A Man to Conjure With

by Jonathan Baumbach

Jonathan Baumbach's debut--a comic novel with tragic concerns. Peter Becker finds himself coming back after fourteen years to try to pick up his life where he had left it.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Born in Brooklyn, New York on July 5, 1933. Married Annette Grant (fourth wife) on Dec. 18, 2004. Former wives: Naomi Miller, Elinor Berkman, Georgia Brown. Children: David, Nina, Noah and Nico. A.B (English) Brooklyn College, MFA (Playwriting) Columbia University, Ph.D (English and American Lit), Stanford University. Fellowships include Guggenheim, National Endowment of the Arts, Merrill. Invented in 1973 (with Peter Spielberg) Fiction Collective, the first fiction writers cooperative in America; reinvented in 1988 as FC2. An unintentionally well-kept secret among contemporary American novelists. Author of 14 books of fiction

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jonathan Baumbach's debut follows the life of Peter, a loser who is often hard on his luck and could be described as a bum at times. The initial chapters jump around in time as they tell the story of Peter and his wife Louis, through their meeting, breakups, and reunion.

At times Peter can be a frustrating lead as his thoughts and actions move from well meaning to idiotic, and self-destructive. Eventually it seems even Baumbach gets tired of this schtick as the story jumps ahead 14 years to a time where Peter decides to get his life in order.

This final section is interesting as Peter battles with his past, and questions whether he deserves his present. The ending is perhaps a happy one for him, though whether or not the reader will feel the same way is something else.

Occasionally rough in parts, this is a debut that will likely be read on the strength of Baumbach's other work, if not his reputation within the literary world.

[rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Noah Baumbach, filmmaker, so in the spirit of appreciation of the Squid and the Whale (and the rest of his work, including that documentary on Brian DePalma- amazing!), I checked out his dad’s debut novel on my Books phone app. It seems to be fairly well-written. Funny, but quite sad. Next stop is mom’s work, I guess.

[Peter Schutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic prose—witty!