Title: A flawed metaphysical conceit
Product review: This should have been a better read, given the enthusiastic newspaper reviews. The author's intended critique of the Bush/Blair War on Terror is too obvious and clunking, especially when expressed through the metaphysical conceit of a toilet brush and a flea waltzing in a darkened motel room.Matters improve once the Archduke is introduced in chapter 79, until the exploding cat litter incident reveals him to be an unreliable narrator. This cruel trick completely undermines the reader's sympathy built up in the section, written entirely in iambic heptameter, where he learns of his half-brother's Sapphic tendencies.Finally, the over-zealous use of the number 9 spoils an otherwise perfectly serviceable dénouement.
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