Coming From Behind [Import] [Paperback]

Howard Jacobson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Black Swan; New Ed edition (1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552990639
• ISBN-13: 978-0552990639
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,957,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

An award-winning writer and broadcaster, Howard Jacobson was born in Manchester, brought up in Prestwich and was educated at Stand Grammar School in Whitefield, and Downing College, Cambridge, where he studied under F. R. Leavis. He lectured for three years at the University of Sydney before returning to teach at Selwyn College, Cambridge. His novels include The Mighty Walzer (winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize), Kalooki Nights (longlisted for the Man Booker Prize) and, most recently, the highly acclaimed The Act of Love. Howard Jacobson lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time, August 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Coming From Behind (Paperback)

Kingsley Amis, David Lodge, Malcolm Bradbury and Robertson Davies have all done fine "campus" novels. Jacobson's is mediocre and rarely funny. There are so many great books to read- don't waste your time with this one!

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, riveting, eclectic, October 20, 2011

By 

A W Brit (IRELAND) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coming From Behind (Paperback)

Funny, riveting, eclectic. This book manages to beautifully describe the small-town mentality of staff - both teaching and administrative - in a typical 'red-brick' university and its constraining effect on an English Jew of prodigious appetites.

The writing is masterful, funny and entertaining. The shortcomings of its antihero, Selwyn Goldberg, explored in excruciatingly forensic detail. The book has a great atmospheric feel and Jacobson's descriptive talents are used to the full. Go buy it!

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Exhaustingly verbose, October 27, 2003

By 

Adi Lachman (Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coming From Behind (Paperback)

I've once read an article by 1984 author George Orwell, lamenting the misuse of the written language. One of his complaints is the unnecessary complication of a simple sentence in an attempt to appear witty or deep.
"Coming from behind" takes this malady to the absolute extreme. Why use one sentence when you can use five paragraphs? The story follows a bungling teacher of English Literature in an unimportant academic institute, and his unsuccessful attempts to extract himself from the continuing cycle of failure that is his life. Dealing with the petty infighting and politics of the minor academics, some level of verbal sophistication could be accepted as minor irony. Unfortunately, Jacobsen convolutes the narrative to such an extent that the reader is simply exhausted by the barrage of intertwining descriptions of every tiny detail and the overwhelming complication of every single word.
All in all, there are a few humorous moments here, but not enough to keep you from drowning in an ocean of obfuscation.