Brazzaville Beach

This detour from the Lymond Chronicles marks the second William Boyd novel completed. There was such potential. The formulation of system tension whether within advanced mathematics or zoology were apt symbols. I fear that Mr. Boyd would've benefited from that of Richard Powers who carries such issues to almost absurd conclusions where his protagonists appear to be the experiments not the agents thereof.

I read of a comparison between this novel and those of Norman Rush; Anglos in Africa and whatnot. Having never finished either Mating or Rituals I can only nod in that direction. The most convincing milieu in Brazzaville Beach had to be the environment of the chimpanzees, a dangerous world so similar to our own.