This collects in a single volume a 'triptych' of Time for a Tiger, The Enemy in the Blanket and Beds in the East, plus a glossary of 'Malayan' (mainly Malay and Chinese) words and phrases for readers unfamiliar with the language(s).

For the Malaysian/Singaporean reader, this has all the delights of the familiar re-viewed, the Malaya recognised through history lessons - its hot jungles, the wonderful chaotic smattering of languages that may be so confusing and yet so well known, its racial demarcations that theoretically categorise and isolate. (And yet, its inhabitants, defying and reinforcing stereotypes and planning committees, inevitably and closely mingle: the towkays's shops more often than not acting as everyone's meeting place.) This is more real and funnier than anything I have ever read about colonial Malaya, or even generally that hapless sometime-resisting melting pot of cultures that characterise this place. Ironic, that a 'Westerner' (albeit one who has inhabited this soil for about half a decade) could write what could count for a quintessential, insightful, novel of the times.

Throughout the novel, Burgess presents and unmasks racial and cultural stereotypes, fulfilling and subverting them often on the same page. The critical facet, however, is largely conveyed discreetly through very effective humour, at the expense of the large cast of characters. They undo themselves by behaving as walking contradictions. Yet much of it is underneath; critical laughs sit abreast with a hard-won perceptible affection over some sort of a heroic mess that Malaya was and was soon to become via decolonisation. (I would be very interested in Burgess' thoughts on how independence worked out, if something like this exists.) Derision mixed with hope mixed with a shrewd, incisive, understanding which makes for a kind of disrespectful, unconscious realism that simultaneously conveys a love for the colony's splendour and variety. Much of it may be comedy and caricature but arguably there is some truth in the presentation.

The Malayan Trilogy is entertaining simply because it refuses to back down from the offensive and pulls out all the stops. (Where other instances picturing local culture may suffer from the excesses of self-consciousness, nostalgia for the 'good old days', a yearning for simplicity that overlooks the fact of complexity.) Burgess dwells lovingly (and also self-critically) on linguistic peculiarities and uncanny habits, sights and sounds seen nowhere else except in this place where the foreign white man can be sympathised, a place filled with strange noises, uneasy and jarring yet affable. Music and language, trademarks of his writing, are naturally not far away. Certain sections dragged along more than others, but ultimately the entire trilogy is an impressive achievement. He pulls it all together in a work that is full, rich, lively, observant and unapologetic.

Fabulous stuff

This trilogy of stories – “Time for a Tiger”, “The Enemy in the Blanket” and “Beds in the East” – relate the story of race relations in post-war Malaysia on the cusp of independence.

Burgess had served in the colonial service, and these books do justice to characters who are Malay, Tamil and Chinese, as well as British.

It’s a great read if you’re visiting Malaysia, particularly some of the smaller cities with pre-war architecture and atmosphere, such as Penang, Malacca or Kuching.

The late days of the British Empire fade in relevance as the decades pass, but this tale is still worth the read. Unlike most end of empire stories, Burgess gives voice to the many peoples of Malaya - Tamil, Chinese, English, Malay. Hindu, Muslim, and Christian are seen and hard, for the most part not very faithfully.

The other aspect that stands out is the humor with which he writes. No one is looked down upon, except to the extent that they are looking down at someone else. Burgess served in British Malaya as an education officer (like the protagonist Victor Crabbe). He was skeptical of the empire and his role in it. He expected to meet with dislike as a member of that empire. What he didn't expect to find was that the various peoples of Malaya also disdained one another!

Brilliant telling of the last days of British rule in Malaya.
Lots of humour and evident fondness from Burgess for the mix of races - Moslem Tamil Chinese British Malays Eurasians - who find themselves at last stage of foreign rule. Slowly decaying , infighting , ridiculous prejudices but all told with fondness and humour.

Nabby Adams and Rosemary are my favourite characters . One of the best lines of the novel “ she just literally didn’t know if she was lying or telling the truth “
is a preamble to the story of Rosemary , so beautiful, so idealistic , so snobbish , so self deluding. .

The final novel slightly petered out for me hence 4 stars

Final note : I have not read a book in 5 years where I had to look up so many English words. Burgess is a brilliant prose writer , not because he uses unknown words but because he blends them seamlessly with a very colloquial style , there is nothing stiff or stuffy .

U.K. title: "The Malayan Trilogy"
U.S. title: "The Long Day Wanes"

Widely known as the author of A Clockwork Orange (the novel on which Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film was based), Burgess lived in peninsular Malaysia (then Malaya) from 1954 to 1960 while serving as an education officer for the British government. Britain was then preparing to withdraw from the country, which it had considered its colony since (roughly) 1874. (Malaya got its independence in 1957, and the new country of Malaysia emerged in 1963.)

This trilogy was originally published as three separate novels: Time for a Tiger (1956), The Enemy in the Blanket (1958) and Beds in the East (1959). The stories are completely continuous, however, and all feature a British education officer named Victor Crabbe as the central character. Crabbe's circumstances in Malaya parallel those of Burgess, and an unmistakable sense of bright reality colors every scene.

Burgess's dry English humor guarantees a lot of enjoyment in reading this book, but even better is his successful portrayal of diverse public opinion in Malaya at a crucial time in its long history. He respects but does not idolize the Malays, and he skillfully unwraps the many layers of racial complexity that were especially agitated in the years surrounding independence. I very much admired Burgess's ability to capture character with only a few lines of dialogue, and I found the book difficult to put down (even when reading it by headlamp under the mosquito net in my hammock after a long, hot day of jungle walking!). He's pleasantly ambivalent about the role of the British in "helping" the country toward its new position in the world -- through Crabbe's well-meaning ambition to educate young Malays for taking the reins of government, Burgess manages to demonstrate some of the consequences of colonization and hegemony.

Only managed the first of the three sections - slightly heavy reading, reminiscing about Empire set in a fictional hybrid of colonial outposts. Characters not generally likeable or that interesting though some of the adventures and bureaucratic squabbles are entertaining enough.

A wonderous journey!!

As I closed this book for the last time, I could not help but wonder how and why I had made it to my fourth decade as a Malaysian without having read this. I wondered why the existence of books about Malaya and Malaysia were not a part of my IGSCE or GCSE exams, part of my primary and secondary school education. We could have read this in English class, in History class, in Religion class, instead of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and William Golding's Lord of the Flies. It would have made more sense, it would have been interesting, it would have given us a sense of who were were! No, we learnt about WWI and WWII, but never about the Malayan Emergency, never about Communism -- except as a Soviet or Chinese or Cuban-Missile Crisis thing.

Such a misnomer, the "post colonial" world. There is nothing postcolonial about it. Burgess's three intertwined novels prove that. Published in 1964 and reading them nearly six decades later, it's clear nothing much has changed except the language: the racism remains, the ethnic conflict, the Malay calling the Indian lazy, the Chinese reviled for their share of the economy, the Malay condemned for their bumiputra entitlements. The primacy White Men still hold over those of darker fleshtones. Nothing is different except Chinese folks don't say yam seng as much any more (Kam pai I think is the more popular term now. Not that I drink enough to know) and diluting whiskey with water and ice has become passé with the ubiquitous use of aircon. I recognized the sounds and smells and sweaty stickiness in Burgess' Malaya, especially when I read the books while having a cup of steaming Horlicks. I laughed out when luncheon meat was mentioned, then counted how many tins I have in my pantry.

The novels are nothing spectacular plotwise; it's the point that nothing happens. In the first book, Victor Crabbe and Fenella Crabbe drink and drink and drink, complain, complain, complain. Victor even complains that Fenella complains; for, in his view, he has purpose. Burgess does not name it but it is the White Savior Complex; Victor has it in buckets.

It is the characters which save the novels and make the trilogy worth reading. This is one of the few times I have read a book from this era that brought "native" characters to the forefront. Even Orwell's Veraswami was a supporting character. Of course, we should not be too hasty; Victor Crabbe remains the central focus of the trilogy. But Rosemary, an Indian woman who has swallowed the White Mask -- perhaps the whole bottle of white makeup -- is prominent in the last novel, Beds in the East. Alladad Khan, a Muslim man is also given pride of place in the first one, Time for a Tiger. The second book, Enemy in the Blanket focuses more closely on the Crabbe's marriage. I appreciated Fenella's prominence here, even as a white character; she is a woman and it was pleasant to read a woman's story, even if told by and from a man's perspective. I enjoyed Anne Talbot a lot. Her spunk was refreshing.

But ugh, the racism threaded all the way through. I read it, recognized it, hated it, enjoyed it for its honest -- if ugly -- portrayal of Emergency era Malaya.

One of the very few books that inspired dreams after I read it.

That doesn't mean the books are amazing or anything. They're really not. But I love them anyway.

Fabulous prose. Insightful examination of the disintegration of colonial rule in Malaya. Lots to learn about the human condition, and tensions between values and belief systems.

A fascinating discussion tonight at book club - the member who chose this one read it while travelling through Malaysia in the 1970s! A mix of responses from the book clubbers tonight - we loved the evocation of time and place, but some were bogged down with language and characters...
We gave 6/5/6/7/8/7/6/5/9/7.5