Wilt [Mass Market Paperback]

Tom Sharpe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 1991

This story of Henry Wilt, the Polytechnic lecturer who gets into all sorts of trouble is written by the author of "Riotous Assembly", "Blot on the Landscape" and "Wilt Alternative".

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 going 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 received 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 the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Pan Books (May 10, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330253603
• ISBN-13: 978-0330253604
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,175,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Out Loud Funny, December 9, 2002

By 

David A. Riley (Orange, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wilt (Paperback)

This is Sharp's best novel yet, the second detailing the life of Wilt a college lecturer and his severely disfunctional family. In what is basically a farce Sharpe's satire bites deep into every subject he touches, as Wilt comes under investigation by the police for drug dealing, infiltrates a US nuclear air base and has to use face cream to cool his burning uncontrolable penis. If my description of this novel sounds manic, the reason is simple, the book is manic. As an Englishman living in the US I am not sure if the humor travels well, but I hope my American friends can appreciate it, because this book is one of only three (all written by Tom) capable of making me laugh out loud wherever I am reading it (which can be most embarrasing). Try it and enjoy a different view of life and then be thankful you don't have to live Wilt's life.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I laughed like I was crazy...., August 5, 2002

By 

David S Rubin (Purcellville, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wilt (Paperback)

I bought this book 15 years ago when traveling. While waiting for a change of planes at Heathrow, I started reading, and couldn't put it down. I started chuckling to myself, then laughing out loud, then laughing so it hurt!! Other passengers were staring at me. I showed them what I reading and some of them nodded knowingly.

It is the funniest book I have ever read!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a superb comic novel, May 17, 2000

By 

lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wilt (Paperback)

Wilt is the first Tom Sharpe novel I've read. Written some 20+ years ago, it's about a rather frustrated-with-life English literature lecturer, his bewildered wife, and their sex-crazed neighbors. It's all a wonderful farce with biting satire around the edges. Much of the humor has sexual undertones, but Wilt never turns vulgar.

Unless you find mild doses of profanity unacceptable, or sexual humor (about lesbianism, wife-swapping, etc) to be unfunny or distasteful, I think most everyone will love Wilt. Americans won't find it "too British", and the 1970s setting seems quaint rather than dated (..it's not like reading a screenplay of the Brady Bunch). However the material is probably not suitable for those under 15 years old.

Buy it and start laughing.