A Match for Doctor Koekentapp

And now for something completely different on the South African book scene: a slapstick Jewish comedy set in the Joburg northern suburbs. GP Dr Koekentapp is called to the Levy home to attend to a Mr Levy’s kidney stone. Mrs Levy sets her eyes on the young doctor, spots the perfect marriage material for her daughter Sylvia and is delighted when the two of them are immediately attracted. But to her horror, Mrs Levy discovers that Dr Koekentapp is not Jewish. The tale complicates, involves her scheming and plotting to convert him to Judaism (witness the scene where he is circumsised to the accompaniment of a Scottish pipe band), the bizarre roles played by her family and friends to achieve this end, and the frenetic interference and bewildering hitches in his life and medical practice. Broadly funny and ribald comedy that delights in lewd word plays and allusions in which goy and Jewry alike will find common purpose. Is this another Tom Sharpe?