Boxer, Beetle

With the help of his theories, his experiments, and also, in some less tangible way, his nightly examinations of the boy, he had bred this beetle as mighty as a rat or a dog, this Seth Roach among insects, this creature of snuffed candles and iron railings and dried blood crushed up in the fist of science, and it still had the deconstructed swastika on its wings, prouder than ever. He had proven his genius. He imagined vast maternity wards named after him, babies doing calculus and callisthenics in their first weeks of life.

This is two stories in one, in present day London, Kevin Broom, a professional collector of nazi memorabilia, and sufferer of “trimethylaminuria” (a horrible genetic defect that renders the sufferer permanently to smell like rotting fish, to the point where they are entirely isolated from other humans) has somehow gotten on the radar of a hired assassin. Apparently the hit man is trying to find a specimen of an extremely rare (possibly extinct) beetle, ‘Anophthalmus hitleri’ and he takes Kevin along with him for help.

The central second story occurs during the run up to WWII when british fascists and sympathizers were accepted in public life. It concerns the beetle’s discoverer, Phillip Erskine a young british entomologist, fervent believer in eugenics who has used selective breeding to develop the aforementioned “hitler beetle”. Erskine is a closeted, self-denying homosexual who, when not selectively breeding insects, develops an obsession with Seth (‘Roach’) Sinner, a five foot tall, gay, rabidly alcoholic, self destructive jewish boxer whose incredible strength, toughness has him destined for a boxing championship, that is, if he can control his urges. What the beetle and the boxer have in common, is immense strength completely out of proportion to their diminutive size.

The story follows, mostly, Phillip’s visit to his father’s (seeming) castle where a yearly meeting of other wannabe nazis is happening and Sinner comes along for the ride because Erskine knows that Sinner can’t be trusted on his own. The story dwells on the silly obsessions of the british upper classes and far right and at the same time manages to explain how the hitler beetle disappeared.

Bauman seems to enjoy writing about people who are quirky with excruciating, politically incorrect behavior and he wrings remarkably rich humor from these misfits. I was entertained but I will freely admit that this not the sort of narrative that will appeal to most other readers.