Perhaps the slight disappointment of the book came from the fact that it once again required a crusade in order to get a copy. And I cheated a little, seeing through the web that the Ripping Yarns bookshop in North London had a copy. It's a really charming bookshop, finding a balance between organisation but with enough of a mess for one to feel like they could find a cheap gem. Unfortunately, I had to cough up £12.50 for the book, a fair price considering it's clearly quite rare and in great shape, but anything over £10 makes me feel like I'm a book collector, which is a territory I don't really want to enter. Anyways, go to Ripping Yarns!
The mention of the Anti-Death League itself is fantastic, a league with a crusade of looking at the poor points of death, but this is something brought into the book quite late on and is used more as a basis for spying on one another rather than explored. There is also quite a touching storyline between our main protagonist Churchill and his new girlfriend, but again this appears secondary to wider ideas.
I have to confess that I struggled to grasp these and this is the first time that Burgess' own review of the book was of assistance: the book essentially attacks the concept of religion, and in this sense it is a fantastic and admirable book. Just not the most enjoyable to read...
Ranking Burgess' 99 January 2012:
1. Another Country
2. Ancient Evenings
3. After Many A Swan
4. The Alexandria Quartet
5. The Anti-Death League
6. The Aerodrome
