Earlier in the month I was praising the sheer exuberance of the opening of Jon Gresham's 2023 novel Gus: The Life and Opinions of the Last Raffles' Banded Langur, and wondering whether the writer could keep the energy going for the full length of a fairly longish novel. Well, he could and did and I'm happy to report that Mr Gresham has created something of a modern classic, at least in the eyes of this reader. It's a wild read (pun intended) in any number of ways, gripping and inventive and generally a blast. In a curious way it has many of the virtues of a graphic novel, not least in its general irreverence.
Remarkably the tale manages to be bitingly serious as an 'eco-novel' without being the least bit sanctimonious. I laughed out loud whilst reading more than once; always a good sign.
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