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Jude: Level 1
"If I had urinated immediately after breakfast, the Mob
would never have burnt down the Orphanage." So begins the hilarious,
award-winning, genre-busting tale of Jude, a Tipperary-reared orphan who on
his 18th birthday sets off to discover the wide world and his true
parentage. His picaresque adventures take him first to the "Sodom of
the West" - Galway - where he falls in love, encounters temptations
galore and, disguised as Stephen Hawking, unwittingly blows up the HQ of a
Multi-National Corporation - and himself. With his face reconstructed into
the spitting image of Leonardo DiCaprio (apart from the small matter of an
erectile nose) Jude travels on foot to the inferno of Dublin, in hot
pursuit of Angela, ex-Galway chip-shop employee and his True Love. A
spectacular chase through the city of Ulysses ensues, transformed by
Gough's talent into a dazzling metaphor of 21st century violence,
alienation and progress.
would never have burnt down the Orphanage." So begins the hilarious,
award-winning, genre-busting tale of Jude, a Tipperary-reared orphan who on
his 18th birthday sets off to discover the wide world and his true
parentage. His picaresque adventures take him first to the "Sodom of
the West" - Galway - where he falls in love, encounters temptations
galore and, disguised as Stephen Hawking, unwittingly blows up the HQ of a
Multi-National Corporation - and himself. With his face reconstructed into
the spitting image of Leonardo DiCaprio (apart from the small matter of an
erectile nose) Jude travels on foot to the inferno of Dublin, in hot
pursuit of Angela, ex-Galway chip-shop employee and his True Love. A
spectacular chase through the city of Ulysses ensues, transformed by
Gough's talent into a dazzling metaphor of 21st century violence,
alienation and progress.
180 pages, Hardcover
First published July 2, 2007
2 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Julian Gough
42 books160 followersJulian Gough is an award winning author of funny stories about serious things. He won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2007 (when it was the biggest prize in the world for a single short story). His “The iHole” was shortlisted for the one-off BBC International Short Story Award in 2012. He has also been shortlisted, twice, for the Everyman Bollinger Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction.
He represented Ireland in Best European Fiction 2010; won a Pushcart Prize in the US in 2011; and represented Britain in Best British Short Stories 2012. London born and Irish raised, he now lives in Berlin.
He is the author of three novels, Juno & Juliet, Jude in Ireland, and Jude in London; two radio plays, The Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble, and The Great Squanderland Roof; and a poetry collection, Free Sex Chocolate.
In 2011, he wrote the ending to Time Magazine’s computer game of the year, Minecraft.
As a youth, he wrote and sang on four albums by Toasted Heretic, and had a top ten hit with the single "Galway and Los Angeles”.
He is probably best known for stealing Will Self’s pig.
He represented Ireland in Best European Fiction 2010; won a Pushcart Prize in the US in 2011; and represented Britain in Best British Short Stories 2012. London born and Irish raised, he now lives in Berlin.
He is the author of three novels, Juno & Juliet, Jude in Ireland, and Jude in London; two radio plays, The Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble, and The Great Squanderland Roof; and a poetry collection, Free Sex Chocolate.
In 2011, he wrote the ending to Time Magazine’s computer game of the year, Minecraft.
As a youth, he wrote and sang on four albums by Toasted Heretic, and had a top ten hit with the single "Galway and Los Angeles”.
He is probably best known for stealing Will Self’s pig.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 30, 2011
A wonderful satire on life in Ireland in the 90's. I definitely got a lot of enjoyment from recognising aspects of life in Galway and Dublin that I knew myself, but the story as a whole kept me amused throughout. Definitely well worth reading, though I think readers who are more familiar with Ireland will get more out of the satire.
December 28, 2016
Darei 3 stelline e mezzo.
Il libro è divertente e ci sono delle parti veramente intelligenti oltre che comiche.
Ci sono brani con riflessioni originali al limite della fantascienza.
Un personaggio che ho apprezzato per i suoi discorsi su religione e capitalismo, fuori dall'ordinario ma molto azzeccati, è Pat Sheeran.
Quello che non mi ha convinto è l'andamento altalenante della trama: certe volte diventava troppo complicata, con tantissimi personaggi (molti dei quali non mi erano molto familiari, ma immagino che per un irlandese o almeno anglosassone siano più facili da collocare). In particolare trovo che la storia inizi in un'atmosfera favolesca con una serie di avvenimenti surreali, molto divertenti, ma poi le parti favolesche e surreali vengono un po' perse di vista e si passa a una serie di scene di critica alla contemporaneità (e a Dublino), disordinate e poco comprensibili...
Mi chiedo se e quando avrò modo di proseguire la saga con il secondo volume, perché la curiosità per le origini di Jude mi è rimasta.
Il libro è divertente e ci sono delle parti veramente intelligenti oltre che comiche.
Ci sono brani con riflessioni originali al limite della fantascienza.
Un personaggio che ho apprezzato per i suoi discorsi su religione e capitalismo, fuori dall'ordinario ma molto azzeccati, è Pat Sheeran.
Quello che non mi ha convinto è l'andamento altalenante della trama: certe volte diventava troppo complicata, con tantissimi personaggi (molti dei quali non mi erano molto familiari, ma immagino che per un irlandese o almeno anglosassone siano più facili da collocare). In particolare trovo che la storia inizi in un'atmosfera favolesca con una serie di avvenimenti surreali, molto divertenti, ma poi le parti favolesche e surreali vengono un po' perse di vista e si passa a una serie di scene di critica alla contemporaneità (e a Dublino), disordinate e poco comprensibili...
Mi chiedo se e quando avrò modo di proseguire la saga con il secondo volume, perché la curiosità per le origini di Jude mi è rimasta.
May 25, 2013
This is a not particularly delightful-to-read novel that delights in itself, in the tradition of Pynchon, a novel in which the author seems to be having a wonderful time while the reader tries to keep up, grows bored, lags, catches up, grows bored, and so on. The reviews it received in Europe were breathless, though it feels like Europeans perhaps don't have the same exposure to cleverness that Americans do, because this novel is mostly clever.
There are two exceptions, two series of pages when Julian Gough improves on himself and does poignant and important and delightful-to-read satire, and they happen on pages 67-69 and 151-153. In the first passage, he tackles the American Southern tradition of enslaving person of African descent. In two pages of dialogue, he does an incredible job of connecting the dots from bondage to sharecropping to today's private-prison system - as craven an idea as capitalism has yet hatched, one not even Marx quite anticipated.
The second addresses what Catholic priests did to the children of Ireland (and every other country) for decades, but inverts the criticism, a la Onion.com, and addresses it in the voice of a Catholic bishop who has just seen his diocese win a major court settlement against the people of Ireland:
"Victory," said the Bishop. "But at what price . . .
"We have won vast damages against more than thirty-three thousand named children. But the horror, for so many priests and brothers, of having to relive their trauma all over again!
"Some priests were raped thousands of times, by hundreds of children, over a period of decades. It is unlikely they will ever recover. It has destroyed their trust in children. Some, broken, have even taken to drink . . .
"These poor men, many of them virgins when they entered the priesthood, had their innocence stolen from them by these children. No amount of money can restore that innocence. And these children, oh they knew exactly where to find their victims. They knew that in the Industrial Schools they would meet the kind of lonely, insecure priest on whom they liked to prey.
"A vulnerable man, with no wife or family around him to confide in. And of course the poor priests were afraid to tell anyone. They were afraid they simply wouldn't be believed. Of course nowadays we all know all about Children. I would never leave a priest alone in a room with a Child. But back in those days, you have to understand, the idea that dozens, perhaps even hundreds of Children could rape a priest repeatedly over a period of years never occurred to us. We were very . . . innocent is the only word for it. It was literally unthinkable. Often a priest would move to another school to escape his tormentors, only to be set upon again.
"But what I think has upset the Hierarchy most is the refusal of the Children to accept responsibility for their actions. Their refusal to come to us and ask forgiveness."
That is satire done well; attacking through irony and humor an atrocious series of events. Would that the rest of the book were even half so serious in its undertaking.
There are two exceptions, two series of pages when Julian Gough improves on himself and does poignant and important and delightful-to-read satire, and they happen on pages 67-69 and 151-153. In the first passage, he tackles the American Southern tradition of enslaving person of African descent. In two pages of dialogue, he does an incredible job of connecting the dots from bondage to sharecropping to today's private-prison system - as craven an idea as capitalism has yet hatched, one not even Marx quite anticipated.
The second addresses what Catholic priests did to the children of Ireland (and every other country) for decades, but inverts the criticism, a la Onion.com, and addresses it in the voice of a Catholic bishop who has just seen his diocese win a major court settlement against the people of Ireland:
"Victory," said the Bishop. "But at what price . . .
"We have won vast damages against more than thirty-three thousand named children. But the horror, for so many priests and brothers, of having to relive their trauma all over again!
"Some priests were raped thousands of times, by hundreds of children, over a period of decades. It is unlikely they will ever recover. It has destroyed their trust in children. Some, broken, have even taken to drink . . .
"These poor men, many of them virgins when they entered the priesthood, had their innocence stolen from them by these children. No amount of money can restore that innocence. And these children, oh they knew exactly where to find their victims. They knew that in the Industrial Schools they would meet the kind of lonely, insecure priest on whom they liked to prey.
"A vulnerable man, with no wife or family around him to confide in. And of course the poor priests were afraid to tell anyone. They were afraid they simply wouldn't be believed. Of course nowadays we all know all about Children. I would never leave a priest alone in a room with a Child. But back in those days, you have to understand, the idea that dozens, perhaps even hundreds of Children could rape a priest repeatedly over a period of years never occurred to us. We were very . . . innocent is the only word for it. It was literally unthinkable. Often a priest would move to another school to escape his tormentors, only to be set upon again.
"But what I think has upset the Hierarchy most is the refusal of the Children to accept responsibility for their actions. Their refusal to come to us and ask forgiveness."
That is satire done well; attacking through irony and humor an atrocious series of events. Would that the rest of the book were even half so serious in its undertaking.
October 13, 2011
This week’s headline? a camel hump
Why this book? to read sequel
Which book format? Amazon used paperback
Primary reading environment? during a storm
Any preconceived notions? urinated...mob...orphanage
Identify most with? "like the moon"
Three little words? “I was comforted”
Goes well with? Salmon of Knowledge
Recommend this to? Free Economic Agents
If I had not recently read some Flann O'Brien, I don't think I would have been ready for Jude. This is the same sort of satirical story as The Poor Mouth, a simple Irish country boy and his penis.
Sorry, let's try that again.
When a book is described on its own dust jacket as "seriously funny," there's always the danger that the story will start to believe its own penis.
Yeah, I'm not going to be able to avoid this. It's going to be a book review full of penises.
It happened that someone close to me was reading The Godfather at the same time I was reading Jude: Level 1. When we started discussing our respective reads, I learned that The Godfather is almost pornographic.
I've never read it, but my sources tell me that the original book covers the first two movies combined. My sources also tell me that Sonny has a "huge talent."
That explains his romantic entanglements, I guess.
Strange coincidence that brought these two books together. We are never actually told the size of Jude's penis, but that really doesn't matter, seeing how he has two of them.
Freud would say that I am afflicted with penis envy. Really, though, I'm thinking that no other body part seems to be more commonly used as a, well, tool for character and plot development. This one part of the male anatomy acts as a barometer for whatever happens to be going on in the novel.
Hemingway's Jake Barnes can't use his; many transexual characters try to lose theirs; and for some reason I think both Joe Kavalier from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Archimboldi from 2666 were well-endowed.
I am curious if there are classes taught on literature of the penis.
Other cultural accompaniments: The Godfather (1976), Spider Lovin' Song by the Mighty Boosh (2008), Moulin Rouge (2001)
Grade: A-
I leave you with this: "For all novels are true histories of worlds as real as ours, but which we cannot see." - Pat Sheeran
Why this book? to read sequel
Which book format? Amazon used paperback
Primary reading environment? during a storm
Any preconceived notions? urinated...mob...orphanage
Identify most with? "like the moon"
Three little words? “I was comforted”
Goes well with? Salmon of Knowledge
Recommend this to? Free Economic Agents
If I had not recently read some Flann O'Brien, I don't think I would have been ready for Jude. This is the same sort of satirical story as The Poor Mouth, a simple Irish country boy and his penis.
Sorry, let's try that again.
When a book is described on its own dust jacket as "seriously funny," there's always the danger that the story will start to believe its own penis.
Yeah, I'm not going to be able to avoid this. It's going to be a book review full of penises.
It happened that someone close to me was reading The Godfather at the same time I was reading Jude: Level 1. When we started discussing our respective reads, I learned that The Godfather is almost pornographic.
I've never read it, but my sources tell me that the original book covers the first two movies combined. My sources also tell me that Sonny has a "huge talent."
That explains his romantic entanglements, I guess.
Strange coincidence that brought these two books together. We are never actually told the size of Jude's penis, but that really doesn't matter, seeing how he has two of them.
Freud would say that I am afflicted with penis envy. Really, though, I'm thinking that no other body part seems to be more commonly used as a, well, tool for character and plot development. This one part of the male anatomy acts as a barometer for whatever happens to be going on in the novel.
Hemingway's Jake Barnes can't use his; many transexual characters try to lose theirs; and for some reason I think both Joe Kavalier from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Archimboldi from 2666 were well-endowed.
I am curious if there are classes taught on literature of the penis.
Other cultural accompaniments: The Godfather (1976), Spider Lovin' Song by the Mighty Boosh (2008), Moulin Rouge (2001)
Grade: A-
I leave you with this: "For all novels are true histories of worlds as real as ours, but which we cannot see." - Pat Sheeran
February 20, 2016
Μάλλον φταίει που δεν έχω χιούμορ και ήρθε η ώρα να το αποδεχτώ...
Αυτά τα χοντροκομμένα αστεία λίγο σπλαττερ, λίγο βρωμερά, γεμάτα με όλων των ειδών τις ανθρώπινες εκκρίσεις, ποτέ δε με άγγιξαν, αλλά το βιβλίο βρίθει από τέτοια, άρα είναι ιδανικό για τους λάτρεις τους.
Απλά εγώ δεν ανήκω σε αυτούς. :-)
Εκτίμησα όμως τη διάχυτη ειρωνεία σε όλες τις, ας το παραδεχτούμε, ασυνδετες μεταξύ τους, περιπέτειες του ήρωα. Και για αυτή και μόνο την ειρωνική και καυστική ματιά του συγγραφέα, πάνε τα 3* και δε θα βαρυγκομήσω για τη θέση που καταλαμβάνει απο τώρα στη βιβλιοθήκη μου...
Αυτά τα χοντροκομμένα αστεία λίγο σπλαττερ, λίγο βρωμερά, γεμάτα με όλων των ειδών τις ανθρώπινες εκκρίσεις, ποτέ δε με άγγιξαν, αλλά το βιβλίο βρίθει από τέτοια, άρα είναι ιδανικό για τους λάτρεις τους.
Απλά εγώ δεν ανήκω σε αυτούς. :-)
Εκτίμησα όμως τη διάχυτη ειρωνεία σε όλες τις, ας το παραδεχτούμε, ασυνδετες μεταξύ τους, περιπέτειες του ήρωα. Και για αυτή και μόνο την ειρωνική και καυστική ματιά του συγγραφέα, πάνε τα 3* και δε θα βαρυγκομήσω για τη θέση που καταλαμβάνει απο τώρα στη βιβλιοθήκη μου...
January 8, 2011
A nun with Tourette's syndrome, enough said.
January 31, 2015
the closest any writer has ever come in matching the humour of the third policeman. R.I.P. Flann O'Brien
May 15, 2012
This was a great disappointment, the first chapter was good but it just went down hill from there!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews