Another pulitzer prize winner, this one awarded in 1981 posthumously after the author's suicide in 1969. It is a very difficult book to describe, and has characters unlike any I can remember from other books. Ignatius is fat, extremely lazy, overly educated, and in an almost constant state of moral outrage. He rails against everything, popular movies are one of his favourite targets, prompting screaming in theatres:
What degenerate produced this abortion?
Although Ignatius was an amazing character, my favourite was Burma Jones. Jones gives Lana Lee a tough time about suspicious packages she claims are for orphans, and the dismal state of Lee's bar the Night of Joy:
The only thing you ever be givin the orphan is siphlus.
I feel sorry for them po peoples comin in here thinkin they gonna have theirself some fun, probly gettin knockout drop in they drink, catchin the clap off the ice cube.
This book made me laugh out loud quite a few times, and produced plenty of smiles. It really is an amazing piece of work.
Quite a number of attempts have been made to convert the book into a movie, but with no results. Ignatius is such a formidable character I could see how representing him in a movie would be difficult, although I think Will Ferrell would have had a pretty good crack at it.
4 stars.
I enjoyed this book too - what an original! Ignatius is the grossest character I’ve ever come across and quite a caricature really. All the same, I think most of us could think of someone we've met in our lives who is not unlike him. Or maybe that's just me.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in your point about movie adaptations because as I was reading this book, I was thinking what a great stage play it would make - lots of witty dialogue with a real rhythm to it, plus a bit of slapstick thrown in for good measure. I find it harder to imagine a movie though.
On a bit of a tangent, by coincidence the last three books I’ve read (including this one) have been by authors who suffered an untimely death before their first book was published and went on to be wildly successful. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Steig Larsson) and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer) are the others. Huh, fancy that!