A gapper is a bit of a 'burr' but it is a dangerous thing. When it attaches itself to the goats the goats become very unhappy and even stop giving milk. There is nothing gappers like more than goats and nothing goats hate more than gappers. When gappers get your goats it means trouble. In one small town gappers are a real pest and it takes the ingenious approach of Capable to find a soution - if a solution exists at all.
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Young Capable is a very tired little girl from Frip, a tiny village near the sea whose children are constantly exhausted because of the gappers--gappers being bright orange, very stupid animals with a strange weakness for goats.
When a gapper gets near a goat it gives off a continual high-pitched happy shriek of pleasure that makes it impossible for the goat to sleep, and the goats get skinny and stop giving milk. And in towns that survive by selling goat milk, if there's no goat milk, there's no money, and if there's no money, there's no food or housing or clothes, and so, in gapper-infested towns, since nobody likes the idea of starving naked outdoors, it is necessary at all costs to keep the gappers off the goats.
In Frip, it is the responsibility of the children to rid the goats of the gappers who persistently adhere themselves to the goats. Every three hours, day or night, the children must labouriously, brush them off, put them into sacks and dump them into the sea, from where the gappers begin their journey again. This cycle continues until one day, when a gapper with more brains than any of the others realises that they'd save themselves some effort if, instead of dispersing between all the yards, they just made for the yard closest to the sea--Capable's yard. The little girl finds herself overwhelmed and in need of some help from her neighbours.
This is a wonderfully surreal and imaginative tale perfectly complimented by the incredibly quirky illustrations by Lane Smith. This modern morality tale is told with affection, warmth, wit and a large amount of ironic humour which will make the reading of it as pleasurable to adults as it is to children. --Rachel Ediss --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'A zany, wild book' Observer 'Capable is a heroine for modern times' Daily Telegraph 'Wonderful kinky modern fable' Financial Times 'An outstanding oddity - an eccentric and comical morality tale' The Sunday Times
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This book is delightful and surreal. I don't want to give too much away because you should read it yourself. It is a fairytale about a small child's struggle against impossible odds. It has that atmosphere of slightly skew reality that a book like say The Little Prince has, but combines that with real warmth. As you can guess from the title ,the prose is lyrical and descriptive. I have bought a copy for a grown up so that they can share it with their children. This is suitable for any child old enough to follow a traditional fairytale, it is more a short illustrated book than a picture book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By ILONACAT
Format:Paperback
I think my curiosity about this was piqued by seeing the front cover. And once I'd begun reading, I couldn't stop until the last page. It's a wonderful little fable crackling with gentle satire and it's also strange, definitely strange. The strangeness of the story is brought out and enhanced by Lane Smith's deeply odd illustrations.
This is a book I think anyone with average reading skills could enjoy. I liked it so much I gave a copy to my brother who enjoyed HIS copy with his young son, who also found the whole thing most enjoyable.
Brighten your day with a Frip !
This is a book I think anyone with average reading skills could enjoy. I liked it so much I gave a copy to my brother who enjoyed HIS copy with his young son, who also found the whole thing most enjoyable.
Brighten your day with a Frip !
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars
43 reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let me put it this way...
16 Jan 2003
By Cipriano
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This very evening I discovered the joy of reading George Saunders...
"There were approximately fifteen hundred gappers living in the sea near Frip. Each Frip family had about ten goats. Therefore, there would normally be about five hundred gappers per yard, or fifty gappers per goat."
What is a gapper?
Well, it is this baseball-like, Velcro-type crustacean with multitudinous eyes, that crawls out of the ocean at night along with (give or take) 1,499 of its buddies, all intent upon attaching themselves to local goats in a burr-like fashion. Side effects? Serious immediate goat-lassitude followed by actual withering, and depletion of milk supply!
Exactly! Of course!
It's fabulous.
Oh man... it's been a long while since I got so caught up into one of these child/adult books, the last time being Salman Rushdie's excellent "Haroun And The Sea Of Stories."
This one is every bit as good, or better. And every bit as crazy.
Let me put it this way... I stumbled across this book in the store, sat down with it... read the whole thing, laughed... laughed some more... thought of many people I want to give this book to... and ended up purchasing five copies. One will be for my own re-reading.
It is hilarious, and meaningful all at once... as the slipcover says, it's an "adult story for children, a children's story for adults."
The illustrations are superb, and the quality of the book is impeccable... a work of art.
"There were approximately fifteen hundred gappers living in the sea near Frip. Each Frip family had about ten goats. Therefore, there would normally be about five hundred gappers per yard, or fifty gappers per goat."
What is a gapper?
Well, it is this baseball-like, Velcro-type crustacean with multitudinous eyes, that crawls out of the ocean at night along with (give or take) 1,499 of its buddies, all intent upon attaching themselves to local goats in a burr-like fashion. Side effects? Serious immediate goat-lassitude followed by actual withering, and depletion of milk supply!
Exactly! Of course!
It's fabulous.
Oh man... it's been a long while since I got so caught up into one of these child/adult books, the last time being Salman Rushdie's excellent "Haroun And The Sea Of Stories."
This one is every bit as good, or better. And every bit as crazy.
Let me put it this way... I stumbled across this book in the store, sat down with it... read the whole thing, laughed... laughed some more... thought of many people I want to give this book to... and ended up purchasing five copies. One will be for my own re-reading.
It is hilarious, and meaningful all at once... as the slipcover says, it's an "adult story for children, a children's story for adults."
The illustrations are superb, and the quality of the book is impeccable... a work of art.
It is a flawless imaginative work, that... while it makes you laugh at every second sentence, makes you realize that resourcefulness in the midst of undeserved adversity can really save the day! That selfishness is ugly... that neighbors ought to be... neighbors.
This little girl named Capable... she is a terrific role model for children.... and adults!
A brilliant work, and recommended without reservation. When you read this story to children the only question will be, who will love it more, you or them? Neither one loving it is simply an impossibility!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant adult allegory masked as children's tale
25 July 2006
By Craig A. Svonkin
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Saunders' brilliant, hilarious adult allegory is masked as a children's tale but is really more of a profound critique of American social Darwinism and the false idea currently held by many rich and privileged that they are rich and privileged due to their own superiority, hard work, or God's election, and not to pure luck. The book is also a thoughtful, funny response to libertarian myths of radical individuality that currently infect American politics like those Gappers of Frip. Older children might enjoy the book as well. I could imagine teaching this book, with wonderful illustrations by Lane Smith, to intelligent ten year olds, but might also integrate the book into a high school English course.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent fable that can be enjoyed on multiple levels
8 Sep 2000
By Aaron Tell
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
The "Very Presistent Gappers of Frip" is a wonderful fable that adults will love and that kids will enjoy as well, but on a different level. (Much as "the simpsons" has many layers.) The illustrations are also great. Lane Smith's artwork evokes the surreal quality of Saudners prose perfectly. The tale is typical of Saunders' short stories in his earlier books, although without any perversity or "unsuitable" language. The story is bizarre and endearing; the characters live in a world so different than our own, yet they seem so familiar anyway. This book is expensive considering its brevity, but is worth it just for the illustrations, let alone a funny story by George Saunders. In short: Buy it! Buy it now! Buy extra copies to give as gifts!
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4.6 out of 5 stars
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