- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd; First edition (30 April 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224051229
- ISBN-13: 978-0224051224
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.5 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 909,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
No More Mr Nice Guy
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Product Description
Review
"A savage and scabrously entertaining sex comedy." -- "Sunday Times"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Daily Telegraph
‘Howard Jacobson is one of the funniest writers alive…his writing pulsates with nerve and edge; it is colossal in comic precision’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Howard Jacobson's fiction is all about irony, self-discovery and lament. No More Mister Nice Guy is no exception. Frank Ritz, a celebrated and successful TV critic, is thrown out of his own house by his partner, Mel, who writes feminist erotica. So begins Frank's personal odyssey in search of meaning about his own sexuality. He gets in his car and visits all the places that have been sexual 'milestones' in his own life. What we as readers get along the way are ribald, earthy and, most importantly, extremely funny depictions and comments about man's basic urges and needs. In its own way, this book is Jacobson's updated version of Portnoy's Complaint. But with a Mancunian accent!
And the irony and lament? These lie in the fact that Jacobson produces his own work of erotica that uses increasingly graphic description and language to support the increasing despair felt by the central character. By the end, all Frank's sexual excess cannot compensate for the passage of time, the loss of friends, and his feelings of inadequacy. Frank is finally portrayed as a victim not a villain.
Above all, this novel once again highlights Jacobson's gift of expression; one that is almost unique among contemporary authors. The chatty, loquacious and literate use of language (with its puns, sardonic asides, Yiddishisms, and quotes from other texts), flows so easily that you feel, at times, that you are reading a script from one of his own television documentaries. It is the writing of someone who wants, and knows how, to communicate ideas. But, as ever, this is done with a loud guffaw rather than a straight face.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I confess before we begin that I couldn't finish this book. From the cliche of the title to the cliche of the protagonists being writers (like 80% of the protagonists in most of todays novels) the self absorbed london types complaining about nothing in particular was an irritant from chapter one. the humour is crass, in your face third rate porn. I couldntfinish the book because all I could think about was Howard Jacobson with a hard on lusting after girls young enough to be his students - and that image wouldn't leave me. I didnt love or hate any of the characters they just irritated with their grim solopsisism. The puns are tired the humour isn't bawdy it's just crude. The author is imagining how men might talk about women when they're on their own, it sounded like what an intellectual might imagine blokes conversation to be like. Maybe the old roues at the university might lust like this, but the other lecturers would all avoid them, like you should with this book.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A fantastic journey with Frank as he confronts his midlife crisis, as well as all his middle-class prejudices. The sex is hilarious - I particularly enjoyed his description of a 'gam' with a street prostitute - and he writes about the male condition with great insight and affection. It is also a joy to read because the prose flows beautifully and the jokes and observations come thick and fast. So glad I've discovered him. Not for the prudish, although my wife was in fits of laughter despite herself.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Jury's Out
I usually enjoy Howard Jacobson but I'm finding it really hard to get into this book. The first couple of chapters have been hard going, and the dysfunction between the two... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Cooking Up A
a good read
Arrived promptly, in new condition at a very good price, so am pleased--but I haven`t read it yet. I was going to post it on as part of a Christmas present but the postal chaos... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Ms. C. A. Oladipo
Clever claptrap
Using some filth to generate depth, that is what Howard Jacobson does through the book. Its a journey with a man as he goes through a mid-life crisis, made interesting or trite,... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Sontee
I'm no prude but........
Was it really necessary to be so disgusting? What with hairbushes, prostitutes and lesbian sex, I don't think the book needed it. A journey indeed, one i just wanted over and done. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2007 by D. Collis
Very male, very real.
This was a great read. An exploration into the main man, Frank’s, mind was a whirlwind ride of hilarity that you could imagine your father, brother or partner going through. Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2004 by Corinna
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