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15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 AUGUST 2022 NEWS which provokes a crisis in the reader. Dustin's is no spiritual metaphor for Malta's spiritual malaise, but an imperfect body with vulgar bodily urges living in an imperfect world. Neither is it easy to pigeon-hole Dustin in the class structure. For Dus- tin listens to the Smiths, the Queens of the Stone Age and the Rolling Stones, attends lit- erature festivals and pretends to like Immanuel Mifsud's po- etry in his failed attempt to get laid with Claudette, a female Graffitti activist who politely rebuffs his timid advances. He also tries to get rich quick with minimum effort by in- vesting in crypto and designing metarobots as NFTs. Yet Dus- tin is also insular, preferring a weekend break to travelling abroad, and lacks any sophis- tication in terms of food. On some aspects he behaves like a troglodyte, in others he is part of what Camilleri coins as "the new aristocracy of the working class", who like its forebears in the docks is much more cul- tured than the average man in the street. In constructing Dustin, Camilleri drinks from the deep and rich well of Mediterrane- an folklore in which Ġaħan often challenges popular com- mon sense. And effectively, he forges a Ġaħan with which the bourgeois audience can identi- fy but also a national popular character reminiscent of Paolo Villaggio's Fantozzi. One even suspects that Camilleri has al- so lent Dustin some of his own character traits and experienc- es, fully knowing that many in his cultural milieu will feel like- wise. So once again, the reader ends up engaging with a carica- ture of himself or in the case of the female reader, of their male friends. For in some ways the obese and perverse Dustin also represents toxic masculinity, albeit one that is victim to one basic form of inequality: that based on looks and body shape. Another central aspect of the book is the Maltese dream – that of becoming rich with a minimum amount of effort and risk through investment in property. And while brutal in his social commentary in a way reminiscent of Juan Mamo, Camilleri's analysis does not fall in the traps of condescend- ing bourgeois prejudice or ho- lier than thou attitudes. Dustin inhabits an imperfect world, inhabited by imperfect people; even publisher Mark Camilleri only recognises Dustin's value when he has something of val- ue to give him. Dustin is not dumb and is surely appalled by the ignorance around him. Like many disillusioned educated young people, he does not vote in general elections but makes a rational calculation to avoid any confrontation with au- thority. In short, he sticks to the mantra that the purpose of life is that of avoiding pain and trouble – a comfort zone which consists in the simple pleasure of consuming the processed food he stores in his fridge. Even friends and relationships represent complications which Dustin prefers to avoid in his quest for an uncomplicated life devoid of any responsibility. He even rejects a promotion to avoid more responsibility but ends up doing more work for his boss at the same wage! And while he smokes pot to enhance his couch-potato ex- istence for the munchies, Dus- tin is deeply disturbed when he smokes before going through the comment section of the news portals in which the masses rally to defend the cor- rupt. This leads him to make the rational calculation that he is better off not following the news. But this sedentary, risk- averse existence offers him no protection from the power of market forces. His attempt to subvert capitalism, by invest- ing in crypto, backfires badly, confirming his earlier choice to settle for a mediocre existence. Camilleri's 'Ġaħan fl-Aqwa Żmien' felt like a rollercoast- er-ride down the pits of gra- tuitous depravity and up to Camilleri's evocation of the 'Maltese dream' in the best of times, all packaged in refresh- ing self-irony and unrefined, scorched-earth irreverence... a good laugh until you start iden- tifying with Dustin, in the same way you start feeling sad after crying your heart out laugh- ing when watching a Fantozzi movie. Lurking beneath the brutality of the novel is a bub- bling yearning for humanity, love and acceptance, which ul- timately can only be found be accepting the imperfections of life. To someone with a moderate and calm disposition – like me – Camilleri's gratuitous invec- tive leaves an unpleasant after- taste, but is compensated by his perceptive insights on Maltese capitalism, the working class and its neighbourhoods, and even his demographic insights about Fgura, where I also grew up. Ultimately, I consumed the book in two evenings in the same way that Dustin enjoyed his evenings – alone with my- self avoiding unnecessary com- plications, in between snacks and puffs. Camilleri's depiction of Polly is more grotesque than sexist, drawing on a popular culture where political satire also taps into the erotic realm to punch harder. Even in Italy it was reports on bunga-bunga parties – and not decades of journalistic and judicial investigations of mafia connections – which brought about the end of Silvio Berlusconi's dominion over Italian politics Mark Camilleri: people think they are getting a glimpse of the Muscat era provided by someone who gives the impression that he was "in the know", even if one doubts how close he even ever got to the impenetrable inner circle of Castille