The Progressive Course in Reading, Vol. 1: Fourth Book; Part I; Information Literature Oral Expression

by George I. Aldrich

[Ian Fleming, association]. Sol Weinstein.Loxfinger, A Thrilling Adventure of Hebrew Secret Agent Oy-Oy-7. New Pocket Books [1965].127 pages. Large octavo. Paperback original, a Pocket Book Special.

Genres: Humor, Fiction

127 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first adventure of Israeli superspy Israel Bond, agent Oy-Oy-7, licensed to kill...and say prayers over the bodies of the deceased. By this point you might be wondering if this is a parody of a certain familiar spy/assassin, and, well, you'd be right.

Quite successful back when they were published, Weinstein's short novels were far from the Harvard Lampoon approach to parody. While you get over the top shots at Ian Fleming's dedicated product placement and cocktail design (Oy-Oy-7 instructing the making of a chocolate egg cream takes this to the extreme) and some surreal side trips that make me wonder what Weinstein was indulging in at the time, but mixed in with this you also get a lot of Borscht Belt quality humour (including some scenes at a Borscht Belt comedy show) and a fair bit of crude sexist humour that's very much of its time, and somewhat appalling and unfunny these days.

Mind you, the actual plot of the book concludes in a way that would make the producers of Danger 5 stand up and salute.

Final note: I flipped between the audio version and the Kindle book. The audio version is worth a listen, as the narrator turned out to have considerable skill with voices, andbrings something extra to the text.

[David Eppenstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book back in the '60's when James Bond was huge and I was a teenager. The books were fun and amusing.

[Lavendersbluegreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, it obviously takes place in another time so there are definitely some scenes where the hero is a product of his times and therefore a tad.... well, I just kinda wanta give him a poch in the punim....
At any rate, it was just super funny and at times kinda weird... would you swim in a pool filled with soup?
I enjoyed this parody quite a bit though.

[Steven Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great fun, a Jewish James Bond by one of the co-creators of Get Smart. The humor is sharp, but it helps to know something about kosher laws. Take it in doses, though... it's kind of the literary equivalent of The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An hilarious send up of the James Bond fad.

[. Francine · Rating 5 out of 5]

a very funny book. I could not stubbly thing from beginning to end. I read this book in record time.

[Vader · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish

[E. Gail Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weinstein--not his real name the Internet tells me-- isn't Thurber or Buchwald but a lifetime after I read this book, I'm still laughing.

[Harold · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOL

[Race Bannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book does not hold up in 2024 sad to say.

[Laura Hendrickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real knee-slapper!

[David Macpherson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Borsht Belt James Bond. Oy-Oy-Seven. There are four books in the series. I am not running to book four. These, so I read, were written first for Playboy and were expanded. This book was funny at times and plodding. Sexist jokes? Got it. Racist jokes? Oh yeah. It's a snap shot of a different era but it just isn't funny enough for my sensibilities to want me to read more. Loxfinger is a pretty funny name though.