Great Pursuit [Paperback]

Tom Sharpe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 1984

The gullible author of a totally filthy novel, sure to make a shameful pile of money in America, is dispatched across the Atlantic for a chaotic publicity tour.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tom Sharpe was born in 1928 and educated at Lancing College and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He did his national service in the Marines before moving to South Africa in 1951, where he did social work before teaching in Natal. He had a photographic studio in Pietermaritzburg from 1957 until 1961, and from 1963 to 1972 he was a lecturer in History at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. He is the author of sixteen bestselling novels, including Porterhouse Blue and Blott on the Landscape, which were serialised on television, and Wilt, which was made into a film. In 1986 he was awarded the XXIIIeme Grand Prix de l'Humour Noir Xavier Forneret, and in 2010 he was awarded the inaugural BBK La Risa de Bilbao Prize. He is married and divides his time between Cambridge, England, and northern Spain. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (October 12, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039472609X
• ISBN-13: 978-0394726090
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,535,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Restrained, for sharpe, August 11, 1999

By 

ensiform (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Pursuit (Transaction Large Print Books) (Hardcover)

The story of a publisher, Frensic, who convinces an unimaginative would-be author, Peter Piper, to pretend authorship of a wildly successful, pornographic novel. It's a funny book, though not riotously so: more witty and arch, or getting its humor by deflating stereotypes. Its plot is devious and twisted, but though there's sex and a riot and some explosions, it seems restrained compared to other Sharpe books. I must say I don't care much for the abrupt, highly unsatisfying ending. Start reading Sharpe with Wilt or Blott.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Crazy, but different from the typical Tom Sharpe, December 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Great Pursuit (Paperback)

The zany plot lines and characters of Tom Sharpe are present, but the language is toned down slightly. The plot is rather summarily tidied up at the end as though the word limit was achieved and the author just decided to work into a close. Early promise in the plot was therefore not fully realised. The characters were as likely and unlikely as ever. On the whole not up to the great 'Blott', but not quite as raucous as some of the others by Sharpe.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for a chuckle, July 25, 2005

By 

alistair w "AliWiseman" (Leiden Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Pursuit (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book. The concept is reasonably understandable, a uk publicist has a sure fire winning manuscript, who's author who wants anonimity, so installs in the authors place a writer who's willing to pretend to be the original writer so as to premote the book for the sales pitch to the USA. Sounds simple? No chance!

Having already agreed, the surrogate author finds the book is not at all to his taste, and throws a wobbly!! The ensuing chaos is all you'd expect of a Tom Sharpe book, ranging from vast amounts of expletives, through to dialogue thats sharp, witty, and occasionally leaves you grasping for the dictionary. Its not Porterhouse Blue standards... but its still well worth a read.