54: Summary and book reviews of 54 by Wu Ming, plus links to an excerpt from 54 and a biography of Wu Ming.

In Hollywood, Cary Grant has grown weary of cinema's constant glamour, but Her Majesty's Secret Service will break his malaise with a bizarre diplomatic mission. In Naples, Lucky Luciano fixes horse races and launches the global heroin trade. And in Bologna, a bartender searches for true love and his missing communist father. Set during the height of the Cold War - with the world divided into East and West - 54 features Italian partisans, KGB agents, Parisian lowlifes, and cameos by David Niven, Marshal Tito, and Grace Kelly. Wu Ming brings us a cinematic romp that is by turns edgy social satire and modern comic send up.

BookBrowse

  (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).

Full Review (984 words).

Media Reviews

Publishers Weekly The latest joint effort (after the novel Q) from Wu Ming ... offers political commentary–cum–complicated escapism for the brainiac reader.   Booklist This mix of literary thriller and sophisticated satire makes a tasty madcap dessert after the full meal of DeLillo's Underworld.   Kirkus Reviews Don Camillo meets The Name of the Rose meets Dr. No: a rewarding beach book for grownups.   The Times (London) A sprawling epic .... a formidable feat of imagination.   Scotland on Sunday A stupendous, charming, provcative and profound novel. It makes most modern books seem paltry in comparison.   The Independent Don't ask me just how the Wu Ming clan have pulled off this coup. I only know that their blend of outrageous burlesque and offbeat satire sparles like a bottle of the best prosecco from a worker's co-op vineyard.   The Guardian Diverting post-modernist entertainment - about narcotics, the cheap potency of Hollywood, the coming of television, the balance of political power, and how the effects knock on down the line - is skilled in teasing fact and fiction.

Recent Reader Reviews

Readalikes

If you liked 54, try these:

---

---

These are 2 of the 6 readalike suggestions for 54. Members have full access to all readalikes. If you are a member, please login. To find out more about membership, click here.

Books with similar themes

• Thrillers
  
• Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Alternate History
  
• Spy, Military, Govt & High Tech Thrillers
  
• Global 
  
• 1940s & '50s