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Luck & Pluck
His tenth book.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 26, 2014
Can a poor but honest young man still find fortune and happiness in the big city through hard work and strength of character? Charlie Merriwell, a direct descendent of the famous Frank Merriwell, believes he can--believe it enough to leave his $75 a month job with YARF (Youth to the Aid of our Red Friends), a branch of the Office of Economic Opportunity, to join the Establishment.
From an Indian reservation in New Mexico, our hero journeys to Los Angeles, uniformed in a crew cut and a Brooks Brothers suit and armed with a pouch of cornmeal and complete Faith in the System. There, as an idea man in the advertising business, he wins instant success as well as an assortment of new "friends" who sorely test his creativity, his karma, even his chastity. But luck and pluck enable Charlie to overcome adversity and, in the end, to really rip off a good life. He acquires big bucks, but gives it away to others less fortunate. And rather than marrying into the Establishment, he holds himself chaste from coitus with hot tunas too numerous to mention. In the last 30-second TV commercial he writes, to introduce a new anti-perspirant, Charlie perpetuates a gigantic hoax. It ruins the advertising agency, but the reservation Indians become rich beyond their dreams and young Merriwell, the innocent abroad, achieves his heart's desires.
Loosely based upon his son, Miles's experiences as a VISTA Volunteer in the late 1960's at the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico, Glendon Swarthout also used some of his own background an advertising copywriter early in his career to weave some of this comedic satire of the self-absorbed, mercenary hippies of the Love Generation, who probably didn't appreciate the ribbing.
Luck and Pluck is Glendon's mostly forgotten novel, somewhat dated now, which his literary estate hasn't turned into an EBook. So old copies will have to be found in used bookstores or off Abebooks.com
More about the writing Swarthouts, descriptions of all the novels and the 9 films made from them, movie trailers and screenplays (originals and adaptations) is all posted on our literary website -- www.glendonswarthout.com.
Book Reviews --
"This ribald farce is a light concoction full of bright, topical gags -- and isn't that what a ribald farce is supposed to be?...Looks like a natural for the screen, providing they can find some really zany people as the cast." Associated Press
"A playful ambush of a pair of long-sitting ducks: namely the Establishment and the Counterculture...a high quota of chuckles."
Martin Levin the New York Times Book Review
"...spoofs everything from hippies to hairdressers, sometimes with a satirical rapier, sometimes an ax...one riotously funny situation after another." Joe Bennett Pittsburgh Press
"An irreverent, bawdy and lusty take-off...crackerjack reading."
Portland, Oregon Journal
"Essentially a rollicking spoof laced with a bit of eroticism, of the American economic system, sexual mores, counterculture, and other aspects of the U.S. way of life." the Booklist of the American Library Association
"Every now and then one comes across an unknown novel by an unknown author that is a delight to read because it is so refreshingly different. This short, sharp fantasy is one such...
A compulsive and genuinely funny novel."
Liverpool, England Daily Post
From an Indian reservation in New Mexico, our hero journeys to Los Angeles, uniformed in a crew cut and a Brooks Brothers suit and armed with a pouch of cornmeal and complete Faith in the System. There, as an idea man in the advertising business, he wins instant success as well as an assortment of new "friends" who sorely test his creativity, his karma, even his chastity. But luck and pluck enable Charlie to overcome adversity and, in the end, to really rip off a good life. He acquires big bucks, but gives it away to others less fortunate. And rather than marrying into the Establishment, he holds himself chaste from coitus with hot tunas too numerous to mention. In the last 30-second TV commercial he writes, to introduce a new anti-perspirant, Charlie perpetuates a gigantic hoax. It ruins the advertising agency, but the reservation Indians become rich beyond their dreams and young Merriwell, the innocent abroad, achieves his heart's desires.
Loosely based upon his son, Miles's experiences as a VISTA Volunteer in the late 1960's at the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico, Glendon Swarthout also used some of his own background an advertising copywriter early in his career to weave some of this comedic satire of the self-absorbed, mercenary hippies of the Love Generation, who probably didn't appreciate the ribbing.
Luck and Pluck is Glendon's mostly forgotten novel, somewhat dated now, which his literary estate hasn't turned into an EBook. So old copies will have to be found in used bookstores or off Abebooks.com
More about the writing Swarthouts, descriptions of all the novels and the 9 films made from them, movie trailers and screenplays (originals and adaptations) is all posted on our literary website -- www.glendonswarthout.com.
Book Reviews --
"This ribald farce is a light concoction full of bright, topical gags -- and isn't that what a ribald farce is supposed to be?...Looks like a natural for the screen, providing they can find some really zany people as the cast." Associated Press
"A playful ambush of a pair of long-sitting ducks: namely the Establishment and the Counterculture...a high quota of chuckles."
Martin Levin the New York Times Book Review
"...spoofs everything from hippies to hairdressers, sometimes with a satirical rapier, sometimes an ax...one riotously funny situation after another." Joe Bennett Pittsburgh Press
"An irreverent, bawdy and lusty take-off...crackerjack reading."
Portland, Oregon Journal
"Essentially a rollicking spoof laced with a bit of eroticism, of the American economic system, sexual mores, counterculture, and other aspects of the U.S. way of life." the Booklist of the American Library Association
"Every now and then one comes across an unknown novel by an unknown author that is a delight to read because it is so refreshingly different. This short, sharp fantasy is one such...
A compulsive and genuinely funny novel."
Liverpool, England Daily Post
August 10, 2017
nice satirical book
February 18, 2017
Swarthout alternated writing an action book and a satirical book. I have enjoyed his action book and am sad to discover there is only one left for me to read. Unfortunately I have not enjoyed any of his satirical books and this one is no different. Oh well.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews