Expo 58 is one of Coe's lesser-known works and received a mixed critical reception, but I enjoyed it thoroughly from beginning to end. Similar to other novels by the author, it is full of subversion, honing in on the crossover between comedy, both slapstick and dark, and satire. There is also a large focus on a prime Coe consideration, namely what constitutes Britishness. That this novel was written pre-Brexit is intriguing in the sense that Coe, an ardent Remainer, captures even here much of the negative jingoism. At heart, Expo 58 narrates how a civil servant finds himself seconded to the Brussels World Fair and inadvertently drawn into some Cold War espionage. Both political and personal threats are brought to a neat conclusion by Coe. He captures superbly the lingo and the zeitgeist of the era, while making this less Graham Greene and more self-referentially postmodern in style. Having been to the Dubai 2020/2021 Expo, some of the surreal vibe of the event also resonated. 9/10.
By Jonathan Coe