The Magic Pudding

Zany. A pudding that everyone wants to steal. You better not take your eyes off that pudding for one second. Even people you trust will do anything to get their hands on that pudding. A delight that was completely unknown to me before two weeks ago. A delight that I loved, despite the fact that I really wasn’t clear on the appeal of the pudding or the knavish associations of many of the characters. It isn’t important; it’s just great fun.

Utterly delightful. I fell in love with Bunyip Bluegum, Bill Barnacle, Sam Sawnoff, and yes, even the rude, irascible Puddin'. The illustrations convey so much expression and humor, and the clever text and ridiculous plot had me chuckling. Highly recommended for fans of Lewis Carroll and the like.

"The plain truth was that Bunyip and his Uncle lived in a small house in a tree, and there was no room for the whiskers. What was worse, the whiskers were red, and they blew about in the wind, and Uncle Wattleberry would insist on bringing them to the dinner table with him, where they got in the soup. His Uncle refused to listen to reason on the subject of his whiskers. It was quite useless giving him hints, such as presents of razors, and scissors, and boxes of matches to burn them off."

This is a delightful book reminiscent of Lewis Carroll. It doesn't have the brilliance and perfect light touch of Carroll, but it's a fine, tasty morsel, nonetheless. It follows the adventures of three respectable puddin' owners who are beset by a pair show more of low puddin' thieves. Fortunately, the thieves are caught repeatedly by our heroes, and their snouts are properly punched and bent as punishment.

Please note that the pudding is not a custard pudding, like Americans are used to, but rather a steak and kidney pudding. It's not false advertising, it's Australian. show less

One of the most completely enjoyable books of my childhood, written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay, whose primary career was as an Australian political cartoonist. Bunyip Bluegum is a spiffily dressed gentleman koala who goes out walking and falls in with Sam Sawnoff, a sailor, and Bill Barnacle, a penguin, who by dubious means (set out in one of the many lively poems which add a great deal to the fun of the narrative) had gained possession of a magic "cut and come again" pudding -- a pudding which can turn into any desired dish, and regrows after eating, and what is more, possesses an acerbic personality of its own. Naturally, it is pursued by pudding thieves, against whom the heroes must defend themselves, thieves eventually show more brought to trial in a fine parody of traditional British-style justice. show less

This is what I think would be called a farce. It shines light on and pokes fun at some of the uglier and funnier sides of human nature, especially those that stand out in Australian history. The idea of ownership and us-and-them, and the absurdity of authority...it's all done in a very funny and cheeky way. I did feel that I got a sense of a time and place and a voice in Australia's cultural history, which is why I read the book, but I really didn't enjoy it much. It made me very uncomfortable, and though I don't think the racism and violence in the book were really being condoned by the author - I think he may have just trying to shed some light them it as some of the absurdities of his day -I still wouldn't read this book to my kids, show more or recommend it to them while they're young. show less

The sprightly, distinctly Australian world of The Magic Pudding proves to be most similar to a Don Quixote or Faerie Queene in which the characters are a husky koala of distinctly Edwardian demeanor and diction (Bunyip Bluegum), a belligerent yet sprightly penguin named Sam Sawnoff, a former pseudo-pirate named Bill Barnacle, and their magic steak and kidney pudding that never diminishes (who prefers to be called Albert - "It soothes him" [22]). In other words, it is a rollicking, rambling adventure in which the characters alternate between battling those who covet their precious (if cantankerous and explosively insulting) pudding and breaking into jolly bouts of versifying.

Full review at show more target="_top">http://sycoraxpine.blogspot.com/2007/02/o-who-would-be-puddin.html show less

A wonderful bit of Commonwealth nonsense, at times as giddily creative and deliciously dry as Lewis Carroll.