Review: The Art of the South African Insult by Sarah Britten

Every country in the world needs a Sarah Britten who can wade through the façade of society and unmask us for what we really are...mere mortals, prone to making complete idiots out of ourselves on a regular basis. It takes a keen observer and understanding of human nature to be able to do that.

Described by a columnist, Barry Ronge, as Hitler with tits, she takes no prisoners and covers all facets of South African society with her insults. (Not an easy task if one takes into consideration that South Africa sports 11 official languages and is sometimes more confused about its national identity than a chameleon during a paint session in a pre-school art class)

She hits the national character hard between the eyes, picks it up by the feet and shakes the broken bones out of its nose for all to see and digest. This line from her first chapter probably sums up South African society best:

"South Africans, as a rule, do not frequent museums and public art galleries except to steal large public sculptures. Sunday Times"

The beauty of it all is that her book is based on actual events and opinions, as portrayed by South African media. Whether or not the truth can be seen as an “insult” is of course in the eye of the beholder. Do not close your eyes to this one.

A few hints to prospective readers:

Do not read this book in public. You will be institutionalised for laughing out loud at regular intervals and shoving the book under a total stranger's nose as to share a hilarious line.
Keep a damp cloth, change of clothes and sufficient toilet paper or tissue handy because reading it might trigger involuntary voiding of the bladder or worse.
If friends tries to borrow it, tell them you’ll rather break their arms because you will never get it back.

It is a novel idea for a book (she should consider patenting it) and one of the more rewarding reads I've experienced in my lifetime. It is truly hilarious.

I will treat my copy of The Art of the South African Insult as reference material for party jokes for a long time to come.

In South Africa the book is available here.