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The Thought Gang (Fiction series)
 
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The Thought Gang (Fiction series) (Hardcover)

by Tibor Fischer (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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3 new from £18.41 9 used from £0.01 2 collectible from £9.75
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Hardcover 5 used & new from £0.47
Paperback £8.99 £5.89 15 used & new from £3.54

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited (14 Nov 1994)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0748661603
  • ISBN-13: 978-0748661602
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 339,403 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #9 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > F > Fischer, Tibor

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Product Description

Product Description

A black comedy in the grand tradition of word-drunk intellectuals-en-dementia, "The Thought Gang" follows the larcenous adventures of blackout alcoholic philosopher Eddie Coffin, who, in the wake of scandal, flees his professorship in England to begin the next logical step in his career: robbery. Coffin and his new partner in crime and metaphysics, Hubert the one-armed robber, road-trip across the Continent in a spree of crime and epistemology, arguing a cracked history of Western philosophy and plumbing the meaning of life. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.


About the Author

Tibor Fischer was born in Stockport in 1959 of Hungarian parents. Brought up in South London, where he now lives, he was educated at Cambridge and worked as a journalist. He was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his first novel, Under the Frog, which also won the Betty Trask Award, and he was nominated as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The only philosophy book that ever made me cry laughing, 13 Nov 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Thought Gang (Paperback)
Tibor Fischer's excellent meditation upon the indubitable crapness but inherent attractiveness of life instantly joined my top ten novels of all time upon my first reading, and climbs higher up the chart with every revisit.

The quality of writing is impressive, a real joy is taken in playing with words, sending sentences cascading towards sometimes hairy conclusions with the irreverence of a drunken muskateer, to which the plot, when it is evident, plays a sometimes psychotic foil. Do not read this novel in a public place, unfortunately, laughing alone is no longer viewed as socially acceptable.

Somewhere between the laughs though, a depth of emotion and seductive strength of characterisation draw you into this other world, and there are a few one-line asides on the general impossibility of life, that would make any philosopher proud.

All in all then, the novel serves as a hilarious analogy for life as it appears within the novel, hugely imperfect, but strangely beautiful and effective.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is my favourite book so far, 25 Nov 2004
By R. Knight "farmboyrich" (down on the farm) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Thought Gang (Paperback)
Of the many books I have read so far, I have come to the conclusion that "The Thought Gang" is the best. It's the mixture of philosophy, comedy and improbable situations, all told in such wonderful sentences. It's been a year or so since I last read it and I have so far owned about 6 copies, as I keep giving them away to friends, urging them to read it too. Every time I summarise the plot to people, they fall about laughing and say "That would make a great movie!" Is anyone up to that challenge I wonder?
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Funny & Frantic Romps thru Felonies & Philosophies in France, 6 April 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: The Thought Gang (Paperback)
Middle-aged layabout Eddie Coffin wakes up naked & groggy in an apartment full of child-pornography just as the police break in. If you ever find yourself in similar circumstances, Eddie advises "try to be good-humoured and polite" because "it makes the police fret about having got something wrong."

So begins this hilarious tale of a tenured philosopher at Cambridge who absconds with departmental funds to France, where he meets up with a deranged(?) one-armed robber named Hubert, a psychopath with "a gluttony for erudition." Soon the two of them are on an increasingly improbable crime-spree, rifling bank-vaults & schools of thought with equal aplomb.

As the loot mounts and the police circle ever closer, Eddie & Hubert decide to make one last, climactic heist, to put the capper on their caper career and to put their philosophical conclusions (which include contributions from the Ancient Greeks to Nietzche) to the ultimate practical test.

Tibor Fischer has created a side-splitting narrative that is as full of deep intelligence as it is full of belly-rending guffaws. This is a novel whose pace puts the average potboiler to shame and whose implications stretch the envelope for literary fiction. Eddie & Hubert are characters you will love to hate and vice-versa. If you have an appetite for Felony and Philosophy, then this book is a must-read, a re-read, and a keeper.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Knowing, Smug, Irritating and Brilliant!
At around page 130, I had to resist a strong urge to hurl 'The Thought Gang' across the room. At the very least, it was to be sent to the charity shop. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Quicksilver

1.0 out of 5 stars Pretentious garbage
One look at the horrible cover should have warned me,but still I persisted,encouraged by the glowing reviews. Read more
Published 7 months ago by nicholas hargreaves

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought and Farce
Having re-discovered the fact that Mr Coping once had a flair for critique, and given a spare evening, I thought I'd write some more. The Thought Gang. Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2006 by Rowland Review

5.0 out of 5 stars Get zet!
Apart from the best ever opening paragraph I have ever read and the fact that every page (except 1 short one) has a word that begins with the letter Z, this is a very funny, very... Read more
Published on 28 May 2002

4.0 out of 5 stars Mister Zed
This book is quirky in the extreme, but such good fun that your carried along in the nonsense of it all. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2000 by Anthony Robson

4.0 out of 5 stars A Zany gift...
This book was a Christmas present. I read the plot outline on the cover and failed to see how it could be any good. Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars Tibor, U cold do so much better
This book does have several strengths in that it is eminently readable and outrageously funny. To complain seems a bit curmudgeonly but in the end there isn't much here. Read more
Published on 15 Aug 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely perfect!
A friend recommended this book to me along with the assurance that I would have the time of my life...now I'm passing the advice along to you! Don't delay! Read more
Published on 11 Jul 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book ever?
You know from the point when the suitcase full of money burns in the car crash and the suitcase full of books survives that this is going to be good. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars A quirky romp
Some books plant an itch just below one's cranial ridge. Mr Fischer urges us to scratch. Loved the book. Read more
Published on 22 Feb 1999

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