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Einstein
A comic novel about the meaning of life and the end of the world. And dogs.
When Charlie wakes in the middle of the night to discover an alien in his house, he is more than a little alarmed. But that fades into insignificance when the alien tells him that a) it is the end of the world, and b) he has come to rescue Einstein from destruction.
Einstein is Charlie's pet dog.
Only Einstein refuses to leave without his master. So the alien offers Charlie a deal. If he can prove that he has performed one worthwhile act in his life, then he can be saved.
Einstein is an outrageous comedy of high anxieties and low morals embracing everything from modern art to motherhood, from battery hens to the meaning of life. It is a comedy classic from one of Britain's great humorists.
When Charlie wakes in the middle of the night to discover an alien in his house, he is more than a little alarmed. But that fades into insignificance when the alien tells him that a) it is the end of the world, and b) he has come to rescue Einstein from destruction.
Einstein is Charlie's pet dog.
Only Einstein refuses to leave without his master. So the alien offers Charlie a deal. If he can prove that he has performed one worthwhile act in his life, then he can be saved.
Einstein is an outrageous comedy of high anxieties and low morals embracing everything from modern art to motherhood, from battery hens to the meaning of life. It is a comedy classic from one of Britain's great humorists.
- GenresFiction
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2004
13 people want to read
About the author
Miles Gibson
22 books8 followersMiles Gibson (born 1947) is a reclusive English novelist, poet and artist.
Gibson was born in a squatters camp at an abandoned World War II airbase, RAF Holmsley South in the New Forest, and raised in Mudeford, Dorset. The camp was dubbed Tintown and had been sanctioned by Christchurch Town Council as a way to ease postwar housing shortages. He was educated at Sandhills Infant School, Somerford Junior School and Somerford Secondary Modern - now The Grange School.
Gibson’s darkly satirical writing has been described as both “magic realism” and “absurdist fiction”. Although his narratives remain linear in construction his employment of black humour, pastiche, and untrustworthy narrators places him firmly among the postmodernists.
Gibson was born in a squatters camp at an abandoned World War II airbase, RAF Holmsley South in the New Forest, and raised in Mudeford, Dorset. The camp was dubbed Tintown and had been sanctioned by Christchurch Town Council as a way to ease postwar housing shortages. He was educated at Sandhills Infant School, Somerford Junior School and Somerford Secondary Modern - now The Grange School.
Gibson’s darkly satirical writing has been described as both “magic realism” and “absurdist fiction”. Although his narratives remain linear in construction his employment of black humour, pastiche, and untrustworthy narrators places him firmly among the postmodernists.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 12, 2018
This is a funny, goofy book with (I think) a couple of subtle yet important messages. The first, and most obvious, message is that human beings have wreaked such havoc and destruction over the planet that we are very close (if not past) the point of no return. The second message is that much of our lives are spent allowing things to happen to us because we are not willing to take a risk. Our intentions may be good and honorable, but we still end up trading our real selves for imagined security.
August 31, 2020
I liked this book. The talking dog was inventive. The alien was interesting. Those elements invited a lot of social commentary I found to be relevant. It was more of a YA read for young men than for me right now. However, the ending came through and recaptured my attention.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews