The Natural Man

by Ed McClanahan

Fiction. "Others have observed the natural man in the American condition before, but nobody has done it with such good humor. Ed McClanahan's good humor both sharpens his eye and gentles his vision. I don't know where else, now, you would find workmanship that is at once so meticulous and so exuberant" - Wendell Berry.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Humor, Novels, Book Club

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1983

About the author

Edward Poage McClanahan was born in Brooksville, Kentucky in 1932 to Edward Leroy and Jesse (Poage) McClanahan. He attended school there and later in nearby Maysville, Kentucky where the family relocated in 1948. McClanahan graduated from Miami University with a B.A. in English in 1955 and from the University of Kentucky in 1958 with a M.A. in English. McClanahan taught English at Oregon State University, 1958-1962.

He received a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in 1962 and remained at Stanford University as E. H. Jones Lecturer in Creative Writing until 1972. During his time at Stanford, while also known by his hippie moniker "Captain Kentucky," McClanahan became good friends with author and fellow Stanford attendee Ken Kesey. McClanahan was an active member of Kesey's band of Merry Pranksters.


McClanahan currently resides in Lexington, Kentucky with his third wife, Hilda. He is active in Kentucky literary circles and can occasionally be seen, in full "Captain Kentucky" regalia, guest-lecturing to University of Kentucky creative writing workshops.

Reviews

[John Asher · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best-known works by the Kentucky native who ran with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, this novel remains magical to me on many levels. Not to missed is a priceless section in which protagonist Harry Eastep reels off just of a few of the dirty jokes in the arsenal of the crude basketball star Monk McHorning. It's a page of nothing but set-ups - no punch lines - but it's impossible to stop from laughing out loud because of what you know, or think, the punch lines are going to be. That is, of course, if you have the right mind for that kind of thing. Every page is wonderful.

[Jill Bowman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ll begin by saying this book is NOT aimed at me. My husband bought and read it YEARS ago and it’s been on our shelf since then. I’ve been trying to find books to donate to a little library so I’m reading the ones he read so I can get rid of them.
If I were a 14 year old boy who needed to sneak a slightly dirty book off of my dad’s bookshelf this one may fit. Bonus if I knew who The Merry Pranksters were.
Sadly, I’m a grown woman and hated it. Had to skim because it was about to begin a dreaded book slump spiral because I just didn’t want to pick it up and it seemed far too tiny to DNF.

[Jay Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is of a time period just after World War Two. It is about a teenage boy trying to fit in. He makes good grades and has moved from Dayton, Ohio to a small town in Kentucky. He is sitting at a soda fountain when a large orphaned boy comes to the small town adopted by the basketball coach to have a winning team. He is good but he enjoys cigarettes, booze and girls in that order, so the main character steps up not only to tutor him, but also wants to be his sidekick. Needless to say this leads to trouble and we live with this misfits adventures. The book was good, but I expected more.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly how I expected a Kentucky small town and its cast of characters would be. I liked his use of dialect in particular. Interesting read.

[Brian Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

2 words, 1 name: Monk McHorning! The characters in this book. Wow! Read it for them alone and be happy as a jaybird getting to know them.

[Prestigeww · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gelesen zusammen mit "A Confederacy of Dunces" und "My Search for Warren Harding": Alle drei Bücher sind sich sehr ähnlich darin, dass sie von ziemlich zweifelhaften Männerfiguren handeln, die dadurch witzig sind, dass ihnen ihre eigene Seltsamkeit entweder nicht bewusst oder egal ist. Und deren Attraktion für gelinde gesagt aparte Frauenfiguren: Mirna, Jonica und Oodles werden mir ebenso in Erinnerung bleiben wie ihre Verehrer.

Mir hat von den dreien "A Natural Man" am besten gefallen, da es nicht nur sehr witzig ist, sondern den zentralen Sonderling trotz aller Ecken und Kanten nicht zur Witzfigur degradiert. Es hat eine Wärme und Melancholie, die angesichts des Vulgärhumors überrascht, aber nie fehl am Platz ist.

[Sly Segreto · Rating 5 out of 5]

McClanahan is right up there with one of the greatest humorists of modern times, Dave Barry, and that's saying a lot. After multiple readings of The Natural Man, I still look forward to it every year, when I've run out of humor books and want many laugh-out-loud moments. My wife is prone to say, as she observes me reaching for that special place on our bookshelves..."Oh no! Please, not again."

[Mark McLemore · Rating 5 out of 5]

The funniest book I ever read. This is how real boys behave.

[AutomaticSlim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that hurts your brain at first, but next thing you know you're halfway through and thinking 'how'd I get here.'

Monk is a wonderful character.

Round down 3

[John Parrino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my 22nd reading of the book, and I'm still amazed that I am still laughing out loud, tears coming from my eyes and trying to memorize the incredibly funny lines in the story. Clearly, McClanahan is the funniest author I've every read. One reviewer compared the book to Catcher In The Rye (which I have read once) but The Natural Man puts it to shame. I will reluctantly put it aside for a while, but next year I will go for my 23rd reading. I'm looking forward to revisiting the incredibly funny characters: Monk, Harry, Dr. Rexthroat and Oodles Ockerman.

[Jeff Buddle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Merry Prankster Ed McLanahan may not be as well known as some of his fellows, but he's one fine writer. This little coming-of-age gem is filled with good ol' boy humor, wrapped around a plot that is just enough left-of center to make it worthwhile.

Set in the late 1940s, we follow bookish High School senior Harry Eastep (seemingly a McLanahan stand-in) as he strives to rid himself of his pesky virginity. He falls in with Monk McHorning, a hulking orphan adopted by the High School basketball coach to be the team's superstar. McHorning, who farts proudly, swears, drinks, styles his hair in a d.a., brags about his sexual conquests, and generally swaggers though the little town of Needmore, Kentucky becomes Eastep's role model.

But in this small town ("population 6 7/8") female companionship of the sort Eastep seeks is rare. There's much fumbling, big talk, and dirty jokes, but nobody's really getting anything. McClanahan is a funny writer, and his well-crafted prose crackles with intelligence even when he's listing all of the dirty jokes in McHorning's repertoire.

One of the more interesting things to run quietly underneath the story is that it's set at the advent of television. Since Eastep works in the local movie palace, he can see clearly how TV is cutting into his boss's business, how his once-thriving town nightlife has been reduced to the local toughs hanging out at the pool hall and a small band of impoverished gawkers outside the local appliance store, staring slackjawed at the wrestling matches at the TV behind the plate glass window.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is just right for adults who retain some of their adolescent sense of humor, but who require a justification for indulging it. McClanahan's novel conjures up a small group of high school students in the appropriately-named Needmore, Kentucky (it's a real place), but does so with a sophisticated narrator's language that most of his characters would never use or grasp, apart from the four-letter words that they themselves employ. This is a coming-of-age story, which the New York Times Book Review ranked with Huckleberry Finn and Catcher in the Rye. I'd be more inclined to place it with Lee Maynard's under-appreciated novel Crum, but that's still not bad company. If you need a quick read and some laughs to share with your high-school nephew, this is the book for you.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

What can I say about this book? It was strange. But that's not to say I didn't Like it. This book definitely has its moments that caught my attention, made me smirk and convinced me to continue reading. The only problem I had with this book was that I couldn't seem to find the overall theme or lesson it was trying to get across. I frequently thought I knew where the book was going to find the plot drift to another subject and in the end I was left feeling incomplete.

[Alvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you grew up on planet Earth, you will certainly find the universality of this book. If you grew up on another planet, well, maybe you'll find it of interest as well. McClanahan is a comical writer who makes you think, then makes you laugh, then makes you think some more....

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because it was listed on kentucky's bucket list. It was a fun little read about a buckeye who is converted to a wildcat. I especially enjoyed the end, being both a buckeye and a wildcat.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll give a full review later, but if you like Confederacy of Dunces you'll like this one.

[Reuben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny but a bit too cynical for my taste. Well written.

[Buddy]

Novel with a rare blurb by Wendell Berry!