A Masterful Allegory – 5 stars
There’s a crisis on its way to France in the form of a flotilla of a hundred rusty ships carrying almost one million poor, starving migrants from Calcutta. As the ships slowly make their way to the Mediterranean, the popular media gush about how best to welcome the newcomers. More pragmatic observers realize that the entry of all of these people en masse will change the West’s way of life forever and try to sound the alarm to save the country from the invasion.
This book was written in 1973 and made available in an English translation in 1975, but the vision of a Third World invasion of the West as described in the book is even more relevant today, as we see in frequent news reports of troubles with migrants in Europe and our own political rhetoric in the United States about immigration issues.
The writing style is very literary and at times a bit flowery with many twists of scene as events are repeated from various viewpoints. It is not a quick read and will require the reader's concentration to navigate among the various metaphors, concepts, and personalities.
Abandon any thoughts of political correctness when reading this book. It presents the reality of the world’s population rather than a Utopia of the brotherhood of mankind. As a a non-white character from the book, Monsieur Hamadura, who has embraced France and its culture points out, it’s not only race that matters, but the whole common culture, language, and heritage that is threatened by a massive influx of people of other backgrounds. The message and the warning presented is: in a war of the haves versus the have-nots, it is the haves who will lose if they are unwilling or unable to defend themselves against the invaders.
Recommended.