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Boxer, Beetle

by Ned Beauman
Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. Sept. 2011. c.256p. ISBN 9781608196807. pap. $16. F
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Kevin "Fishy" Broom, so nicknamed because he smells like rotting fish, deals online in Nazi memorabilia. He finds his job a bit more dangerous than he'd anticipated when he's kidnapped to help find the remains of a World War II-era Jewish, homosexual, nine-toed boxer. In the process, he uncovers a treasure trove of history and its artifacts and personages, including entomologist Philip Erskine, who hopes to breed a superbeetle in tribute to Reich Chancellor Hitler. Erskine, who has a darker interest in eugenics, became interested in the hapless boxer. First novelist Beauman has created a romp across the decades, with quirky characters and a complex, darkly humorous story. The one drawback: explicit sex scenes that seem gratuitous, not contributing much to moving the story to its conclusion.
VERDICT Shortlisted for both the 2010 Guardian First Book Award and the 2011 Desmond Elliott Prize, this book will appeal to readers of offbeat fiction, especially those with an interest in the World War II era.
Reviewed by Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence , Aug 01, 2011
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