Lucky Jim (Penguin Classics)
by Kingsley Amis
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1112)
Read in May, 2007
Just re-read this and still find it very funny - I've only read two of Kingsley's couple of dozen novels and originally probably came to this one more via an enthusiasm for the "campus novel" (since I've read virtually all of David Lodge and big chunks of Malcolm Bradbury, Howard Jacobson et al) than an interest in Amis per se.
Since having started to read Martin Amis, my sense that I ought to have read more of Kingsley (and Philip Larkin for that matter) has increased without any co...more
Since having started to read Martin Amis, my sense that I ought to have read more of Kingsley (and Philip Larkin for that matter) has increased without any co...more
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Read in January, 1967
The gold standard for seditious British humor. As an old man, Kingsley converted to a Tory welcome at all the best clubs. However, when he wrote this diamond he was a Trotskyite undergraduate who had seen combat while most of his contemporaries had not. Most of his dons at Oxford sat out the war as well. He already decided he had had enough of rules & regulations in the Army. Yet he must get on in college somehow. Most of the book depicts Kingsley's sometimes clandestine, sometimes open ...more
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I had this funny dream about ol' Kingsley last night. We were at a party and he was drinking. He had a drink in his hand. I looked away to see Philip Larkin crossing the room, turned back, and Kingsley had my drink in his other hand.
We were talking about Lucky Jim and how I should put that on my "to-read" list, and then Philip Larkin began to do his levitation-from-the-floor-into-the-shadows trick. He explained that it required tapping into o...more
We were talking about Lucky Jim and how I should put that on my "to-read" list, and then Philip Larkin began to do his levitation-from-the-floor-into-the-shadows trick. He explained that it required tapping into o...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Everyone
This book is awesome. Kind of the quintessential man-about-college novel, a precursor to _Wonder Boys_ and _Straight Man_ and most anything by any college professor who fancies themselves a writer, this is the real deal. Funny and wise and finally, a hero who isn't just someone for an author to torment. Also, it contains the best description of a hangover ever! Read on:
"Dixon was alive again. Consciousness was upon him before he could get out of the way; not for him the slow, gracious w...more
"Dixon was alive again. Consciousness was upon him before he could get out of the way; not for him the slow, gracious w...more
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recommends it for:
People who like making fun of academia
This is one of the funniest books I've ever read, and it's the CLASSIC send-up of academia, the one from which the genre sprang. The narrator, Jim Dixon, is an internal riot -- he's so choked up with contempt for his superiors and colleagues he has to vent by making faces (and what faces! The BEST descriptions of the BEST faces in literature) at himself in the mirror. He gets himself into situations we've all *thought* about getting ourselves into (example: having burned a hole in a hostess's...more
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A smart, smart, funny book. Humor always lies in precision and detail, and Amis describes physiological suffering and boredom with uncanny exactness. The novel is also well-plotted, without any clunkiness until the end (where, as with too many very funny books, the author rolls up his sleeves and gets to the work of suspense-building). His characterizations, even in the wholesale satire of Professor Welch, are complicated and rich -- except for the women. Though Margaret is intriguingly inco...more
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Read in March, 2008
I found myself going back and forth on this book. It's certainly funny in a 30's-screwball kinda way. And I can relate to wanting to make faces over the ridiculous intellectual posturing that goes on at college (and I go to state school!). But Dixon's just such an unapologetic sexist! I realize this was "more acceptable" or whatever in the 50's but the characterization of Margaret and many of the university wives, and even many times Christine, was so condescending, it was difficult to...more
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Read in January, 2008
A wonderful, scathing critique of academia and the seminal campus novel, Lucky Jim remains hilarious to this day. Amis tackles issues that transcend post-WWII Great Britain; the sense of helpless dissatisfaction with one's life choices, the wide gulf between what we think and how we act, and the masturbatory nature of what are considered "intellectual" pursuits are all addressed with his sparkling wit. Perhaps most enjoyable for the reader, though, is how Amis arms his Jim with a lov...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Todd by:
Uncle Danrecommends it for: witty literate folk
One of the funniest books i've read in a while. At first it took me a while to get used to his style - his dialogue and descriptions are really incredible, as is his cynical tone, but some of the passages seem to really move slowly - like molasses slow. It took me about two weeks to read it, and it's only 250 pages. I don't like to think of books as challenges, because it sounds like a fourth grade librarian trying to make me read, but this book was definitely rewarding.
I saw that someone qu...more
I saw that someone qu...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
academics and wiseguys
I just found this wonderfully funny but sweet book and my only regret is that I didn't find it years earlier. The original "campus novel" that inspired all the others, this one shows a quick wit combined with common sense and compassion.
Unlike one of the previous reviewers, I don't think Dixon is a cad; in fact, he's a really nice man all bollixed up by being in absolutely the wrong place with the wrong people. Sometimes he's impossibly idiotic (usually when trying to get out of doi...more
Unlike one of the previous reviewers, I don't think Dixon is a cad; in fact, he's a really nice man all bollixed up by being in absolutely the wrong place with the wrong people. Sometimes he's impossibly idiotic (usually when trying to get out of doi...more
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Read in August, 2005
recommends it for:
You, if you're a smarty pants
There is something to be said about a book that combines both slapstick comedy and relatable satire about academia. In fact, there should be a lot to say about such a book, because I only know of one. This one! Lucky Jim! By Kingsley Amis!
Not only do we get to make fun of all kinds of snobbish pseuds right along with Jim Dixon, we also get to experience a quasi-love triangle. The cringe-worthy, very- real relationship Dixon has with Margaret alone makes the novel worth a look.
And t...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
academics, anglophiles
This book started out a little slow for me - it took two tries for me to really get into it. Also, I'm not sure if it's because I'm not British or because so much time has passed between the writing of the book and my reading it, but I didn't find it funny, per se. I recognized the situations that were supposed to be humorous, and I certainly enjoyed them, but I can't say that I really laughed while reading it.
That said, and I know that sounds fairly negative, I really did like Lucky ...more
That said, and I know that sounds fairly negative, I really did like Lucky ...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
Academics, Aesthetes and Fans of Classics
Wow. Well this did everything I wanted it to do and more. It also provided me with a reason to get my dictionary out again and dust it off. I had no idea at the sophistication of the language and could feel my brain's wheels turning and the mental dust shaking out my ears as I read. I don't think I've had a good literate-fiction experience in a while and I am happy to say this fit the bill. It was light, it was sardonic, it was well-written and clever. Everything you want from a novel. I had bee...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
drunken buffoons, cynical academics
I have this list that Book Magazine published a few years ago: 100 Best Characters in 20th Century Fiction. I've slowly been working my way through the list with the highs (The Dog of Tears from Saramago's Blindness) and the lows (why do people like The Confederacy of Dunces?). The main character of this book, James Dixon, is on the list, and it's been such a great find to discover this stumbling, drunken professor.
No, this book wasn't earth-shattering in its originali...more
No, this book wasn't earth-shattering in its originali...more
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I remember this book as being the only bright flame among the dull, grey embers of a college class on Modern British Literature. Unlike the sleepy "scandals" of D.H. Lawrence, Lucky Jim made me want to stay awake in class or on the bus or wherever it was I went with him. I tried reading more of his work ( The Anti-Death Leauge, The Old Devils), mostly out of resp...more
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I really liked this book. It's definitely funny (maybe in that British humor sort of way). The main character is a history professor tired of his own life in academia. He keeps getting himself into strange predicaments with his mindless boss and trying to resist his boss' son girlfriend. It's just funny. I decided to read Kingsley Amis because I'm such a fan of Martin Amis....but they ended up being such different types of writers. Kinglsey is definitely a bit more affected while Martin's ...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
Angry Young Men, Karen Leick
Maybe the funniest book I've ever read. (Right up there with Catch-22 and Confederacy of Dunces). People kept seeing me snigger gleefully on the L while I was reading this. It gives voice to so many of my fears and insecurities - delectable, dry, witty British voice, that is.
Jim Dixon is a uni junior professor on very thin ice, forced to suck up to a Department Head he loathes, knowing he's a fraud, avoiding confrontation like the plague. Hilarious musings on the nature of boredom and the g...more
Jim Dixon is a uni junior professor on very thin ice, forced to suck up to a Department Head he loathes, knowing he's a fraud, avoiding confrontation like the plague. Hilarious musings on the nature of boredom and the g...more
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Read in February, 2007
I read this because Maureen |Corrigan, book reviewer for NPR, recommended it as one her favorites. Jim is truly a cad; he is lasciviuos and hard partying. However readers get a glimpse of a conscience once in a while. His antics in his pursuit of women and alcohol lead him into some "I Love Lucy" type predicaments from which I found myself cringing for him. It is a differnt era and culture but Jim's base human traits are universal. I luaghed alot but I didn't find it to be one of my fa...more
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Read in February, 2008
Read this on a recommendation from my cousin, Bobbie. It was one my father-in-law (another Jim) liked a lot, and I read his old copy with pages falling out in chunks. Same cover. I realize that I had started it before but never finished it.
On the second go-round, it made me laugh out loud more than once. The protagonist is kind of like an older-but-not-much-wiser Holden Caulfield, drinking mad amounts in pubs, and burning bridges behind him--and other things--rather than leaving sporting...more
On the second go-round, it made me laugh out loud more than once. The protagonist is kind of like an older-but-not-much-wiser Holden Caulfield, drinking mad amounts in pubs, and burning bridges behind him--and other things--rather than leaving sporting...more
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Read in September, 2007
This is a fantastic example of one of those books where you are given access to the interior monologue of a character who means well, but consistently makes bad choices (sometimes bordering on the absurd). Don't let the fact that it is set in British academia put you off--Jim's manic navigation through his career and love life would have been funny in any setting. It's a little Bridget Jones-esque, in the best possible sense of that description. It also reminded me a bit of Wodehouse.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.04 (824 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.03 (646 ratings) number of reviews: 147popular shelves
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quote
"'You'll find that marriage is a good short cut to the truth. No, not quite that. A way of doubling back to the truth. Another thing you'll find is that the years of illusion aren't those of adolescence, as the grown-ups try to tell us; they're the ones immediately after it, say the middle twenties, the false maturity if you like, when you first get thoroughly embroiled in things and lose your head. Your age, by the way, Jim. That's when you first realize that sex is important to other people besides yourself. A discovery like that can't help knocking you off balance for a time.'""
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