Madness Is Better Than Defeat, Ned Beauman
Madness Is Better Than Defeat, Ned Beauman
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Madness Is Better Than Defeat
A novel

Author: Ned Beauman

Narrator: Eric Meyers

Unabridged: 15 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/13/2018

Synopsis

In 1938, two rival expeditions descend on an ancient temple recently discovered in the jungles of Honduras, one intending to shoot a huge Hollywood production on location there, the other to disassemble the temple and ship it back to New York. A seemingly endless stalemate ensues. Twenty years later, a rogue CIA agent sets out to exploit the temple for his own ends, unaware that it is a locus of conspiracies far grander than anyone could ever have guessed.

Shot through with intrigue, ingenuity, and adventure, and showcasing Beauman’s riotous humor, spectacular imagination, and riveting prose, Madness Is Better Than Defeat is a novel without parallel: inventive, anarchic, and delightfully insane.

About The Author

NED BEAUMAN was born in 1985 and studied philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He was included on Granta's 2013 list of the twenty best young British novelists, and his work has been translated into more than ten languages. He lives in London.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ron on February 20, 2018

Ned Beauman’s new novel, “Madness Is Better Than Defeat,” begins with a wrestling match between a man and an octopus, which offers a fair warning of what it feels like to get wrapped up in this tentacled book. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on his shapeshifting plot, Beauman sprays more ink......more

Goodreads review by Blair on September 03, 2017

I have no idea how to review this. I think it might actually be impossible to describe. The blurb sums up the plot well enough: in the late 1930s, two rival American expeditions find themselves in a stalemate over an ancient temple in Honduras, and when the objectives of one group can't be achieved......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on June 13, 2018

4.5 stars, going up I have to say that there was at least one reviewer on Amazon that called this book "dreck," and the reader only made it 100 pages and did a DNF on the book. That is a shame. Although it is beyond challenging, and you really do need a reservoir of patience to get through it, it is......more

Goodreads review by Julian on February 03, 2023

Very glad to be done with this book. It was just a weird book with weird characters, weird plot line, weird writing style. It was a chore to get through and I am happy to be done with it. Glad I rented this book from the library than bought it.......more

Goodreads review by Maria on September 03, 2017

49th street in Manhattan, a diver wrestling an octopus, all bets are off. This eccentric event is the catalyst, the moment in time that sets the tone to what follows, a tale that goes against all odds and possibly all reason. Spanish Honduras: the epicenter. 1938. Word has it that a group of French arc......more

Quotes

 “A brilliant comedic commentary on colonialism, capitalism, religious war and violence . . . fueled by Beauman’s gorgeous descriptions and hysterically funny bits.”—Helen Stapinski, The New York Times Book Review

"Reminiscent of the Coen Brothers at their best, Madness Is Better Than Defeat is a strange, brilliant and satisfying trip to a more entertaining version of history."--Jaclyn Fulwood, Shelf Awareness
 
"Mystery, murder, and mayhem abound in this highly imaginative, devilishly plotted adventure from Granta Best of Young British Writers Beauman."--Barbara Love, Library Journal

"[A] rowdy, thoroughly satisfying literary adventure. . . . Exquisitely comic and absurd, Beauman's imaginative novel brims with the snappy dialogue, vivid scenery, and converging story lines of an old Hollywood classic."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
"Like an agent of the former British Empire, this book goes all over the world, gets in adventures, and maintains a tone of restraint even in tight spots--with comedic results. Take Graham Greene, add salaciousness and surreality, and you've got the undefeated madness that only Ned Beauman can deliver. A work of globe-trotting imagination, sex, violence and wit, told in an elegant style--an accomplishment that writers will study and readers will delight in."--Atticus Lish, author of Preparation for the Next Life
 
"Ned Beauman writes sentences so good I want to collect them, except that after a few pages I'm basically just transcribing the book. His newest novel is elegant, witty, precise and often hilarious. I didn't read it so much as savor it, word by word."--Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

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