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The Thing About Thugs (2012)

by Tabish Khair(Favorite Author)

3.32 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0547731604 (ISBN13: 9780547731605)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

review 1: There were moments of greatness in this book, some fantastic writing, but it never quite reached the heights it seemed to promise. The frequent switching between points of view was hard to follow at times, but I understand why the author had written the book this way: truth is never owned by one person, but is often found at some point between various witnesses' accounts. The level of research into 19th century London was really impressive and the concept was unique. However, I found the blatant orientalism depicted by the British characters a little too obvious - I get that it was the mindset of the times, but it necessitated a more in-depth portrayal of the characters to make them seem less cartoonish; the only mildly likeable British character was Captain Meadows and he... more was not properly fleshed out. All in all, I enjoyed reading The Thing About Thugs, but I feel like the author was on the cusp of something greater.
review 2: This is a rather ambitious novel, and if it does not completely live up to its ambitions, I give the author credit for trying something interesting and new. It's an impressive re-creation of not only Victorian London but also Victorian literature. Some might find its exploration of race and cultural misunderstanding to be a bit heavy-handed, but I don't think it can be called didactic or preachy. Like Wilkie Collins's, "The Woman in White," it starts a bit slow but picks up speed at the halfway mark. And like Dickens, there are some memorable secondary characters. less

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