Frisco Pigeon Mambo [Paperback]

C. D. Payne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

"Jonathan Livingston Seagull as imagined by the Marx brothers." That's one take on "Frisco Pigeon Mambo," an uproarious new comic novel by C.D. Payne. When a flock of alcohol- and tobacco-addicted lab pigeons are liberated in San Francisco, the whole city turns topsy-turvy. Our feathered heroes dance into bars, stick up liquor stores, spy on socialites, swipe a van full of cats, and even dodge a murder rap. Soon they have a price on their heads, cops on their trail, beer on their breath, and amour on their minds. Call them "America's Most Wanted," but don't call them pigeons. These swashbuckling outlaws think they're human.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While novelists have written countless stories about adolescent angst and midlife malaise, few have touched on the vagaries of species identity crisis. But that is the comic premise of Payne's (Youth in Revolt) new novel, which follows the adventures of a group of lab test pigeons (Group C). These pigeons smoke, drink and listen to Maryanne, the gorgeous lab assistant, read to them from The Maltese Falcon. One day, Robin, the narrator, and his cagemates, Petey and Honky, are unwillingly "liberated" by an animal rights group. Set down in San Francisco and under the delusion that they are human, they aren't prepared for cars and cats. At first they resort to dancing the mambo in a nightclub to cadge drinks. Then they begin to meet and gather information from other birds. They learn from an escaped parakeet, Bud Gerigar, that they can fly. The trio begin cigarette snatching from pedestrians and raiding liquor stores. As hysteria about "killer pigeons" grips the city, Robin's group stumbles upon other freed groups from the lab, notably the girls of Test Group A. Robin also bamboozles a real falcon, Norris, into helping them in their quest to get back to the lab. While Robin scrambles frantically to return to captivity, the reader sees what he can't: Darla, a Group A female, is crazy about him.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Robin, a lab pigeon who believes that he and his cohorts are human, narrates this rollicking tale about experimental subjects who are kept sated with tobacco and sherry. When they are kidnapped by animal-rights activists and let loose on the streets of San Francisco, he manages to save most of his feathered friends when birds of prey, politicians, and police threaten untimely destruction. Robin, who has long pined for their fulsome and human caretaker at the lab, invests his gang in a madcap search for Sam Spade. Instead, they find canaries, falcons, egocentric socialites, a semi-orphaned seagull, occasional gluts of alcoholic beverages, and, of course, endless bouts of trouble. San Francisco is invoked in all its contemporary eccentricities, from street performers whom Robin and his avian buddies misinterpret to a mayor who demonstrates great concern with his own sartorial splendor. Cigarette brand names have been altered to ludicrous riffs (e.g., "Virginia Gaunts") and the birds have to deal with an array of social problems of their own: widowhood, transgender identity, physical disability, religious disillusionment, and more. The author of Youth in Revolt (Doubleday, 1996) has written more compactly here and the story will hold the attention of any teenaged guy with dreams of being turned loose in the big city. This is crazy fun, not precisely clean, but certainly within the bounds of tasteful absurdity.-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Aivia Press; 1st edition (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882647246
• ISBN-13: 978-1882647248
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Frisco Pigeon Funny, October 4, 2000

By 

"jamfan14" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frisco Pigeon Mambo (Paperback)

I have become an avid C.D. Payne fan after reading Youth in Revolt for the first time last year. And with this book he continues to crack me up beyond all belief. An absolutely absurd notion of (almost) self aware chain smoking sherry swilling pigeons who escape from their cages in a berkeley laboratory and take San Francisco by storm. Again, like Civic Beauties, this book isnt quite as funny as either of the Nick Twisp books (if that is possible), but it holds its own against other books of this nature. These pigeons have some of the funniest one liners I have ever read. The conclusion is mighty funny, and also does an excellent job at poking fun at us humans for some of our ridiculous assumptions of grandiosity. Reading the back cover of the book I laughed thinking how in god's name would Payne pull this off, yet he does, and with authority. Please read this, you will get a kick out of it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and irreverent - a truly fun read!, October 16, 2000

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Frisco Pigeon Mambo (Paperback)

FRISCO PIGEON MAMBO is a wild satirical romp through the streets and parks of San Francisco. Unwillingly liberated by an activist group, a band of chain-smoking, sherry-drinking pigeons are unleashed upon an unsuspecting city. These aren't ordinary pigeons. They think they are human, only shorter than most, and they have panache. Narrated by a sensible though deluded pigeon with the unlikely name of Robin, this story touches upon issues of stereotypes, identity, animal rights, and human vice while giving the reader laugh after laugh. As our heroes meet up with a parakeet who believes he is a psychoanalyst, a seagull who rescues them with a halibut, and a peregrine falcon who falls in love with a statue, they hatch a plan to avoid the police and to find their way back to their Berkeley lab, where their daily supply of booze and smokes does not require mugging pedestrians.

This is the type of book college students slip into their backpacks when they go home for the weekend. It's fun, maniacal, and irreverent. As The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was for an earlier generation, this book could be the one everyone reads out of class. And if you're older than twenty-five, so what? You'll get cool points for reading it - and a healthy dose of over-the-top humor.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious homage to San Francisco, February 28, 2002

By 

Karyn (Hercules, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frisco Pigeon Mambo (Paperback)

Note: It would be helpful to be familiar with "The Maltese Falcon" before reading this book. A familiarity with San Francisco and the area also helps greatly.

The first few pages of this book didn't immediately capture me, but I slogged through, and it was worth it: This book is funny! Even if you hate pigeons, or don't want to hear a story from an animal's point of view, if you are an intelligent person, read this book! Payne's vocabulary continues to astound, and he is the master of unexpected plot twists. He'll have you seeing things from a bird's eye view in no time. Even if these birds weren't convinced that they were human, I have a feeling they'd still think they were pretty hip, continuing to trash talk, sleep around, smoke and drink. They're living the life some people dream about! ...