John Sweeney
Eating People Is Normal
‘Delicious,’ said the cannibal, ‘like chicken.’ How like chicken? Like KFC? Or coq-au-vin? Or Domino’s chicken fingers? One of the many disappointments of this unappetising offering is Richard Lloyd Parry’s failure to challenge the cannibals further on the exact texture and taste of human flesh. What’s the point of hanging out with the man-munchers of Borneo if you don’t ask the tough questions?
Oh, all right, I’m teasing. This is a fine book, the best I’ve read on the implosion of human decency that took place in Indonesia as the New Order of President Suharto collapsed in the late 1990s. Lloyd Parry was there for all the great stories. He writes sensitively and
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
This spring, give the gift of reading.
Give a friend a gift subscription to Literary Review for only £33.50.
https://www.mymagazinesub.co.uk/literary-review/promo/spring21/
'It’s long been known that there is an optimum reproductive window and that women enjoy a considerably shorter one than men. For both sexes this window is opening and closing earlier than it used to.' (£)
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-end-of-babies
Sixty years ago today, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter outer space. @Andrew_Crumey looks at his role in the space race.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/one-giant-leap-for-mankind