Colonial activity, tensions and relationships. Plantations management, military strategies, characters driven by and driving the events and the city as a living thing all well described. ( )

Third in Farrell’s Empire trilogy, The Singapore Grip is also the “worst”, a term I emphasize is relative only within the trilogy (The Siege of Krishnapur and Troubles being the first two). Farrell examined the role of the British in their colonial empire—and set them up for ridicule. He succeeded brilliantly with the first two, especially with Troubles, which is a masterpiece. However, there is a boundary line in satire; if you go too far over that line, the figures stop being objects of mockery and merely become one-dimensional and thus boring. That seems to be what happened with The Singapore Grip—Farrell was too heavy-handed with two of his major protagonists in particular and several of the comprimario ones; as a result, there are entire sections of the book that are dull and boring, in which the reader slogs through hoping for better days. They certainly occur, but the price is a little stiff.

The setting of the book is the island of Singapore, starting in 1937, just before the outbreak of World War II. The opening sets the stage for the Farrell’s attitude towards the British merchant barons in the Far East. The description of Singapore “high society" (meaning the British, of course) is a fascinating southeast Asian analogue of that same society in Ireland (Troubles) and in India (Siege of Krishanpur). Walter Blackett, head of the firm of Blackett and Webb, Singapore’s oldest British-owned business, is planning the company’s jubilee celebration: a massive parade extolling the virtues of Blackett and Webb as the epitome of progressive business and the benefits it brings to the substantially inferior natives and other ethnic groups who labor in the rice fields, rubber plantations, warehouses, and other entities of the companies diverse business interests. Yet, at the same time, we’re told of worker strikes, the horrendous living conditions of the workers, price fixing, the efforts Blackett and Webb have made to force independent rubber producers out and create an oligarchy of such producers for the British-owned business. On the horizon is the Japanese, whom no one takes seriously as a possible threat to the Malay Peninsula and Singapore itself. But nothing matters to Walter except Blackett and Webb, and to this end he is willing to use his daughter to seduce and marry, if need be, the son of the former owner, now dead, in order to get control of the son’s shares in the company. Interestingly enough, the daughter is perfectly happy to do so. All part of the ethos of the British merchant class.

Walter Blackett is a caricature; throughout the book, he is depicted as being far more interested in his business enterprises and the outwitting of a major rival than in anything else, including his country. When the Japanese do invade, Walter even contemplates doing business with them, clearly treason, but such notions never cross his mind. What’s good for Blackett and Webb is good for everyone else, including England, an astonishing perspective of collaboration with an enemy.

Matthew is the other major caricature, that of the guilt-ridden liberal who claims to see all the evil colonialism does yet does nothing but talk. And talk. And talk. To the point where it’s no longer amusing but truly boring—you want to shake him and tell him to just shut up.

We meet Major Archer again, in his 50s now, but this time, Archer is not the diffident, helpless soul he was in Troubles. In fact, during the Battle of Singapore, Archer heads one of the city’s volunteer fire brigades and organizes shelter and food for the ever-increasing number of refugees.

There are other, minor characters, more or less well done. Walter’s daughter Joan is too conniving to be real. There’s an American officer caught by the Japanese invasion. There’s the Frenchman Dupigny who was an official in French colonial Indochina before the Japanese overwhelmed that area. There are brief, interesting appearances of Malasians, ethnic Chinese who came to work in the rubber plantations, and others. Some of the minor characters are far more interesting than Walter and Matthew.

What saves this book is Farrell’s description of the defense of Singapore. Air Chief Marshall Brooke-Popham, a historical figure, was commander-in-Chief of the defense of the Malay Peninsula and Singapore. Farrell, as did many after the fall of Singapore, puts the principal blame for the inadequate resistance to the Japanese attacks on Brooke-Popham. Whether true or not, it makes for fascinating reading.

Farrell shines in his description of Singapore under repeated Japanese aerial bombardment. The finest scene in the entire book may be the one where Archer’s fire brigade, among others, is trying to contain the fire in a lumberyard. It’s a truly harrowing scene; that whole section alone is worth reading the book.

The Singapore Grip is an uneven and even awkward book, but Farrell’s prose is excellent and his treatment of the defense of Singapore superb. I only rated the book at 3 1/2 stars due to the characterizations--the caricatures--of Walter and Matthew; they really detracted from what would have otherwise been a superb book. ( )

This is historical fiction about Singapore in the lead-up to the Japanese invasion in World War II. The story centers around the Blackett and Webb Company, which produces rubber. The Blackett family is English, and they are convinced that colonialism and capitalism have done wonders for Singapora and Malaysia. When old Mr. Webb dies, his son Matthew arrives to participate in the business, but Matthew has very different ideas, particularly about colonialism. Matthew has spent time working for the League of Nations, and he doesn't believe that the colonial powers should use their economic might to exploit the colonies. Mr. Blackett wants Matthew to marry his daughter, Joan, but Matthew instead takes up with a Eurasian woman that the Blacketts consider a second-class citizen. The Blackett and Webb empire is essentially destroyed by the Japanese invasion (by a force that most of the Europeans in Singapore greatly underestimated).

The characters are well-developed, and despite the serious subjects, the book is often quietly funny. The author's feelings about racism and colonialism are fairly clear, but the book is not heavy-handed about the lessons. Although I thought it well-written and enjoyable, it wasn't so gripping that I just couldn't put it down. ( )

`Singapore Grip' recreates the world of pre-WWII Singapore. Farrell centers his tale around the Blackett and Webb conglomerate based on rubber plantations, but extends to wide-ranging export-import business. Singapore was created to be a trading center for the British Empire and it succeeded beyond any reasonable expectations.

As war edges closer the air of unreality gets thicker. Even when the Japanese attack Malaya in late 1941, these people just don't get it. Singapore Grip explores this world in detail and from many different perspectives. The higher in the colonial hierarchy, the harder it is for reality to penetrate. Walter Blackett, scion and head delusionist is still planning the company's 50th Jubilee while the Japanese are bombing the island and even Singapore town proper.

`Singapore Grip' is a vignette in what Huxley called "the descending road of modern history". The war gathers slowly, life begins to change, but not dramatically at first. But, the vise inexorably tightens and the world of the characters crumbles under the relentless pressure. Escape from the island seems at first an absurd idea, but it gradually becomes ever more desirable until it finally becomes impossible in the crush at the quays.

If you are tempted to turn away from this book, don't. `Singapore Grip' gathers force and clarity as Farrell slowly adds the pieces to his masterful mosaic and the reader is duly rewarded. The book has been recently reprinted in the excellent New York Review of Books Classics series. Highly recommended. ( )

I'm very glad that I first came to Farrell with The Siege of Krishnapur (99:35) or I might not have been tempted to continue with him. Singapore Grip was a disappointment, and I gave up after about 200 pages (it is a novel of 565 pages). The writing is good, the evocation of place and people is fine: the feel of Singapore on the eve of WWII, or more accurately, of the pampered and blinkered British colonial masters, is palpable, but I gave up because the story was moving far too slowly, and I really didn't care about any of the characters.

I think the characters were starting to come alive, but they seemed almost like caricatures of themselves: the British military leaders blind to the danger of the Japanese and resplendent in their faith in their own power; Walter the rich English trader blind to the human costs of the manipulation of markets and production for his own greater wealth and preoccupied with securing a useful marriage for his daughter Joan who is totally pampered and thoroughly selfish, but has more wits about her than her feckless brother, Monty, both of whom are juxtaposed against Matthew, prodigal son of Walter's aged partner, and who comes home to Singapore upon the death of his father; throw in a couple of characters: an American army officer smitten by Joan, but no match for her machinations, a down-at-the-heels Frenchman who does see the reality of Asia the Japanese menace much more accurately than his British friends, a beautiful but mysterious Asian girl who competes with Joan for Matthew (two beautiful woman who throw themselves physically at a guy who comes across as a well-meaning dork), and there you have the stew. I kept hoping the arrival of the Japanese and the introduction of some real hardship and terror would tighten things up a bit, but I glanced ahead and saw that the book ends just as the Japanese are moving into Singapore, and I couldn't wait anymore. I think it was all there, but for my taste, the book should have been edited down to about two-thirds of its length.