List Books Supposing The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B
| Original Title: | The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B |
| ISBN: | 0802137962 (ISBN13: 9780802137968) |
| Edition Language: | English |
J.P. Donleavy
Paperback | Pages: 416 pages Rating: 3.94 | 802 Users | 53 Reviews
Declare Out Of Books The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B
| Title | : | The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B |
| Author | : | J.P. Donleavy |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 416 pages |
| Published | : | January 22nd 2001 by Grove Press (first published November 30th 1967) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Humor. Literature. Cultural. Ireland |
Chronicle Toward Books The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B
The New York Times Book Review called The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B, J. P. Donleavy's hilarious, bittersweet tale of a lost young man's existential odyssey, "a triumphant piece of writing, achieved with that total authority, total mastery which shows that a fine writer is fully extended...." In the years before and after World War II, Balthazar B is the world's last shy, elegant young man. Born to riches in Paris and raised by his governess, Balthazar is shipped off to a British boarding school, where he meets the noble but naughty Beefy. The duo matriculate to Trinity College, Dublin, where Balthazar reads zoology and Beefy prepares for holy orders, all the while sharing amorous adventures high and low, until their university careers come to an abrupt and decidedly unholy end. Written with trademark bravado and a healthy dose of sincerity, The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B is vintage Donleavy.Rating Out Of Books The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B
Ratings: 3.94 From 802 Users | 53 ReviewsAppraise Out Of Books The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B
How in the world to describe this book??? It's like one of those abstract paintings, where you get too close and it's just blobs of colour. As a reader, I needed to hold it at arm's length, so to speak, disengage my analytic mind and just go with the emotion and enjoy the words. I started reading in analytical mode and was nearly driven to distraction by the sentence fragments, the minimal puncutation, the constant changes from first person to third person.Once I quit trying to focus too sharplyAnother college read.
Well, this was quite different than I thought it would be. I thought it would be something along the lines of Three Men in a Boat or Wodehouse, but while it was often comedic, there were long stretches of sadness, and the overall tone of the book is somewhat sorrowful. I also thought it would be something I could recommend to my mother, but it is far too vulgar for that. I did enjoy the book, however.
One of my all-time favorites. Beautiful, funny, sad. I am a big J.P. Donleavy fan, and I believe this book was my first introduction to his work. He somehow manages to be hilarious, bawdy, and poetic all at once. If you have never read his stuff, dive in! His style is extremely idiosyncratic, entirely his own. Push through what may at first seem a mannered style and you will be richly rewarded. As he has written, "Bash on, regardless."
Another sad, funny masterpiece from Mr Donleavy. One of this best and most heart-wrenching. Balthazar B. is a kind, generous man who's taken advantage of by almost everyone except his best friend Beefy and fewer than a handful of extraordinary women.
Finished this a while ago and to add to my initial half-way-through reactions.Once a darling of the literary world due to his first novel, The Ginger Man, he is now of that period, only old enough to be out of fashion, and I don't know if he'll get to be classic. I was put off Donleavy long ago by failing at my attempt to read The GingerMan and then later by failing also with The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners.Late last year, however, I went to an English booksale
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