Lucky Jim
by Kingsley Amis
Our Price: $38.00
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.98 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Kingsley AmisIntroduction: David Lodge
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1992-06-22
ISBN: 0140186301
Number of pages: 251
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of Lucky Jim
Book Review: "And now he badly needed another dose of luck."
Summary: 3 Stars
What to make of 'Lucky Jim' (and its title, whose ironic status is in doubt until the end)? As a frothy, comic satire of post-war British academia, it fares quite well. Amis' depictions of Old Man Welch as a staggering boob and a loathsome bore are spot-on. He gets the details just right here. Same goes for Welch's infuriatingly pretentious family (foppish painter son and overbearing wife). As for the title character, Mr. Dixon's interior dialogues are hilarious, when contrasted with the lines he actually says aloud. He lives quite an entertaining and vitriolic Walter-Mitty-style inner life. Some of the punishments he fantasizes about cooking up for Welch are delightful in their venom.The problem I have with the book is that none of it made a lick of difference. Sure, it is nearly forty years since its first publication, but I just can't help feeling that this terrain has been done with more relevance by someone like Robertson Davies (see his 'Cornish Trilogy'). His pretentious academics actually manage to be fully formed characters, instead of the crudely drawn sketches Amis depicts here.
That being said, the prose is magnificent. What else could you expect from an Amis?
Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.17
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.18
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Midnight's Children: A Novelby Salman Rushdie
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2006-04-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.13
Price in other shops:
Straight Man: A Novelby Richard Russo
Vintage; Published: 1998-06-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.45
Price in other shops:
After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie (Norton Paperback Fiction)by Jean Rhys
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1997-03-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin Classics)by James Joyce
Penguin Classics; Published: 2003-03-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
To the Lighthouseby Virginia Woolf
Harvest Books; Published: 1989-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.58
Price in other shops:
The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffmanby Angela Carter
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1986-03-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.87
Price in other shops:
Money: A Suicide Note (Penguin Ink)by Martin Amis
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2010-06-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Look Back in Anger (Plays, Penguin)by John Osborne
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1982-11-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.53
Price in other shops:
Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amisby Kingsley Amis
Bloomsbury USA; Published: 2010-04-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.79
Price in other shops:
A Passage to Indiaby E.M. Forster
Mariner Books; Published: 1965-03-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.59
Price in other shops: