Seventy-Two Virgins

Boris Johnson is a hoot even in Britain, where politicians do unscripted, often hilarious speeches hairstyles loud, and rowdy, heckling. His blond if not orange hair might even rival Mr Trump. His successor as Mayor of London is Sadiq Khan, who must sprint to try to live up to Boris.Every sentence is carefully framed, the characters earn your caring attention, and the humor suggests Catch-22 transported to a US President facing terrorists while addressing Parliament. In passing, a deeply sympathetic, personal commentary covers recent history.

Brave comic novel about Islamic Terrorism in the British Parliament, aided and abetted by do-gooder Leftists...Johnson shows a real understanding of the appeal of Islamic Terrorism, the motivations and actions of terrorists, and the craven stupidity of their enablers in the political establishment. Also shows he knows how British politics work, and how the media works, as well. Very pro-US, yet still makes fun of us in a nice way...Today the author is British Prime Minister, so Oscar Wilde's witticism may have been proven true: "Life imitates Art."

This novel has more than 6 points of view which is acceptable to European and British publishers (In America publishers and editors want only 6 point of view (Fantasy is an exception for more POVs). The pacing was good and the structure was clever in that all POVs were unique and compelling and I could keep track of all the characters. This was a dark comedy that reminded me of the Kubrick movie DR. STRANGELOVE about the cold war and the threat of nuclear war whereas this was about the war on terror and terrorism. Sardonic and wry humor. Boris can write non fiction and fiction. I read he wrote this novel in three weeks, he is a consummate writer who writes seamlessly and effortlessly. KUDOS BORIS JOHNSON! (Your doggie is adorable).

Written in a difficult vocabulary & style, maybe more for Brit readers than Americans. (Is this representative of the "special relationship" that grew from WWII?) Well-meaning but self-serving, the text makes it clear that Boris J is no fan of Wheatabix.

Not quite what I expected. Tom Sharpe is a better writer

Excellent

This is a very funny book which also manages a few serious points. It revolves around a state visit to Britain by the American president and culminates in a convoluted reality show plot with terrorist demands and hilarious miss steps by the police, security, and the villains. The story is politically astute, as you would expect from Mr. johnson and the heroes are most unorthodox. It is difficult to review this book at length with out giving the story away, but believe me, it is a one sitting book with brilliant dialogue you will be delighted with. There is a particular subtle British humour and political understatement contrasted with American brashness and wit which is used to handle sensitive issues. This writer rivals Brookmyre, I highly recommend this book and hope we get more like it.

The first thing that strikes you about this book is its shallowness and frivolity. The second is the author's undisguised contempt for every group of human beings he doesn't belong to, especially those who have to work for a living. God help us all.

Puerile drivel, offensive stereotypes and language (spastic, n****r, coon). A12 year old (or even Bruce Dickinson) could do better. Simply embarrassing. Borisisms like “Christ on a Bike”, “girly swat” and “bien je jamais” all make appearances. The quality of the writing was summed up for me by the editor not noticing the word “fart” had replaced “fact”. Sloppy, simplistic nonsense.

Poorly written and a bit racist

Mr Johnson - or better Boris in these times - tries to show off once more his erudition, for which he is famous. A bunch of Arab - sometimes Skiptar (for people with less erudition: Albanian) - terrorists use verbally quoted Arabic phrases and curses. As an Arabist myself I tried to make any sense of it, and after some effort I found out what our erudite author really meant. Just one example of a curse: Boris writes on page 28 'Yen 'aal deen ommak' translating it into the absurd 'Damn your mother's rooster'. After some time I found out that he must have mistaken 'deen' for 'deek' = rooster. whereas 'deen' truly means 'religion, creed' which in fact makes this well-known curse into a vulgar, but correct one about your mother's belief. Another example on page 44: According to BJ. Iraqis greeted their leader in Saddam's time: 'Yefto , bildam! Eftikia Saddam!' Now this was a real difficult one and it took me much longer to decipher it. What they really shouted was: 'Yafdeek bi-l'dam! Yafdeek ya Saddam' meaning 'We sacrifice our blood for you! We sacrifice ourselves for you, Saddam!'. And so on.The political wit is there, but often so overdone that it becomes silly.Perhaps it's all the fault of his editors, but probably he dispensed of their assistance, just as he seems to dispense of expert advice in politics.

It was so bigoted and stereotypical even back then. Now it just feels crass.

Really awful. Stick to the non fiction Boris. Novels need characters Not stereotypes. I wish I had not bothered !