Folio Archives 485: Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis 2012
Talk Folio Society Devotees
Join LibraryThing to post.
1wcarter
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis 2012
If you wish to drown in ennui, or use a book as a bedtime soporific, this is the perfect one for you.
The hero (or I should say, main character) of this book, Jim, is a perpetually intoxicated, chain smoking professor of medieval history at an Oxford University. But he is a fool, constantly making idiotic, annoying and unreasonable decisions. He attends gay (as in the 1954 definition when this book was written) parties, balls and dinners, interacts with numerous women and leads them on inappropriately, and is in no way lucky in love or anything else.
The book annoyed me intensely because of the poor, ridiculous and careless decisions made by almost all the characters, but I slogged through to the end to find out why Jim was lucky. Spoiler – he wasn’t!
This is therefore an anti-enablement review. It is, of course, beautifully bound, designed and illustrated, as are all Folio Society books, but why this book was ever published, let alone by the FS, totally escapes me. If, like me, you own a copy you have my sympathies, if you don’t own a copy, don’t bother!
The FS printed only one edition of this 254 page book. It has seven full colour illustrations by A. Richard Allen and is introduced by John Sutherland. There are light brown endpapers and it is bound in orange-brown cloth with the front cover printed with a picture in black and light blue. The brown slipcase measures 23.5x15.5cm.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
If you wish to drown in ennui, or use a book as a bedtime soporific, this is the perfect one for you.
The hero (or I should say, main character) of this book, Jim, is a perpetually intoxicated, chain smoking professor of medieval history at an Oxford University. But he is a fool, constantly making idiotic, annoying and unreasonable decisions. He attends gay (as in the 1954 definition when this book was written) parties, balls and dinners, interacts with numerous women and leads them on inappropriately, and is in no way lucky in love or anything else.
The book annoyed me intensely because of the poor, ridiculous and careless decisions made by almost all the characters, but I slogged through to the end to find out why Jim was lucky. Spoiler – he wasn’t!
This is therefore an anti-enablement review. It is, of course, beautifully bound, designed and illustrated, as are all Folio Society books, but why this book was ever published, let alone by the FS, totally escapes me. If, like me, you own a copy you have my sympathies, if you don’t own a copy, don’t bother!
The FS printed only one edition of this 254 page book. It has seven full colour illustrations by A. Richard Allen and is introduced by John Sutherland. There are light brown endpapers and it is bound in orange-brown cloth with the front cover printed with a picture in black and light blue. The brown slipcase measures 23.5x15.5cm.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2jroger1
I’ve not read the book and almost certainly never will, but it’s interesting that New York Review of Books has published a paperback edition, and BookRags, SparkNotes, and Course Hero have all published study guides for it. The book is available in 5 languages.
I generally do not like cartoonish illustrations, and these are especially cartoony.
I generally do not like cartoonish illustrations, and these are especially cartoony.
3SimB
>1 wcarter: I'm sorry that it was not a hit for you. I read it about 45 years ago, urged by my GF at the time. I thought it was very funny, and that's the reason I got the folio version when it was published. Folio does/did publish many British light humour novels - Cold Comfort Farm, Darling Buds of May, Good Behavior, 1066 and all that. I think it fits right in, though not a particular fan of the illustrations.
I must read it again to see if I still feel the same about it!
And he wasn't at Oxford. It was an unstated midlands red brick university.
I must read it again to see if I still feel the same about it!
And he wasn't at Oxford. It was an unstated midlands red brick university.
4podaniel
>3 SimB:
I read Lucky Jim years ago, too, and also found it very funny, though not as funny as his One Fat Englishman. That's a book I'd buy if FS did a version (which I'm sure it will get around to right after publishing Flashman).
I read Lucky Jim years ago, too, and also found it very funny, though not as funny as his One Fat Englishman. That's a book I'd buy if FS did a version (which I'm sure it will get around to right after publishing Flashman).
5Felixholt
Very odd. With respect, this review and its summary of the plot bears no resemblance to the book I know well, one of the funniest I have read (and re-read several times). Jim was not a professor of medieval history at Oxford University but an untenured junior lecturer on probation at a nondescript red brick university. A lot hinges on this .... And if one reads to the end one finds that ultimately he was lucky.
