book data
1337 ratings, 3.72 average rating, 119 reviews
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published
April 1st 2005
(first published 1970)
by HarperTrophy
binding
Paperback, 192 pages
isbn
0060757353
(isbn13: 9780060757359)
description
For sophomores John and Lorraine, the world feels meaningless; nothing is important. They certainly can never please their parents, and school ...more
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avg 3.72
Read in September, 2007
in a sentence: A young woman and a young man prank call an old lonely man, and form an unlikely and somewhat unhealthy friendship.
John and Lorraine are two students who hate school, have less than desirable family lives, and few friends outside of each other. Their relationship with Angelo Pignati - known as the Pigman - begins with a prank call made by Lorraine during one of their after school games. They notice the desperation in the Pigman, and are drawn to spend time with him. Over time,...more
John and Lorraine are two students who hate school, have less than desirable family lives, and few friends outside of each other. Their relationship with Angelo Pignati - known as the Pigman - begins with a prank call made by Lorraine during one of their after school games. They notice the desperation in the Pigman, and are drawn to spend time with him. Over time,...more
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Read in October, 2007
Along with Lorraine and other friends,John plays a "telephone marathon",in which participants close their eyes, point at a random name in a telephone book, and call that number, trying to stay on the line as long as possible. They contact a Mr. Pignati, and Lorraine pretends she's collecting for charity. He pledges and invites them to his home to collect.
Pignati proves to be a good-natured, whimsical elderly man who invites them to explore his house. He claims his wife Conchett...more
Pignati proves to be a good-natured, whimsical elderly man who invites them to explore his house. He claims his wife Conchett...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
middle school aged kids
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Laugh out loud funny at times. My favorite passage is the part where John glues his home's rotary phone dial to piss off his dad, but finds that he needs to make a call himself:
"Yes?"
"Hello operator? Would you please get me Yul-1219?"
"You can dial that yourself, sir."
"No, I can't. You see, operator, I have no arms."
"I'm sorry, sir."
"They've got this phone strapped to my head for emergencies, so I'd appreciate it if yo
"Yes?"
"Hello operator? Would you please get me Yul-1219?"
"You can dial that yourself, sir."
"No, I can't. You see, operator, I have no arms."
"I'm sorry, sir."
"They've got this phone strapped to my head for emergencies, so I'd appreciate it if yo
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Has a copy to sell/swap
recommends it for:
anyone who needs an elementary read with a strong message
This is a classic which I have read a thousand times. I have the habit of picking up very intense novels and I have been failing to see many books all the way through. I needed a quick read that would restore my rhythm and “Pigman” is perfect. The humor is also quite a bit more mature then I had remembered it at age 10.
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recommended to Seamus by:
Mary
recommends it for: anyone
recommends it for: anyone
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Lorraine reached her hand out.
"Touch them," he told her. "Don't be afraid to pick them up."
There were tthat had Made in Japan on them. Some were from Germany and Austria and Switzerland. There were pigs from Russia and lots of pigs from Italy, natrally. There were little pigs and big pigs. Ugly pnes and cute ones. There were blue, black, tyellow, orange, striped, green,and rainbow-colored pigs. Pigs, pigs, pigs!
"Don't you like them?" he asked.
"Oh, everybody...more
"Touch them," he told her. "Don't be afraid to pick them up."
There were tthat had Made in Japan on them. Some were from Germany and Austria and Switzerland. There were pigs from Russia and lots of pigs from Italy, natrally. There were little pigs and big pigs. Ugly pnes and cute ones. There were blue, black, tyellow, orange, striped, green,and rainbow-colored pigs. Pigs, pigs, pigs!
"Don't you like them?" he asked.
"Oh, everybody...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Kim by:
Suzannerecommends it for: Anyone over the age of 15
The Pigman is about an elderly man who is called by Lorraine and John to see how long he will talk, to their surprise, he is delighted. They agree to meet with him at his house to collect the money for their “L & J” fund for charity and later they meet him at the zoo, for he said he loves to go there everyday to see Bobo, who is a monkey. When they meet him, they are a little scared and almost wish they had not met, for they had told him a lie about who they were and they are starting to...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Fstoddert by:
Thoomas Patterson, Indiana State Universityrecommends it for: Reaaders 14 and over
If Lorraine and John are misfits, Mr. Pignati, the Pigman, is so far outside of the mainstream that he would not have been noticed except that the teens discovered him when they placed several prank calls. They ask Mr. Pignati to contribute to a fictional charity and he agrees to give, if they will come to his his house. They agree and find themselves drawn into the life of a curious man whose only friend is a baboon named Bobo.
Mr. Zindel paints a vivid picture of two troubled young people...more
Mr. Zindel paints a vivid picture of two troubled young people...more
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Read in January, 1995
Good book, and I really like this cover.
Yes, this is the book with the game which I love to play and I'm pretty sure my answers have changed over the years. Anyway I got it from google:
One day Husband gets up and announces to Wife that he's leaving on a business trip. She pleads to go with him, but he refuses to take her. Wife is eager to go because she has been trying to end an affair with Lover, but as soon as Husband leaves, she crosses the river and spends the night with Lover. Th...more
Yes, this is the book with the game which I love to play and I'm pretty sure my answers have changed over the years. Anyway I got it from google:
One day Husband gets up and announces to Wife that he's leaving on a business trip. She pleads to go with him, but he refuses to take her. Wife is eager to go because she has been trying to end an affair with Lover, but as soon as Husband leaves, she crosses the river and spends the night with Lover. Th...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommended to Gloria by:
Teacherrecommends it for: Teens
This is a wonderful story that I would recommend for young people 7th grade and up. Easy to read with swear words indicated, but bleeped out with symbols instead. If I hadn't known it was written in the 1960's, I would have considered it contemporary fiction. This is a story of high school kids who just cannot please their parents, nor understand all of the parent's actions. The kids are silently begging to be "seen" by their parents and are drawn to the Pigman because of his open acce...more
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I was exposed to this novel when my 8th grade English teacher, Mr. Benson, read it to our class. I re-read it in August to prepare for teaching it, and have since read it with four classes of 8th graders. It is an amazing novel for teens. I recently discovered that when it was published (in the late Sixties)it was in fact groundbreaking because of the authentic voice of the teen characters. Before that time books for teens were written had an artificial tone--they SOUNDED the way an adult views ...more
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I found this book in a thrift store a few days ago. I remembered it as the book that my fundamentalist Christian mother took away from me when I was a teenager. After having read it she decided that it was "secular humanism" (i.e evil) and that I couldn't read it. So after all these years I became curious, paid the quarter and bought it. It's a story about a couple of alienated teenagers who, through a prank, meet an old lonely man. At first meaning to take advantage of him, they inste...more
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Read in October, 2007
This book is really good for people who like both happiness and sadness. As two kids from troubled environments John and Lorraine find more happiness in an eccentric old man than they had found in their family, making prank calls(which is actually how they got to meet Mr.Angelo Pignati A.K.A. the Pigman) and anything else. It is also a very sad story as Mr.Pignati is hiding the fact that his wife is actually dead and that he can put on a happy fun face for both John and Lorraine even though he...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone
I read this in one sitting, enjoying the dialogue of the two characters John and Lorraine taking in turns in writing their 'epic memorial.' It's an ode to the Pigman, an ode to life really. I guess the generation gap between teens and their parents has always been felt, but the pace and vernacular of the writing was similiar to Salinger's. I was not around to witness the disillusioned families born from the post-WWII boom, or even flower power, but the unrest, the revolution of sorts, still h...more
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
YA lit fans
I had never read this before, mainly because I never found the title appealing, and the cover art back in the late 80s/early 90s was awful. But I'm glad I did because it's engaging. I like Lorraine and John and I like listening to their voices. Mr. Pignati made me sad and creeped me out a bit, and I hate the way they treated him. The framework of Lorraine and John writing the story in their library class doesn't quite hold together, and I don't think I'll ever reread this, but I'm glad that I...more
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Read in November, 2008
I like that book but i also have to read it in my English class. It gets more interesting when you come to chapter 3 or 4
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This is a great book. I sort of forget exactly what happens in it, because I read it back in sixth grade. The story is centered around two friends- (forget his name, i think it's jack) and lorraine, high school, average teenagers, who meet this man, Mr. Pignati. At first they think he's just a bum, but then they begin to get to know him better and they find that he's just a lonely man who needs a friend. I sort of forget the rest, but it's a great story, and has a beautiful moral.
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