The Defenestration of Bob T. Hash III
A Novel
گزارش تخلف
کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
April 21, 2008
This whimsical but disappointing debut provides a Kafkaesque metamorphosis, but in reverse. Bob T. Hash III is a family man and publisher of illustrated grammar books. While he attends a business conference, his place is taken by his African gray parrot, Comenius. The former parrot has no trouble fitting into Bob's life: sex with Bob's wife, Matilda; playing games with his three children, Betsy, Jane and Bobby; and being kowtowed to at work by Bob's obsequious employees are delightful to parrot-Bob—which they weren't to Bob. The parrot's biggest challenge comes in figuring out what to do with the latest iteration of Forward with English!
, a grammar book that has been subversively edited by a bored Bob (and of which sample chapters are interspersed in the narrative). How Bob the parrot rectifies the real Bob's acts of grammatical sabotage and falls in love with Matilda form the core of this fitfully amusing, farcical fantasy. But the sendups of educational texts, corporate culture and suburban life leave the book nowhere near as fun as it should be.
June 1, 2008
Bob T. Hash; his lovely wife, Matilda; and their children live inside the pages of the grammar book "Forward with English!" alongside their African gray parrot, Comenius. All is Dick and Jane perfection until the day that Bob, cagily disguised as Señor Gonzalez from the Spanish-language edition of the book, hastily departs "on business" with his secretary, Miss Scarlet, abandoning his family and the yet-to-be published eighth edition of the book. In his place, Comenius finds himself magically transformed into Bob, quite pleased to be leaving behind his caged existence and days spent climbing his little yellow ladder or preening in front of his mirror for the more human pleasures of driving a car, going to work, and mating with Bob's wife. Will the real Bob ever return to reclaim his old life? Will Comenius lose Matilda and go back to being a parrot? For readers who enjoy their grammar lessons fictionalized and whimsical, this clever first novel will surely appeal. Recommended for most libraries.Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.
Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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