Honey for the Bears (Norton Paperback Fiction) [Paperback]

Anthony Burgess (Author)

Book Description

Series: Norton Paperback Fiction | Publication Date: May 17, 1996

"There are so few genuinely entertaining novels around that we ought to cheer whenever one turns up. Continuous, fizzing energy. . . .Honey for the Bears is a triumph."—Kingsley Amis, New York Times

A sharply written satire, Honey for the Bears sends an unassuming antiques dealer, Paul Hussey, to Russia to do one final deal on the black market as a favor for a dead friend's wife. Even on the ship's voyage across, the Russian sensibility begins to pervade: lots of secrets and lots of vodka. When his American wife is stricken by a painful rash and he is interrogated at his hotel by Soviet agents who know that he is trying to sell stylish synthetic dresses to the masses starved for fashion, his precarious inner balance is thrown off for good. More drink follows, discoveries of his wife's illicit affair with another woman, and his own submerged sexual feelings come breaking through the surface, bubbling up in Russian champagne and caviar.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“It is a very funny, unbalancing, and contentedly schizoid novel that reduces the cold war to an intimate kind of insanity.” (Newsweek )

“Honey for the Bears is one of the best-planned and most brilliantly executed books I have seen in a long time. . . . The reader . . . is in the presence of a virtuoso.” (Saturday Review )

About the Author

Anthony Burgess is the author of many works, including The Wanting Seed, Nothing Like the Sun, The Doctor Is Sick, The Long Day Wanes, Honey for the Bears, and ReJoyce. He died in 1993.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (May 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393314413
• ISBN-13: 978-0393314410
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #446,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anthony Burgess (25th February 1917-22nd November 1993) was one of the UK's leading academics and most respected literary figures. A prolific author, during his writing career Burgess found success as a novelist, critic, composer, playwright, screenwriter, travel writer, essayist, poet and librettist, as well as working as a translator, broadcaster, linguist and educationalist. His fiction also includes NOTHING LIKE THE SUN, a recreation of Shakespeare's love-life, but he is perhaps most famous for the complex and controversial novel A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, exploring the nature of evil. Born in Manchester, he spent time living in Southeast Asia, the USA and Mediterranean Europe as well as in England, until his death in 1993.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's ashame that this book isn't more popular..., August 3, 2001

By 

"error101" (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honey for the Bears (Norton Paperback Fiction) (Paperback)

It is by chance that I read this book. And I don't regret it. I loved Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, and, naturally, I wanted to read more. After looking over the reviews of The Doctor is Sick ,The Complete Mr. Enderby, and The Wanting Seed, I decided I'd look for one of those. I went to the local bookstore, and sadly (or so I thought at the time) they only had one copy of Honey for the Bears, about 7 copies of A Clockwork Orange and a couple of works he did on Shakespeare. I read the summary for Honey for the Bears, and I was uninterested. However, for lack of reading material, I bought it.

It was excellent. Burgess is really talented. Unlike so many other books, this one never gets boring, not even for a second. Taking a journey of self exploration with Paul could not possibly be more entertaining, funny, exciting or meaningful than Burgess makes it. You'll enjoy this book if you like a well constructed plot and interesting story line. This was not in any way Russian babble not worth reading unless Russian yourself. (I'm not Russian, never have been to Russia, and don't know any of the Russian language. I will go even furthur to say that you most certainly don't have to have a great interest in Russia to enjoy this book!) At the risk of sounding cliche, this is just one of those books that entertains you the whole way through.

It's not complete candy though: Burgess used Russian throughout this book, making it a little diffult to understand at times. I had to reread a few parts, but it wasn't a chore at all, and surprisingly, did not bother me. Everything comes together at the end, although is not always what you expect. Delightful. I'm surprised this wasn't made into a movie.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Russian to Sell the Satire, January 12, 2002

By 

"umd_cyberpunk" (MA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honey for the Bears (Norton Paperback Fiction) (Paperback)

Anthony Burgess' "Honey for the Bears," is a fast paced farcical satire set in Cold War period Soviet Russia. Following an antiques dealer and his wife as the two attempt to sell cheep dresses on the black market as a favor to a friend.

Sexual morays and British stereo type stuffiness are thrown out the window as the two find themselves trapped in the Soviet Union with the police on Paul Hussey's trail. On the boat ride over his American wife, Belinda, becomes sick and finds herself hospitalized for a terrible rash.

"Honey for the Bears" satirizes the secret capitalist desires of the Soviet people with a schizophrenic jump between their urges for Western pleasures and at the same time a contempt for the capitalist pigs that cannot even take care of their own people.

Sharp, witty and insightful, Burgess again succeeds in bringing together a dark twisted world that strongly resembles our own. As always, Burgess' mastery of linguistics shines through as he plays games with language and dialects: thus giving his characters a sense of reality.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Bergusse's greatest books...EVER, June 5, 2001

By 

alaa alnaji (fresno, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honey for the Bears (Paperback)

It is true that this book is underappreciated compared to the other great books of the author like Enderby and A ClockWork Orange nonetheless it's a great piece of fiction.No other book has given us a better description about the Soviet union or it's people.Our hero paul is a guy to be admired and pitied all through the novel.The book is funny,touching and fun to read and remember that the winter has come with it's long dark nights if u dont know what I mean read the story and u will find out.