a perfect way to introduce this famous and much heralded author.

    The Life of Violet contains three stories. Friendship Gallery, The Magic Garden, and A Story to Make You Sleep. There is a Bibliography, Acknowledgements and Explanatory notes at the end of the book.

  • Spare Us!: A Harrody 

    Spare Us!: A Harrody 

    It was inevitable that someone would write a response to Prince Harry’s memoir ‘Spare’, which became a best seller in January of this year. A few months later, it came in the form of this small 100 page volume, Spare Us! A Harrody by well-known, best seller of satirical takes on classical books, Bruno Vincent, author of the most popular ‘Five on Brexit Island’ which was based on Enid Blyton’s ‘Famous Five’ children’s books.

    Not having read Harry’s book, and after reading the comical blurb on the dust jacket, which featured his portrait with crossed tape across his mouth, I was anticipating an amusing satire, which poked fun at the Prince but which wasn’t cruel. However, although it was quite funny in parts and there were some insightful chapters, it disappointingly didn’t live up to my expectation. It appeared to have some elements of having been written in a hurry.

    Emanuel Santos’s illustrations are quite clever and add to the enjoyment of the book.

    However, readers who have read “Spare” will probably be able to appreciate the humour in this little quick read parody more than I did.

  • Champagne at Seven! (Bitches of Fifth Avenue)

    Champagne at Seven! (Bitches of Fifth Avenue)

    Champagne at Seven is a snappy, well written, serious tilt at the often unseen, but generally understood side of wealth that is all too real, all too dangerous and all too easy to shatter into a million pieces, by simply failing to follow the invisible rules that govern the ‘Wives’ of powerful men.

    Olivia Wyatt loves fashion, the colours, texture, the art of creating a glamourous look mixing new with vintage. She does not like her life as the wife of Edwin Wyatt, CEO of a very prestigious Advertising Company. She is considered as the ‘most interesting and recognised hostess’ in Washington DC.

    She used to live for the life she now hates; the fake sweetness, the must dos of so called high society.  She is rapidly falling out of love, not just with Edwin, but with her glamourous lifestyle. She understands that somehow she has an innate ability to create wonderful dinner parties, dress in stunning style without too much effort and swim through societies vicious gossip, which makes her dinner parties high on the list of places to see and be seen.

    Edwin, yet again, charms her into staging another last minute dinner party that evening for some top line guests; men she has never heard of and could not care less about, but as it is what she does best, she pulls out all stops to make another memorable evening happen.

    This one becomes more memorable than most, turning Olivia’s life upside down with cruel reality as she discovers she has to create a new life for herself and daughter Gwynnie.

    As fashion is something she loves and understands, she sets out to begin again, finding the road somewhat challenging, until she is offered a position at her favourite store Harper James, which as it turns out is not all she was lead to believe.

    Toni Glickman survived for many years in the cut throat world of high fashion, facing the depression, fear, backstabbing and the relentless pressure to sell, sell, sell. She brings this to the new series Bitches of Fifth Avenue Book one – Champagne at Seven with flair and passion, which sets the background for more from Olivia, as she begins again in world that could be just as cut throat as the one she has left behind.

  • On Politics and Stuff

    On Politics and Stuff

    Satire is the name of the game with Mark Humphries and Evan Williams as they have made a very good career of sending up the world of politics in Australia for many years: very successfully some may say! Others, namely those who have been at the butt of their satire, may not!

    Within the pages of this very small book On Politics and stuff, actually the 93 pages are really only 50 normal sized pages, they encapsulate everything you ever thought you might like to know about politics and some of the politicians, who have graced the stage that is known as Australian Politics, or the Halls of Power.

    They begin at Canberra, the seat of power of the Nation and a place that could be considered as the most boring place in Australia due to lack of any sort of design layout or inspiration, but lies equidistant between Sydney and Melbourne. As we all know, because we keep getting told so, these are the so called main stays of Australia, indeed their residents are often confounded when they realize there are other sectors of Australia that consider their State capitols of equal importance!

    But many a Prime Minister, Cabinet Minister, Leader of the Opposition and their staff has trod the pavements and driven the roads of this clinically designed City, to provide the events that are now set out in carefully crafted language, to form what could be considered as the all-time guide to possibly understanding Australian Politics.

    In amongst the pages are thumbnails of Prime Ministers recent past and far recent past, just in case we forget who they were and their legacies to the general population of Australia, the benefits or not of the ‘campaign trail’, a phenomenon that sees your local ‘Pollie’ out an about in their electorate eating election sausages, shaking hands of often reluctant people and kissing babies, and so much more than perhaps you ever considered as a component of the political world!

    But just in case you have a burning desire to enter the fastest game in town, that of becoming a Politician, they have also presented a clear pathway to achieving your goal, that is if you still want to head in that stellar direction after finishing the book.

    Hugely entertaining, satirically to the point and definitely shining a clear light on the idiosyncrasies of Politics, On Politics and other stuff is sure to entertain!

  • Only Americans Burn in Hell

    Only Americans Burn in Hell

    It would be hard to argue that the world in which we live in is anything like the world of yesteryear. Politics seem to be election of the most unlikely to succeed, TV reality shows rule the world, bad behaviour by those who were once held up as pillars of society seems to be the norm and the average person seems to be losing their tenuous grasp upon reality.

    Jarrett Kobek has, in this wonderful satire taken serious umbrage and done, or tried to do, something about this sad and sorry state of affairs, by writing this novel Only Americans Burn In Hell. He has created the wonderful fantasy queen based on Superwoman and Dennis a Saudi billionaire who star throughout this provocative and outrageous tilt at a ‘world gone mad’. This is kind of their story, kind of, but is in reality, very much our story.

    He has unerringly taken aim at just about everything there is to take aim at; from politics, always a good field full of wonderful material, perhaps more so now than ever before, media, money, publishing, the Internet, and the false reality created by marketing, now a normal component of life designed to lead people down pathways, not really of their choosing, lulling them into a state of ready acceptance.

    Perhaps, as he says, along with taking a serious shot at everything, probably seen his career as an author burn to a crisp, but he has without prejudice, draw some serious attention to the very long and growing list of the wrongs of the world today.

    Brilliant, dangerously inflammatory, strangely cathartic, with an underlying and very real anger, Kobek is sending a clarion call to a world now full of apathy to wake up, take note and rise up against the lethargy, that the world will not be rescued by Superheros and it is time, once again for the people of the world to take charge.

    Only Americans Burn In Hell is most definitely a novel for our certifiable and insane times!

     

  • Expresso Bongo

    Expresso Bongo

    In this fully re-mastered release of Expresso Bongo we step back to a time when making movies was still a developing industry, black and white was more of an option than colour and sometimes the sound tracks did not quite match up to the speech patterns.

    Many a successful stage play was changed into movie format and in this case became the vehicle for the up and coming Cliff Richard to star in his second movie. That the script proved to be prophetic for this young singer was an unknown factor back in 1959 as he played the part of a young bongo player with attitude, Bert Rudge.

    Based on the very successful stage play released in the West End in 1958, at the same time as My Fair Lady, it pulled in an equally as large audience but did not get the same coverage as My Fair Lady, eventually disappearing into obscurity.

    Val Guest took this wonderful satire written by Wolf Mankowitz and Julian More based on the music industry and took it to the big screen with a reworked musical score, leaving only The Shrine on the Second Floor in from the original musical score, in order to showcase the talents of Cliff Richard and his band the Shadows. The script was also reworked to allow a downplaying of the sharp satire of the play which in many ways has made the movie somewhat tamer than it perhaps should have been.

    Not for the younger viewing audience it features seriously adult themes in the strip clubs which is interesting as the following movies made by Cliff Richard and the Shadows were ‘squeaky clean’ as fitted the developing style of the young singer.

    For those who have followed Cliff Richard’s career from the beginning will enjoy this movie as it shows a young and talented young man learning the ropes of an industry which was to take him onto a stellar career that is still wooing the crowds 55 years later.

    Enjoyable and intriguing as it also highlights the direction his manger in the late 1950/60’s was encouraging him to move as the British answer to Elvis Presley, but also shows the formidable talent that was there to be developed, although thankfully Cliff Richard did not go on to become a bongo player!

    Interesting special features have been added to the DVD with Youth Club (1954) The Square (1957) which allows a trip back in time and for the modern viewer shows a snapshot life in the 1950’s, which will help with an understanding of how the generation of the day spent their leisure time.

    Overall a trip down memory lane with beautiful vocals rendered by all actors in a tamed down version of satire, which also makes you appreciate just how far the movies industry has progressed over the past 50 years.