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Pocock & Pitt
'It's a long time since I read a book that was so consistently enjoyable. The whole novel, while tough and disenchanted, increases your appetite for life."
-Eastern Daily Press 'A strange and comic odyssey, too complicated to summarize, but a joy to read."
- Daily Telegraph ' Pocock and Pitt is philosophical, witty and erudite, wise and exciting and one of the best novels I have read this year."
- Irish Times 'Elliott Baker is one of the wittiest of American authors. Quite rightly, this is a 'one of a kind" fiction."
- The Scotsman
-Eastern Daily Press 'A strange and comic odyssey, too complicated to summarize, but a joy to read."
- Daily Telegraph ' Pocock and Pitt is philosophical, witty and erudite, wise and exciting and one of the best novels I have read this year."
- Irish Times 'Elliott Baker is one of the wittiest of American authors. Quite rightly, this is a 'one of a kind" fiction."
- The Scotsman
292 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 2, 2023
I liked "A Fine Madness" and loved "Klynt's Law" (yes, I'm the one), but finding info on most of Baker's books is a slog. So imagine my delight when I learned that a New York Times reviewer claimed he laughed so hard at this, he slid off a beanbag chair.
Well, *I* dropped my copy of Irvine Welsh's "A Decent Ride" on the floor because I was shaking with laughter on page 4. But "Pocock & Pitt" isn't in that class. Not sure why, because Baker came up with an ingenious plot and memorable characters, but I thought it was ... mildly amusing.
Wendell Pocock is the kind of schlubby middle-aged suburban semi-failure looking for a way out who populates books by Richard Yates, Thomas Berger, John Cheever (or were his characters rich?) and Peter De Vries (really the one this type should have been reserved for). I think the fairly contrived scene where he has to impersonate a British Army major and address a meeting of militantly tree-loving elderly women was inspired by Gussie Fink-Nottle's unforgettable drunken speech at the Market Snodsbury Grammar School prize-giving ceremony in "Right Ho, Jeeves," so Baker gets points for his taste in literature.
Well, *I* dropped my copy of Irvine Welsh's "A Decent Ride" on the floor because I was shaking with laughter on page 4. But "Pocock & Pitt" isn't in that class. Not sure why, because Baker came up with an ingenious plot and memorable characters, but I thought it was ... mildly amusing.
Wendell Pocock is the kind of schlubby middle-aged suburban semi-failure looking for a way out who populates books by Richard Yates, Thomas Berger, John Cheever (or were his characters rich?) and Peter De Vries (really the one this type should have been reserved for). I think the fairly contrived scene where he has to impersonate a British Army major and address a meeting of militantly tree-loving elderly women was inspired by Gussie Fink-Nottle's unforgettable drunken speech at the Market Snodsbury Grammar School prize-giving ceremony in "Right Ho, Jeeves," so Baker gets points for his taste in literature.
Displaying 1 of 1 review