A Melon for Ecstasy
by John Fortune, John Wells
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Description
First published in 1971 and set in the middle England of the 1960s, A Melon for Ecstasy takes the frustrated passion of one repressed young man and shows that sex in the suburbs can be a very twisted affair. Step into the feverish world of Humphrey Mackevoy and discover the thrills of split bark, the unplumbed joys of virgin wood, and the erotic pull of a laburnum in moonlight. Humphrey risks nasty splinters under cover of darkness as his love affair with "Labby" unfolds. But can he defend show more himself against the local busybodies who are determined to save their trees from the mysterious drill holes that keep appearing overnight? As Humphrey struggles to protect his dark secret, he becomes drawn into a dramatic plot of subterfuge and downright confusion. He might conquer his passion for the soft contours of a young sapling, but will he ever escape the clutches of Mummy--a darkly comic figure drawn to give the best of us nightmares? Read this, and a walk through the park may never be the same again. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is undoubtedly the greatest epistolary novel ever written about a man who has sex with trees. Brilliant and hilarious.
This book was first recommended to me by one of my teachers about 15 years ago. It took me a number of years to finally track down a copy but when I did I found it to be a very enjoyable read. Definitely quite weird and perhaps slightly disturbing, but extremely funny.
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wilfully eccentric little england (cosy read novels, england)
45 works; 15 members
Author Information
4+ Works 62 Members
22+ Works 365 Members
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- A Melon for Ecstasy
- Original publication date
- 1971
- People/Characters
- Humphrey Mackevoy
- Epigraph
- 'A Woman for duty,
A Boy for pleasure,
But a Melon for ecstasy.'
- Old Turkish proverb - First words
- The months described in these pages - 'leaves' being a word too charged with meaning for me to be used in so neutral a context - were among the most dramatic of my life, forming as they did both a lens through which my self w... (show all)as rendered visible to me in microscopic detail, and a crucible in which the impurities of my spirit were burned out.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Although I am no longer young I bite the growing bark in ecstasy, and mould my flesh to it, crying for my laburnam as my own sap rises, and I am renewed.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 39
- Popularity
- 743,564
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.19)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
