Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Nipples and Nirpal

Spotted in Times, BSC, autographed copies of Tourism by Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal - one of this year's hottest debut novels in the UK.

Says Bookmunch about the novel:
Tourism is not a book that is big on plot or structure, but what it is expert in is the accurate and often biting portrayal of people in London’s expanding middle classes and the racial tensions that often underlie a rather harmonious perception of this group of intellectuals and professionals. Looking beyond the nipple that is on the front cover, the blurb reads that the main protagonist Puppy has left the immigrant neighbourhood of Southall to mix with the metropolitan elite of London society. Puppy is tormented with nymphomaniac desires, only ever concentrating upon his ‘quest for pussy’ and is plagued with regret over disappointing his Indian matriarch mother. He is hopelessly infatuated with the enigmatic Sarupa, but instead settles for her best friend. He cannot find a job, and instead procrastinates by smoking weed and sleeping around. I refuse to give away the shock ending and leave it to your imagination, but I was certainly left very satisfied by this little treasure of a book.
Now that sounds like a book worth reading. However, I think the cover of the book is a disgrace. There's a very visible nipple peeking through that very sheer white blouse. Where on earth were the censors with their black pens? I demand a big blodge of felt pen to cover it!

But what I really want to know is how come the guy (presumably enroute from the Sydney Writer's Festival) just snuck in and signed his name for Times without the rest of us getting to know? Would have loved to have grabbed him for an interview! Especially after reading the low-down-and-dirty about him revealed by his wife, columnist Liz Jones:
... he binge eats, he nearly squashes the cats in bed, he lies around all day, he spends all her money, he emits cabbagey smells, he spent their wedding night with his mates ...
Mindless gossip? No, it is important to know such details about writers. If we emulate them, the good luck will rub off on us too and we'll be published by a big-name UK publisher.

I'm off to brush my tongue.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's even more disgraceful is some of the customers at bookshops indulging their curiousities. The Tourism book comes with a sticker over the nipple courtesy of the supplier to lessen the 'impact'. But SOME people actually peeled off the sticker for a 'better' view. The bookstore resorted to wrapping the books in plastic but that hadn't deterred SOME people from poking a hole THROUGH the plastic AND REMOVING the sticker for a 'better' view. Now THAT is just disgraceful. ;P Just plain GATAL.

Ted Mahsun said...

I'm surprised ban-happy politicians haven't gotten to it yet.

Poppadumdum said...

Hypocrites: if that nipple was attached to a male tit no one would make a squeak! :-))

flexnib said...

They probably left it there to attract people's attention..

bibliobibuli said...

in Times it weasn't stuck over ...

and i was just pretending to be outraged in case anyone wondered ...

Unknown said...

... I wasn't wondering but you had me worried ... ! :-)

Allan Koay 郭少樺 said...

that's one hell of a sexy nipple. and a perfectly shaped breast too. now, i want to meet the woman they are attached to.

thank you and good afternoon.

sharanya said...

I interviewed Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal for the July or August issue of New Man. A pic I took with him is on my blog. Haven't written up the article yet though.

Regarding the nipple - it's his arm there around the woman on the cover (she's a model). ;)

Lotus Reads said...

Ok, I'm fascinated enough to want to read, or maybe atleast skim, the book. It will be a while before we see copies of it in Canada however. I'm wondering what sort of cover the North American version will have. People in the States can be a little more conservative than those in Europe.

bibliobibuli said...

ron - you have to understand the background ... malaysians are so used to any hint of sexy body parts being black penned out in imported magazines

the visitor - glad you enjoyed it!

sharanya - you got him? looking forward to your article coming out - please do let us know ... and it's his arm, is it? glad i know that

yes, for sure, folks in the states are more conservative than those in europe - where would you say canada is on that continuum?

bibliobibuli said...

sharanya - went back to your blog and yes, there he was - i just hadn't made the connection between the reviews i'd read and this cute guy with his arm round you! nice photo!

sharanya said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
sharanya said...

Yep, he's cuter in person! I'm not sure why he opted to have his hair slicked back like that in the author pic at the back of the book. The shaggy hair thing quite suits him. :)

Anonymous said...

That nipple is really visible. Looks like she's not even wearing a bra.