Scumbler [Hardcover]

William Wharton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1984

Know Scumbler in his poignant, hilarious life. Get mad at him and even cry with him. Here's Don Quixote, Santa Claus, and Faust rolled into one "thick shadow" of a man. A joyous sixty-year-old American street painter lives on the Left Bank in Paris, making a living by creating rentable apartments out of the most unlikely spaces. Mostly, however, he paints with utter delight in the creative act and discovers remarkable characters along his path: crafts-men, students, prostitutes, motorcyclists. He scumbles and fails. He digs twisting tunnels under Paris streets and builds nests: nature nests, rats' nests, birds' nests. He collects clocks and designs his own life from the "inside." Wanting to be true beyond honesty, visible past seeing to being, Scumbler scrambles, tumbles, rumbles, rambles through the ecstatic pleasure of creation and the pangs of ordinary existence.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Better than Birdy. -- Doris Grumbach, Chicago Tribune --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

A self-described painter who writes, William Wharton is the pen name for the author of two memoirs—Houseboat on the Seine and Ever After—as well as eight novels—Birdy, Dad, A Midnight Clear, Scumbler, Pride, Tidings, Franky Furbo, and Last Lovers. His works have been acclaimed worldwide and have been translated into over fifteen languages.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 255 pages
• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf; 1st edition (May 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039453574X
• ISBN-13: 978-0394535746
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #971,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth a read!, January 15, 2000

By 

Gill Robinson (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scumbler (Paperback)

William Wharton has written an in depth portrait of an artist with a zest for life but with the inevitable frustration and depression of coping with an aging body. This book left me with a strong image of the man and his Parisian surroundings. I am sure many men would relate to this book and it helped me, a woman, understand the emotions that can affect elderly men. Maybe it was my shortcomings but I found the short verse lines which intersperse the narrative, not always helpful and often blocking the flow of the story. Overall another William Wharton delightful novel - I am a fan!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Painting the Streets of Paris, March 30, 2009

By 

Ford Ka (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews

Scumbler is a painter who works in the streets of Paris. Every morning he takes his brushes, paints etc and goes out in search for something that would be worth putting on his canvas. Every day brings new adventures, new people he meets, new places he discovers. Painting does not bring enough dough so he supplements his income by letting (more often subletting) apartmennts which also allows him to meet new people.
Sometimes he makes it and gets load of money for his work, sometimes disaster strikes and his paintings go up in smoke but his attitude to all that is as philosophical as that of Zorba the Greek. This is a man who has been through a lot and now enters the last period in his life so he makes sure it still is a life worth living.
The book often feels more like a collection of short stories than a novel, some characters disappear, some come back and some don't, some stories don't get a clear ending, but still it is worth to let Wharton take you for a ride in Paris of the 1970s which does not exist any more.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Painting the Streets of Paris, March 30, 2009

By 

Ford Ka (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scumbler (Paperback)

Scumbler is a painter who works in the streets of Paris. Every morning he takes his brushes, paints etc and goes out in search for something that would be worth putting on his canvas. Every day brings new adventures, new people he meets, new places he discovers. Painting does not bring enough dough so he supplements his income by letting (more often subletting) apartmennts which also allows him to meet new people.
Sometimes he makes it and gets load of money for his work, sometimes disaster strikes and his paintings go up in smoke but his attitude to all that is as philosophical as that of Zorba the Greek. This is a man who has been through a lot and now enters the last period in his life so he makes sure it still is a life worth living.
The book often feels more like a collection of short stories than a novel, some characters disappear, some come back and some don't, some stories don't get a clear ending, but still it is worth to let Wharton take you for a ride in Paris of the 1970s which does not exist any more.