Also available in Germany ‘Spike Milligan’s first novel bursts at the seams with superb comic characters involved in unbelievably likely troubles on the Irish border’ – Observer Some Reviews I first read this book at the age of about 16 (I'm now 48) and haven't stopped loving (and laughing at) it since. In what was Spike's first attempt at a sustained comic novel it opens with what must be one of the English language's strangest conversations.. between the hero and the author in which, amongst other things the hero queries "who wrote 'dem legs?" (not very good in the literary leg departments is Spike!) Surreal humour follows with Spike's usual profiles of strange characters and situations, including a hairy nosed Irish farner, a bewildered Chinese policeman, a frustrated (in all ways) Civil Servants and variuos ineffectual members of the IRA and Garda. The previous reviewers desperate clichés (replete with spelling and grammatical errors) about Spike's 'illness' do nothing to aid prospective readers. The whole book is unhinged, and is meant to be so. The sustained comic brilliance is reason enough to read this book, the hair-spltters who winge about the plot should stick with Martin Amis and leave Milligan for those who appreciate him. Even though Spike's comedy and success did not reach across the waters to the U.S., it was nice to go to bed thinking that someone like Spike was around. But now he's gone and oh, how he is missed! His humor is unsurpassed; and completly his own. Puckoon is a prime example, and a great introduction to his comedy. Puckoon is Milligan being Milligan. The novel moves along at a brisk pace, even when it seems little is happening. Reading everything coming together at the end is pure delight. I can't recommend this book enough... the only drawback is that it's so short it leaves you wanting more. I read this for the first time when I was 15, and coming back to it I find that I'd forgotten how easy it is to lose yourself in the mad world of Milligan. Only an idiot would be concerned with the lack of plot in a book that bursts with energy and ideas like this does. Oh, and it's cripplingly funny too zum zerkugeln- nur für leute mit schrägem humor! A Review by Peter Hawes from the EXMSS website New Zealand Peter Hawes As many of you will know, Puckoon is by no means a new book. It was published in 1963, and last reprinted in 1975. To review it may therefore seem a little odd, but that is in keeping with the nature of Puckoon's writer who also, after all, wrote the famous Goon Show for a perennially puzzled BBC. My reasons for this review are as jumbled as any Goon Show. They include news of the publication of a dictionary for text messaging; re-reading The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera; and a recent trip by a friend to Ireland. He had heard that Sir Richard Attenborough was filming Puckoon in the Republican village of Glasnough. Post haste he bought a first-class ticket - the only one available - and was off. But then Puckoon was his favourite book, Milligan his favourite author, and Glasnough just six miles from his wife's hometown. Well, Mr Milligan himself didn't turn up, but to ameliorate my friend's disappointment they gave him a part in the movie. And a line to speak, which meant they had to pay him. He earned a pound, which in Ireland is called a punt and rhymes with bank manager. As he tells it: "It cost me $11,000 to go over there and earn a punt - and I wouldn't have it any other way." The movie comes out in November - in the midst, alas, of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars Umpteenth. It could well get buried. Who remembers Spike? Less than half of New Zealanders now have heard of the Goons, and less know of Puckoon. Old Spike is fading away folks, so this review is in the nature of a mercy mission. Ironically enough, the shambolically busy cover (author-drawn) contains the blurb: "Buy Puckoon and stop penguins becoming extinct, folks!" Well, transpose just one word and we're on the road to success. Of course you can't buy the book - it's out of print. But you can see the movie, which will create a demand and the book will be reprinted. Then Puckoon, in all its sublime lunacy, will inspire new generations and wean them away from the aridity of text-speak and back into the magic of Milliganese: "Many people die of thirst, the Irish are born with it." "Holy God! Wot are dese den?" "Legs." "Legs? Whose legs?" "Yours." "Mine? And who are you?" "The Author." "Author? Did you write these legs?" "Yes." "Well I don't like dem. I coulda writted better legs myself. Did you write your legs?" "No." "Ahh! Sooo! You got someone else to write your legs - and someone who's a good leg writer - and den you write dis pair of crappy legs fer me." In fact, legs are a leit motif of the book - the same legs crop up again just nine pages later: "The Milligan had suffered from his legs terribly. During the war in Italy, while his mind was full of great heroisms under shell fire, his legs were carrying the idea, at speed, in the opposite direction. The Battery Major had not understood. 'Gunner Milligan! You have been acting like a coward.' 'No sir, not true, I wasn't acting. I'm a hero with coward's legs, I'm a hero from the waist up.'" All the characters are zestfully filled with foible. "Money! Father Rudden had tried everything to raise funds, he even went to the bank. 'Don't be a fool, Father!' said the manager, 'Put that gun down.'" And Mrs Doonan who wants a divorce: "Think hard now," said the solicitor, "has he ever been unfaithful to you?" Her face lit up. "By God, I tink we got him there, I know for sure he wasn't the father of me last child!" Then there's Sergeant Major Grady "who last week was a private, his rapid promotion due to the discovery of his commanding officer's boots under his wife's bed; every night since he had looked under the bed for further promotion." I calculate there's about 10,000 characters all up, all as merrily wrought and all elbowing each other out of the way for the reader's attention. And vying for attention also is a panther, a Customs Post and the world's greatest loo featuring Moorish arches, marble steps and, "Inside the pan were low relief sculptures of the family enemies staring white-faced in expectation." Somewhere at the hub of this frantic gyration of humanity is a plot, involving IRA dynamite, boyscouts, Julius Caesar, Chinese policemen and the smuggling of coffins from one side to the other. It ends with a post-diluvian Flood and a pre-Armaggedonian explosion. Puckoon is not a new book, but I hope it will become so again. This is perhaps the first book review in history which has attempted to create the book that it is about. Peter Hawes is a playwright, scriptwriter and novelist. You can find out more about Peter here. From Amazon Chortle, chuckle, snigger, snort. This is probably the funniest book i have ever read. Spike's surreal, zany homour didn't always hit the mark but when it did....pure genious! and "Puckoon" definately hits the mark. Absolutely Milligan at his best It has been many years since I last saw my well-thumbed copy of Puckoon. Now, exiled in the United States, I am searching Amazon.com for that perfect gift for my wife. She's one of those Americans who thinks she's Irish. Puckoon would be the perfect gift for her. I still remember laughing until I cried at the antics of the characters in Puckoon. There is no doubt that Spike Milligan has written one of the funnies books ever written about Ireland. I hope that my children will one day be able to both read and appreciate this book. Spike Milligan has written many books, all of them good, but Puckoon will always stand out in my mind. Reading Puckoon is like having your own personal Spike Milligan in the room with you Short and sweet Oh, how Spike Milligan is missed! His humor is unsurpassed; and completly his own. Puckoon is Milligan being Milligan. The novel moves along at a brisk pace, even when it seems little is happening. Reading everything coming together at the end is pure delight. I can't recommend this book enough... the only drawback is that it's so short it leaves you wanting more. Quite "Simply The Best" I can only endorse and agree with everybodies praise for this piece of work. I first read this in my early teens and now at 43 I'm on my third copy. I'd love to know why this has never been made into a film, although judging by the laughter count while you read it I guess it would be almost impossible to act it. GOON PUKOON SPIKE IS A COMEDY GOD..AND A GOON Today I bought my FOURTH copy When I was 14, my friend lent me his stolen copy, and I loved it so much I went back to where he stole it and PAID for it! ( I had morals back then). Over the next 15 years I recommended this hilarious book to many, many friends. I lent my well worn copy over and over, never learning that it may not come back to me, it was always passed on by another new fan of Spike. So today I bought my fourth copy, amazed to find it still in print. My son will pee in his pants as he reads it! BUY THIS BOOK. If you like it, by Spike's "silly verse for KIDS" -- that's great too, but I can honestly say I believe this to be the funniest book EVER written. What's the time? (Read the book...) I love this book. There's not a single caricature in this book that can't be spotted in a trip from Galway to Oughterard, and that's what make it so great. If you like this book, try something by Flann O'Brien ("Myles na Gopaleen") - "The Third Policeman," or "The Poor Mouth," or "The Best of Myles." Utter whit Brilliant. I loved it. I nearly wet myself with laughter. Puckoon is full of that mad humour which keeps me sane. He gives a view of the Irish as being country bumpkins with little intelligence. Any book by Spike Milligan is worth buying. His war memoirs are brilliant, as is his interpretation of the Old Testiment. Puckoon must be his masterpiece though. I loved the bit when Dr. Goldstein impersonates a goat as they are trying to catch a vicious Panther thats escaped from Gulio Ceaser's circus, as well as the chapter on the Boundary Commission. The Chinese policeman is also the best. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Brilliant. Long Live Spike Milligan Laughed till I fell off my seat on to the floor... Puckoon is a book, so funny, that thirty years later, I still quote from the book. Unfortunately, I loaned it out and it was never returned. I first read it on a train between London, England and Edinburg, Scotland. After a short while I started gigling. This soon progressed to out-of-control laughter. Eventually, I fell off my seat in the train compartment, much to the horror of my fellow passengers. I writhed on the floor convulsed in pain and laughter, tears ran down my face. Eventually I half composed myself and regained my seat. I dared not read anymore; Puckoon was too funny to read in public. However, at regular intervals, while thinking about the book, I lost my composure and fell into uncontrolable laughter again, much to the discomfort of my fellow passengers. Eventually, I pointed to a passage and pushed the book into the hands of a fellow passenger. In a short while, he too was stricken with convulsive laughter. The book was passed around from passenger to passenger. Before long the entire members of the compartment were laughing and crying with glee. Between snorts, people would quote a passage and we would all break up into out-of-control laughter again. The train eventually rolled into Waverly staion. Quite weak, and still trying to control our luaghter; eyes red from crying we alighted onto the platform. Puckoon is by far the funniest book I have ever read, or am likely to ever read in the future. This book is definitely not those prone to heart attacts. I must locate another copy. When I was 12 years old, God sent me Puckoon I love this book to death and my admiration for Milligans manic and surreal humour is surpassed by no other. But to put into context the comedy element of this book I have to tell a story. My father gave me a well thumbed copy of this book when I was twelve yeras old and frankly it was a revelation. I was in bed reading it and found one particular passage so amusing I started to laugh the ubiquitous 'out loud'. I laughed and laughed and laughed hysterically for a good five or six minutes. This was the kind of laughter which if observed by a pediatrician would have been diagnosed as symptomatic of my good self going right round the royal bend. Anyhows I laughed so long, so loud and so hard, my parents rushed up to my bedroom believing I was asphixiating in my sleep. This story is absolutely true. Ask my dad. God bless Milligan. Read this and die laughing. Hillarious Irish humour This is one of the funniest books I ever read. Spike Milligan, radio and movie star, one of the original goons, is a manic-depressive and this is an example of his manic best. Some Irish/Celtic perspective helps- if you liked Angela's Ashes you will be able to follow much of this. However, I doubt many Americans and probably few young Brits will catch the full implication of (and I paraphrase) "Brown, now dat's the colour of money". Chortle, chuckle, snigger, snort. This is probably the funniest book i have ever read. Spike's surreal, zany homour didn't always hit the mark but when it did....pure genious! and "Puckoon" definately hits the mark. When I was 12 years old, God sent me Puckoon I love this book to death and my admiration for Milligans manic and surreal humour is surpassed by no other. But to put into context the comedy element of this book I have to tell a story. My father gave me a well thumbed copy of this book when I was twelve yeras old and frankly it was a revelation. I was in bed reading it and found one particular passage so amusing I started to laugh the ubiquitous 'out loud'. I laughed and laughed and laughed hysterically for a good five or six minutes. This was the kind of laughter which if observed by a pediatrician would have been diagnosed as symptomatic of my good self going right round the royal bend. Anyhows I laughed so long, so loud and so hard, my parents rushed up to my bedroom believing I was asphixiating in my sleep. This story is absolutely true. Ask my dad. God bless Milligan. Read this and die laughing. Short and sweet Oh, how Spike Milligan is missed! His humor is unsurpassed; and completly his own. Puckoon is Milligan being Milligan. The novel moves along at a brisk pace, even when it seems little is happening. Reading everything coming together at the end is pure delight. I can't recommend this book enough... the only drawback is that it's so short it leaves you wanting more. | ||
