Malcolm is a young man who appears on a bench outside a hotel where he’s staying in New York City. Professor Cox, the leading astrologer of his time, seems to feel this state of affairs is wrong. A teenager with no apparent history, no goals, no friends – who claims to be waiting for his father – shouldn’t be spending his days on a bench. Professor Cox provides Malcolm with “addresses” of people in the city to get him off the bench.

Malcolm meets with the various eccentric acquaintances of the Professor, all of whom are smitten with the young man and want to keep him for themselves. His beauty, innocence and lack of guile endear him to almost everyone. He becomes involved in their silly doings – and is sometimes the cause. Eventually things turn dark for Malcolm and his innocence is incrementally lost. This is a humorous and sad book, touching and filled with absurdity. ( )

Raramente ho preso cantonate più dolorose con un libro. E l'ho pure ordinato perché in libreria non l'avevano!
INSULSO, MONOTONO, NOIOSO, STRAMPALATO, popolato da personaggi sgradevoli che si spupazzano 'sto Malcolm che ha la vitalità di una alice in scatola.
Quando ho letto le recensioni entusiaste mi sono sentito in dovere di abbassare la media di quella che io reputo (e non è possibile che solo a me abbia fatto quest'impressione) una PORCHERIA SUPREMA!
EVITATELO COME LA PESTE, date i soldi del libro in beneficenza piuttosto, buttateli al vento ché tanto ci guadagnereste comunque, se non altro per il TEDIO che vi sarete risparmiati!
[ah! l'ho detta, mi sono sfogato, scusatemi. E capitemi però :-P] ( )

Malcolm, about fifteen years of age, has spent every day for the last year sitting on the bench in front of his plush hotel, where he has a suite, waiting for his father to return, but now his money is in danger of running out. One day Mr Cox approaches him, and offers help; he provides Malcolm with a series of address and people to meet who might help him and get him away from his bench. This leads Malcolm to come into contact with among others a retired undertaker, and midget, talented but unrecognised artist who refuses to believe he is a midget, a less talented artist with a passion for music, an extremely wealthy and influential couple, a tattooist and a world famous singer.

The story follows Malcolm through his various encounters has he builds his new circle of friends, and as the various new friends interact with each other and vie for Malcolm's attention, often with very funny, near farcical results.

Malcolm the boy is a strange creation, supposedly well traveled with his father before his disappearance, he is socially well adjusted but rather naive and apparently more or less uneducated, leading to the assumption by some that he is a little dump. He is described often as beautiful and all who encounter him desire him in one way or another.

Malcolm the book is an unusual and at times bizarre account, at times hilarious, at times touching; the outcome almost inevitable ( )

Gloriously funny, slightly surreal narrative about an innocent unusual boy who meets a series of credibly outrageous characters in a search for his missing father. ( )

This 1959 novel was extemely weird. The cover blurbs portray it as so shocking and outre at the time, but it was way too tame for me. There was hardly any overt homosexuality in it, nor really any overt sexuality of any kind. There were a bunch of weird artists and musicians and the plot seemed to kind of wimp out on making any kind of conclusion by having the main character die. Still, it was so weird that I couldn't stop reading it to see what would happen, although if I had known that there would be so little gayness, and so little resolution/satisfaction, perhaps I would have. ( )