The Singapore grip

572 pages

English language

Published Nov. 1, 1999 by New York Review Books, Distributed to the trade by Publishers Group West.

ISBN:: 978-1-59017-136-3
OCLC Number:: 57414674

(1 review)

Singapore, 1939: life on the eve of World War II just isn't what it used to be for Walter Blackett, head of British Singapore's oldest and most powerful firm. No matter how forcefully the police break one strike, the natives go on strike somewhere else. His daughter keeps entangling herself with the most unsuitable beaus, while her intended match, the son of Blackett's partner, is an idealistic sympathizer with the League of Nations and a vegetarian. Business may be booming—what with the war in Europe, the Allies are desperate for rubber and helpless to resist Blackett's price-fixing and market manipulation—but something is wrong. No one suspects that the world of the British Empire, of fixed boundaries between classes and nations, is about to come to a terrible end.

A love story and a war story, a tragicomic tale of a city under siege and a dying way of life, The …

Singapore, 1939: life on the eve of World War II just isn't what it used to be for Walter Blackett, head of British Singapore's oldest and most powerful firm. No matter how forcefully the police break one strike, the natives go on strike somewhere else. His daughter keeps entangling herself with the most unsuitable beaus, while her intended match, the son of Blackett's partner, is an idealistic sympathizer with the League of Nations and a vegetarian. Business may be booming—what with the war in Europe, the Allies are desperate for rubber and helpless to resist Blackett's price-fixing and market manipulation—but something is wrong. No one suspects that the world of the British Empire, of fixed boundaries between classes and nations, is about to come to a terrible end.

A love story and a war story, a tragicomic tale of a city under siege and a dying way of life, The Singapore Grip completes the “Empire Trilogy” that began with Troubles and the Booker prize-winning Siege of Krishnapur.

9 editions

Didactylos reviewed The Singapore grip by J.G. Farrell (New York Review Books classics)

Review of 'The Singapore grip' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Just begun but this feels very good. Set just before the fall of Singapore in 1942. Reeks of period detail and should be a great read.

Up to the night before Pearl Harbour. This is so so full of detail and the feel of the end of an age..... lots of great stuff in here about the very degenerate colonial and capitalist controls - being brought up on us as being the good guys in the war against Japan its certainly painting a much more ambivalent view. Great to se the Major back in 'action' after Troubles.

Well I have finished, what a delight to read. Superb interweaving of history and narrative. The final scenes are truly nightmarish.

Subjects

Rubber industry and trade -- Fiction.
British -- Singapore -- Fiction.
Strikes and lockouts -- Fiction.
Sieges -- Fiction.
Singapore -- History -- Siege, 1942 -- Fiction.