Rancid Pansies

After winning the Whitbread Award in 1989 for Gerontius, a serious literary novel, Hamilton-Paterson most recently has written in a completely different vein--three wild, off-the-wall novels starring Gerald Samper, an aesthete who loves gourmet food, clothing, and cutting edge social commentary. Samper is, however, something of a jerk, a man so self-absorbed that he "lurches from crisis to crisis," never pausing for reflection. Despite these unsympathetic qualities, however, Samper cannot help but amuse and intrigue readers as he involves us in his whirlwind activities and the rollercoaster of his life. Rancid Pansies begins with the plummeting of Samper's Tuscany house down a ravine during an earthquake. A facetious remark Samper makes as he is being evacuated from the site of his now-vanished home--that Princess Diana had appeared in a vision and warned him and his guests to abandon the house seconds before disaster struck--has led ultimately to hordes of pilgrims descending on his property. A makeshift shrine becomes a grotto, and the local mayor and the "comune" see the tourist potential. Marta Priskil, next door, a former nemesis, can no longer work because of the noise and distraction, and Samper persuades her to move and work with him on an opera about Princess Diana, the royal family, and the movement to declare her a saint. Samper continues experimenting with culinary "delicacies," such as hedgerow broth with gently seethed owl pellets, liver smoothies, and Mice Krispies Vol-au-Vent, however, giving new meaning to the term "throwing a dinner." Hamilton-Paterson is too good a writer, however, to rely on this low humor for the entire novel. He satirizes British pretentions, British life, and even the royal family, his satire taking on added dimensions as Samper travels and comments about the differences between Italy, where he lives, and England where his business interests, and many of his friends, reside. A great punster, lover of word play, and creator of wild anagrams, including the title of this book (which is also the name of Samper's opera), Hamilton-Paterson (and, by extension, Samper) keeps the reader amused at his cleverness, even as the "plot," explodes in several different directions. When Samper and Marta's opera finally has its premiere in England, Hamilton-Paterson gives new meaning to the term "opera buffa," as the evening turns so absurd that no pretense at seriousness can be maintained. Samper's libretto is clever and blackly humorous, the satire of the royals is wicked (though a bit trite), and the results are memorable. Impossible to categorize, this novel is a series of loosely connected episodes, each more absurd than the previous one, with dark humor, satire, and word play running riot, and the reader hanging on for the wild ride. n Mary Whipple Gerontius Cooking with Fernet Branca Amazing Disgrace Playing with Water: Passion and Solitude on a Philippine Island (Twentieth Century Lives) Biograph