The Boy Who Kicked Pigs

This is a short book by Tom Baker. Yes, Tom Baker as in Doctor Who. He clearly has a rather wicked and depraved sense of humor. His horrible protagonist Robert Caligari has utterly no redeeming values: he lives to torment things, pigs especially. After a thoroughly humiliating ecounter with a butt of bacon, Robert decides to take revenge, not just on pigs, but the whole human race ... or as much of the human race as he can get. He gets his revenge on a major freeway interchange, but Fate gets the upper hand and Robert meets an equally gruesome end. Completely brilliant: imagine Charles Addams and the Marquis De Sade collaborating on a book and you get the idea.

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It's very short - only 120 pages, and half of those are a series of evocative line drawings illustrating the text. The central character, Robert Caligari, is a horrible boy who enjoys causing fatal road accidents, and comes to a suitably disgusting end (this is not a spoiler as the first paragraph says so). It is told with a certain deep and dark humour, which makes the unpleasant protagonist just interesting enough to keep us engaged. The second half is not as good as the first, with a peculiar digression into mocking local radio presenters which doesn't really work. But it is yet another fascinating insight into Baker's very peculiar mind.

This weird novelette by the much-loved Doctor Who actor chronicles the life of a teenaged sociopath called Robert who has a fixation on kicking pigs, or anything pig-related. After a particularly embarrassing public incident, Robert decides he hates the entire human race, and sets about enacting his vengeance. From that point on it is almost literally a train wreck as one thing leads to another. Half the book consists of pen-and-ink illustrations that are rather like a cross between Edward Gorey and Chas. Addams. If you have a sick (and British) sense of humor you will love this story.

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs is by Tom Baker - yes, the fourth Dr Who. Incidentally, I can really recommend his autobiography Who on Earth is Tom Baker?, and having read that was intrigued to read this truly bizarre and gothic novella. It tells the story of an evil thirteen year old who kicks pigs - it starts off with his sister's piggy bank, but progresses to anything porcine including a bacon butty which is his downfall. He pledges revenge and

Although written as a children's story in style - a bit Lemony Snicketish, it most definitely is not - but fans of Tim Burton would love it. It is also full of arcane adult references from the 1960s - from Will Fyffe (eccentric news reporter) to Hylda Baker (Lancashire actress). Clocking in at just show more 124 pages, of which half are evocative line drawings, it doesn't take long. I found that imagining Baker himself narrating made for an entertaining reading! show less

It is a very short book, just over 120 pages, but alternate pages are used for illustrations, so there is not much text and I read it in about an hour.

It is about an evil little boy who delights in hating other people and making them suffer. The book is the story of his exploits and ultimate downfall. It is preposterous and gory, but a lot of fun if you have a dark sense of humour. I’m not sure whether this is intended for adults or children – I don’t think it is suitable for younger children, but it has a similar appeal as the books of Roald Dahl.

Author Tom Baker is best known for playing Doctor Who, although in the UK in recent years he has done a lot of voiceover work. He has a very distinctive voice that I could easily imagine show more reading the words of this book, which I think added to its quirkiness.

Whilst the text did make me smirk and even laugh at loud at one point, equal credit must be given to the illustrator David Roberts whose witty drawings enhance the story enormously.

This book certainly isn’t going to be to everyone’s tastes and the ending is particularly stomach-churning, but if you like black comedy it is a good quick read. show less

A thoroughly funny book about an evil little boy who ends up passing his time hating too many things only to find his last days nothing short of torture. For the man who played Dr Who, I didn't think Tom had this kind of ability - what am I saying, he's a Catholic, he know's about judgment. I thought this was a Tim Burton book - it fits in well with him, plus the illustrations by David Roberts are Burtonesque

Interesting. The language is very curious, and almost all the expressions seem to be particular to England from about 1950 to 1980 - which perhaps isn't that surprising. It's written like a told story, almost conversationally. I can't say I liked it very much, but I certainly didn't hate it and can see why children might love it.
Gruesome and merciless, this is all slime and snails.