Bowl of Cherries (Mcsweeneys) (Hardcover)

by Millard Kaufman (Author)
Key Phrases: fipple flute, Lee Roy, New York, Joseph Grady (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Nonagenarian Kaufman-twice nominated for screenwriting Oscars in the 1950s and a cocreator of Mr. Magoo-makes his fiction debut with this irresistible comic novel, a bawdy, original coming-of-age tale. Kaufman brings bright, resourceful Judd Breslau to vivid life, giving him a striving nature that always leads to trouble. After dropping out of Yale at 14, Judd moves into the crumbling mansion of nut-job Egyptologist Phillips Chatterton, where he joins a phalanx of oddball thinkers working on a quixotic project to redesign human society. A fringe benefit is Chatterton's daughter, Valerie, over whom Judd goes ga-ga. Both Judd and Valerie end up in New York, where Judd interviews with a shady corporation seeking a revolting economic opportunity in war-torn Iraq. So it's off to the hilariously backwards Coproliabad, where Judd runs afoul of the new sheikh, who wants Valerie for his queen. In fact, Judd, awaiting execution, narrates the whole book from a fetid jail cell. Kaufman's screwball sensibility, relish for language, gleeful vulgarism and deep sympathy for his characters make this novel an unprecedented joyride. Whether it's due to his being alive for 90 years or not, Kaufman's book is shot through with worldly wit and a keen sense of the humor in human foibles. (Oct.)
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Product Description

Kicked out of Yale at age 14, Judd Breslau falls in with Phillips Chatterton, a bathrobe-wearing Egyptologist working out of a dilapidated home laboratory. There, young Valerie Chatterton quickly leads Breslau away from his research and into, in order: the attic, a Colorado equestrian ranch, a porn studio beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, and a jail cell in southern Iraq, where we find him awaiting his own execution while the war rages on in the north. Written by a 90-year-old debut novelist, ex-Marine, two-time Oscar nominee, and co-creator of Mr. Magoo, Bowl of Cherries rivals the liveliest comic novels for sheer gleeful inventiveness. This is a book of astounding breadth and sharp consequence, containing all the joy, derangement, terror, and doubt of adolescence and modern times.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: McSweeney's (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932416838
• ISBN-13: 978-1932416831
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #473,801 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like Vonnegut you will enjoy Bowl of Cherries, September 25, 2007

By	Sean M. Mcveigh (Germantown, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I don't think it's any coincedence that a 90-year old reminds me of Vonnegut, but this is a terrific book that a lot of my friends are getting from me for the holidays.

Very funny, very satiric, very good.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A slight disappointment., September 13, 2007

By	T. rick (MKE) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had high hopes for this book, as I loved the book McSweeneys pushed hard this time last year, "The Children's Hospital" (Chris Adrian). They gave "Bowl of Cherries" the same sort of push at Book Expo America that "The Children's Hospital" received, even giving out thirty-odd page excerpts, which is how I first learned of the book. And if the McSeeneys folks are excited, I'm excited.

While "Bowl of Cherries" starts out strong and enjoyable, almost gleeful, at the half-way point it changes direction and really loses something. The likeable and interesting characters (our narrator, Judd, and his increasingly less believable love interest, Valerie) at the beginning of the story don't seem to grow, and the ending seems kind of false and needlessly drawn out.
That's not to say, though, that it's not a worthwhile read. Though not as prevalent through the second half, there are plenty of excellent turns of phrase and little insights and incidents throughout that'll make you smile.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars in the tradition of Voltaire, September 16, 2007

By	Mary Carde - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Social satire in the grand tradition of Voltaire. Written with a vocabulary that has the precision of a surgeon's knife. A book for the cerebrating person.