Kannibalen und Missionare

by Mary McCarthy, Willy Thaler (Translator)

A suspenseful and sometimes horrifying novel of manners, whose plot and odd mix of characters combine to produce an unorthodox thriller about the hijacking of a Middle East-bound jetliner over France in early 1975. "Psychologically astute, ironic and ultimately heartbreaking"(Publishers Weekly).

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Literary Fiction, Literature, Historical Fiction

383 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

People note American writer Mary Therese McCarthy for her sharp literary criticism and satirical fiction, including the novels The Groves of Academe (1952) and The Group (1963).

McCarthy studied at Vassar college in Poughkeepsie, New York and graduated in 1933. McCarthy moved to city of New York and incisively wrote as a known contributor to publications such as the Nation, the New Republic, and the New York Review of Books. Her debut novel, The Company She Keeps (1942), initiated her ascent to the most celebrated writers of her generation; the publication of her autobiography Memories of a Catholic Girlhood in 1957 bolstered this reputation.

This literary critic authored more than two dozen books, including the now-classic novel The Group , the New York Times bestseller in 1963.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_McC...

Reviews

[Gwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An "interesting" assortment of liberals, carefully selected, are en route (1975) to Iran to investigate claims of torture by the Shah. Also on the plane are a group of collectors, en route to Iran to look at art (and perhaps enhance their varied collections). The plane is hijacked, initially for the group of do-gooders; when the hijackers inadvertently learn of the collectors' presence, they too are taken. As the group waits on a polder, they learn about themselves, about relationships, about God, about art, about values, about friendship. I learned about this, and also about the negotiations and politics of radicalism. At what cost is a life? Or a work of art? Is the freedom of a small group worth the lives of many?
I started to read this on a plane, but thought better of it: a book about a hijacking? This is much, much more than that, however. The discussions amongst the characters about beauty, art, life and values are provocative.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books I feel I need to sit with for awhile to completely appreciate. On the surface, the characters were entertaining and the philosophical discussions sparked ideas of my own. I'm looking forward to our book club discussion tonight to glean the rest of the material. The writing style is very engaging and reading this book had a marked impact on my vocabulary...when I was patient enough to put the book down and look up not only new-to-me words but also French, Dutch and Latin. Definitely interested in reading another by this author.

[Downward · Rating 4 out of 5]

there's a barebones plot here that leads to a novel about ideas concerning terrorism, art, and the exporting of capitalism; a plane is hijacked, some of the passengers are members of a political committee seeking to do work in Iran and some of them are millionaire art collectors. The hijackers have disparate goals, but generically they look to punish ideas of capitalism and imperialism. as the novel advances the hostage situation we're introduced to the group psychology of different class structures under pressure as well as the commodification of art vs. the commodification of bodies; of interest is the introduction of a math and logic problem called cannibals and missionaries, where a group cannibals and missionaries each have to cross a river three to a boat but no missionary can be left with two cannibals because they'll be eaten. on its face in our early 21st century we recognize the framing of this problem as a racist one, and to her credit, late twentieth century Mary McCarthy did as well, because the novel is essentially constructed around the question of who is the cannibal and who is the missionary? The capitalist "missionaries" cannibalize resources and exploit cultures for their labor power and debt, while the terrorist "cannibals" are violently exporting ideology in the way missionaries have since the beginning of missions. this is a slow paced book that asks for a lot of patience, but it's rewarding.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruthless and unsentimental. Just like Mary McCarthy herself.

[Tracy Smyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars slow at the start. Not bad in the middle but the end got dragged out a bit. Not a bad read overall

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a disappointment. I had enjoyed other books by Ms McCarthy when I was younger so thought I would try this one. The book was difficult to read with dense prose, long character descriptions and overlong ruminations on art, politics, wealth, class religion etc. A narrative that could have been a great thriller, about a plane full of wealthy art collectors and an investigative panel headed to Iran, being hijacked and ending up in a Dutch polder by an international group of revolutionaries became a ponderous read and a crashing bore. I could make a good movie with a screenplay by someone else.

[Chris Schaffer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just couldn’t make it through

[Julian Weinstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting novel on terrorism and art.