Indecent Exposure

First, you have to imagine that it is possible to mix the concepts of apartheid and aversion therapy and end up with anything that is even remotely potable. And then you must mentally leap a rather tall gate into the garden of the absurd. "Prickly" doesn't even begin to describe the result.Sharpe's incomparable biting satire oughtta be against the law ... as, it turns out, it was ...Deviously, wickedly funny farce, this.

Today I'm back--rebuying this book in hopes of reliving some of the experience it produced 20+ years ago when I read it on a transatlantic flight. Everyone around me was solemnly absorbed in tearjerker movie while I was convulsed to tears of laughter in their midst.When I realized Indecent Exposure was a sequel to Riotous Assembly I raced from the airport to the bookstore and ordered that one too. It was no disappointment. That came when I voraciously bought nearly every other novel Tom Sharpe wrote and found none of his other works even came close to his 2 South Africa novels.Small wonder that oppressive regime expelled him. I ought to mention that however slapstick funny this has been described to you (and it is!) it is not an appropriate gift for your 12-year-old niece. The uproarious misanthropy is midnight black and as politically incorrect for many Americans as it was subversive for South African censors.

I first read a Tom Sharpe novel 31 years ago on my way for a job interview to emigrate to South Africa, fellow passengers on the train must have wondered what was so funny that I was reduced at times to tears of laughter, I have since read every book Tom Sharpe has written, almost every one has had the same effect on me, INDECENT EXPOSURE is about South Africa in the dark days of apartheid, the 30 years I have lived here in South Africa have not reduced the hilarity of the book, but added to my appreciation of it, having just finished reading it for the 3rd time, I recommend this book for anyone who needs an escape on a long journey or needs to escape from reality for a while, the best advice I can give you is to read Tom Sharpe's first book on South Africa "RIOTOUS ASSEMBLY" followed as soon as you have recovered by this book "INDECENT EXPOSURE " I am certain you will not regret it.

Tom Sharpe is at his funniest in this hilarious classic. You will laugh out loud.Tom was thrown out of South Africa for his cutting commentary on the country, and I would thoroughly recommend his witty and original writing.Follow with Riotous Assembly, Porterhouse Blue and Wilt (pretty close to the bone for prudes).All available in good, used format from Amazon.

Excellently written and poignantly acid towards the bigoted attitudes of the white population in preMandela South Africa. I really enjoy Sharpe for its command of the English language and his unending imagination with situations so impossible that are fully real.

Great book, if a little politically incorrect. Some real laugh out loud moments. Exploding ostrich's ..... say no more.

I laughed through the whole book. Mr. Sharpe weaves the most complex of plots; however,they are fairly easy to follow. Great read.

It is wrong but so funny!

I fondly remember getting into Tome Sharpe books back in the 1970s, after laughing my way through Blott. I read all that were around at the time, and, when they came up on Kindle, I thought I'd renew my acquaintance with them via this novel, which I'd missed first time around. Whether or not my tastes have become more sophisticated since then, or whether this book is just a stinker, I don't know, but I got through 75% of it and decided I'd reached the limit of my tolerance. I've always been of the opinion that good situation comedy revolves around taking believable characters and putting them into unbelievable situations - even those doyens of surrealist comedy, Monty Python, sussed that with many of their sketches. Where this book falls apart is that the plot and the characters are just so contrived and stupid and do really contrived and stupid things, and after a while that just ain't funny. I note this was only Sharpe's second book, and maybe my memories of his subsequent ones are so fond because they were actually a lot better. They certainly needed to be.

NO Spoilers.for those that like Tom Sharpe there's a range of 'series' to choose from. Personally I prefer almost everything else he did to the Blott era, even porterhouse blue. However the one thing remained constant (Well until the godawful Grantchester Grind was it? So bad I've wiped it from mind - I put it down to a formulaic last chance to cash in and top up his pension/estate to leave etc) was the acidic eye he had for not just seeing and describing a farcical scene, but setting up deliciously and then relishing and revelling in it extracting the very essence of it right at the pinnacle of excruciatingness (if that's a real word).This book is a great example. Although, The Throwback will live me forever there are a good half dozen others that are fantastic. Particularly any that feature Konstable Els.Personally I'd go for anything around this era - he was really on form. And If I'm honest I'd have to say I avoid the later works as I fell he'd exhausted his vein of genius.ACID TEST: would I buy this again - If this copy were lost damaged etc - YES - and I recommend it to any one who has a enjoys a good sense of humour.

Indecent exposure and Riotous assembly by Tom Sharpe are two of the funniest books I have read. Sharpe`s ability to satirise a time, place and subject normally considered in these pc times to be no go areas shows his comedic genius. Tales of a bungling South African police force set in a chaotic apartheid held state, Sharpe pokes a stick in the eye to all. I don`t like to analyse books I like to read them.How many times can you say you have read a book and laughed out loud? Well here are two that force those involuntary chuckles by the score. I first indulged in these two works over thirty years ago as a fifteen year old, I have only just revisited them in the electronic age and with a couple of thousand books in between I can honestly say they are amongst the best if not the best out and out entertainment available.

It's brilliant satire at its finest. Superb book full of hilarious twists and turns. Indecent Exposure is the sequel to the equally magnificent Riotous Assembly. Taking place in the town of Piemburg, the local police force under the command of Kommandant van Heerden deal with saboteurs, communists, state secret security, exploding ostriches and the English - all in the pursuit of "a perfect South Africa". One of the funniest books ever written.

I first read this book many years ago and have revisted it often. I have now added to my kindle library. It never fails to make me laugh. Tom Sharp is brilliantly funny author. I re-read it on the beach recently and received odd looks from neighbouring holiday makers at my contant giggles. I intend adding more of his books to my kindle library.