The book
"The fun is in Hamilton-Paterson's offhand observations and delicate touch in handling his two unreliable misfits as they find each other--and there's lots of it."—Publishers Weekly
Set both in Tuscany and in the trendy haunts of London, this is the hilarious sequel to Cooking with Fernet Branca. The inimitable Gerald Samper is back, with his musings on the absurdities of modern life and his entertaining asides during which he comments on everything from publishing to penile implants, celebrity sportswomen to Australian media moguls. Plus his marvelously eccentric recipes. A smart literary romp featuring a cavalcade of misadventures and memorable characters.
The author
James Hamilton-Paterson
James Hamilton-Paterson is the author of several novels, including Loving Monsters and Gerontius, winner of the Whitbread Best First Novel Award in 1989, and Seven-Tenths, a collection of essays dedicated to the lost grandeur of the sea.
Press
- Jan 18 2007
The Spectator: "elegant, cultivated sensibility is at work here. Hamilton-Paterson, one of our finest prose stylists, is a national treasure; and Amazing Disgrace [...] is a gorgeous plum pudding of a novel." - Dec 4 2006
The Seattle Times: "The vainglorious Gerald is a wonderfully cranky narrator and the book's satirical-outrage factor sometimes reaches Borat-like heights." - Nov 24 2006
The Washington Post: "The amazingly prolific and astonishingly sophisticated James Hamilton-Paterson has given us another novel, as offbeat and unexpected as any of the rest." - Nov 14 2006
The New York Magazine: "It’s loads of fun, light and dazzling as a peacock feather. BUY IT." - Nov 12 2006
The Complete Review: "All of Amazing Disgrace is funny, and some of it is very funny indeed. Hamilton-Paterson has the voice and attitude down perfectly, making for a great comic figure in Gerald (and one who associates with quite the cast of characters)" - Sep 20 2006
Booklist (starred review): "Amazing Disgrace is written as if Samper is chatting with the reader over a bottle of prosecco, and it offers endless (often laugh-out-loud) musings from the scatological to the sartorial."