Customer Reviews

Consenting Adults Or the Duchess Will Be Furious

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was sick in bed with the flu sometime in 1980, and my mother suggested I read this novel by Peter DeVries, a longtime favorite of hers. I was a DeVries devotee by chapter two. He writes like a dream, but is incredibly funny. This is the saga of a randy young man and his various romantic pursuits, including a four-way with the effervescent Peppermint Sisters (triplets), the first erotic episode eliciting the following: "It was one of those orgasms that unjell the eyeball and cause thousands of men to cancel their "Grit" subscriptions".

I shortly thereafter read as much DeVries as I could find, and this great novel was hardly a quirk. But I think it remains his masterpiece. One charming aspect of this book is the way the narrator will periodically break the fourth wall and begin berating the reader for impure thoughts and puny intellect and what have you: "you secretary-treasurer!" is a favorite insult, though "you wrong-Scarlatti admirer!" is quite nice, as well.

Shortly after "The New Yorker" began printing letters to the editor, maybe twenty years ago, DeVries (a longtime New Yorker contributor) died. I immediately sent in a tribute, which they printed. It was a wonderful thrill not only to see my words and name in The New Yorker but to be able to pay homage to this brilliantly funny novelist.

There is no one writing today whose work equals his. His books are tragically tough to find, so if you see a used copy, grab it---especially "Consenting Adults". "Slouching Towards Kalamazoo", "Forever Panting", "I Hear America Swinging", and "Into Your Tent I'll Creep" are a few others I recommend. ("The Blood of the Lamb" is his one book on a serious subject---the illness and the death of a child---and is highly regarded as well. Great as it is, I wouldn't start with it.)

Peter DeVries's books richly deserve to be rediscovered.