Human Amusements

by Wayne Johnston

Offering further evidence of his astounding range as a novelist, the bestselling author of The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and The Navigator of New York crafts a hilarious and moving paean to the dawn of the television age. Henry Prendergast grew up on television—not merely watching it, but starring in the wildly popular children’s show “Rumpus Room.” Cast in the roles of Bee Good and Bee Bad by his mother Audrey, the show’s creator, Henry came of age along with the new medium—one that would soon propel his family out Toronto’s middle-class life and into the tabloids.

Henry’s father Peter, a would-be novelist, refuses to have any part in his wife’s burgeoning television empire, but commits himself instead to the task of being a walking, talking—mostly scathing—reminder of the family’s “humble beginnings.” Then, on the heels of Rumpus Room , Audrey dreams up T he Philo Farnsworth Show , loosely based on the life story of the young teen credited with inventing the tube and starring Henry in the lead role. Rapidly amassing a cult-like following of “Philosophers,” the show challenges the Prendergasts anew. Forced into increasing isolation by a fervent media, they must work harder than ever to not let success get the best of them.

Genres: Canada, Fiction, Humor

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Wayne Johnston was born and raised in Goulds, Newfoundland. After a brief stint in pre-Med, Wayne obtained a BA in English from Memorial University. He worked as a reporter for the St. John's Daily News before deciding to devote himself full-time to writing.

En route to being published, Wayne earned an MA in Creative Writing from the University of New Brunswick. Then he got off to a quick start. His first book, The Story of Bobby O'Malley, published when he was 27 years old, won the WH Smith/Books in Canada First Novel award for the best first novel published in the English language in Canada in that year. The Divine Ryans was adapted to a film, for which Wayne wrote the screenplay. Baltimore's Mansion, a memoire dealing with his grandfather, his father and Wayne himself, won the Charles Taylor Prize. Both The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and The Navigator of New York were on bestseller lists in Canada and have been published in the US, Britain, Germany, Holland, China and Spain. Colony was identified by the Globe and Mail newspaper as one of the 100 most important Canadian books ever produced.

Reviews

[Nicholas George · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a strange one, to say the least. The premise is intriguing: in television's 1950s infancy, a school teacher creates a hit children's TV show with her son as one of the premier cast members. She then creates an even bigger hit show about TV inventor Philo Farnsworth, again with her son as the title character.

That premise, however, never fully develops into a story. Even though the novel is told by Henry, the son to whom all this is happening, we never really know much about him--his aspirations, his dreams, his fears. He seems to have no friends or relations other than his parents. Is he intentionally depicted as a cypher to make some statement on the vapidity and soul-sucking nature of television?

Beyond Henry, much of what happens seems to take place in an alternate universe. Even though Henry is the star of two massively popular TV shows, we see practically nothing of the other actors on the shows, nothing about agents or managers, publicists, etc. Henry and his family must be very wealthy yet continue to live modestly. Most everyone calls Henry "Philo" even though they know it's not his real name. Yes, that might be a statement about the power of TV to change the nature of reality, but...that probably seldom happened to William Shatner or Bob Denver.

Johnston does seem to make a statement at times about the pitfalls of fame. But ultimately, without a true story with a beginning and an end and real characters, I just didn't care.

[David]

Hard to say. Vaguely disappointed, I guess. The whole alternative Romper Room narrative didn’t quite work for me. In some ways, I found Mr & Mrs Prendergast not much different from Aunt Phil and Uncle Reg (The Divine Ryans), though that is a rather drastically short-sighted view on my part. Johnston is so often praised for his comic touch; I rather think he excels at melancholy, which the comic touches heighten. I don’t know why I didn’t read this one upon its release in 1994; it has been on my shelves since then. All the same, I doubt I will ever re-read it, which is not something I say about many books.

[Myra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have my daughter, Jill, who's an avid Wayne Johnston fan, to thank for another good recommendation from this prolific, entertaining author. Johnston accurately captures the bittersweet nuances of a family's interactions with each other and the world around them as they experience a huge success in the field of television production. His vivid descriptive language evokes both humour and poignancy in the reader as we empathize with the Prendergast family's struggle to survive the turmoil of fame.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful look at the ways in which we deal with our world, with each other, with our self-image, with the way others look at us. Excellently drawn characters, multi-level storytelling, often laugh-out-loud funny.

My mission to read at least one book by at least one faculty member at each school I'm applying to is uncovering some truly enjoyable reads.

[Kristin Maillard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Could not put it down. The complexity of the relationships between the three members of this small family, that familiarity of the geography and the children's programming and the tendency of human-kind. Gawd I love this guys writing - and it was nice to read something not set on the East coast for a change.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odd little novel regarding families and television history..recalling Romper Room & Miss Frances.

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago, and yet I still remember it fairly well. It was a very enjoyable book, with interesting characters. I couldn't help but feel a lot of sympathy for Audrey as a lot of her actions were done with her family in mind, but were not appreciated by her husband, Peter, and their son, Henry. Henry is drawn more to his underachieving father than to his overachieving mother, which leads to a schism in the family.

I found Peter's attitude towards his wife's endeavours and his humorous asides to Henry to be belittling and overly defensive, and in the end, couldn't feel much sympathy towards him, although generally I found his character more engaging than Audrey's. Audrey's efforts to make Peter and Henry happy, although misguided, were heartfelt, and it was unfortunate to seem them rebuffed.

I would definitely recommend this book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful, very funny book about a family caught up in the early days of television. It's told from the perspective of a young boy whose mother pushes him first into a recurring role on a children's show (he's the Bee Good/Bee Bad character who illustrates the right and wrong way to do everything), and then into a teenage part as Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of television. the mother is good -- tightly wound and very fallible -- but the father is one of the best fictional characters I've read in years. Never heard of the author...I picked this up used because of the cover (first) and some quotes inside (second). I hope he's at least huge in Canada.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much different than Johnston's later books, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and The Custodian of Paradise , two of my all-time favorites, this amusing and poignant look at a child star and his family in the early days of TV is a sharp illustration of the cult of the celebrity being dropped on those too young to understand it.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wayne Johnston is a consistently great writer. This book is a little lighter than some of his others I've read. I had some outright belly laughs in the beginning, and while the middle/end are still humorous, it is becoming a bit darker.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

The introspection got very repetitive and dull. In the beginning there were a lot of laughs from the funny dad, but when they stopped, the book got very slow. Also, a few things happened that I just couldn't believe and that hurt the book for me (the lazy security for one).

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out promising and ended OK but it was really the same thing over and over and got dull.

[Trudie · Rating 3 out of 5]

His book Colony of Unrequited Dreams is one of my all-time favorites. I was kind of disappointed with this book.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now here is a book about showbiz that never takes itself too seriously...yet manages to make some profound observations along the way.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not worth the effort of reading. Irritating characters, nothing much happens.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had its good points, but not as good as I hoped.