Memoir from Antproof Case

by Mark Helprin

Book Overview

An old American who lives in Brazil is writing his memoirs. An English teacher at the naval academy, he is married to a woman young enough to be his daughter and has a little son whom he loves. He... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151000972
• ISBN13: 9780151000975
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 514 Pages
• Weight: 1.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

better than the Perils of Pauline

Just reread the book, and I stand by what I wrote 8 years ago. Kosher turkey anus is still hilarious:There ought to be a law against books this pleasurable--gusts of luminous description, earthy humor, and thrilling adventure physically restrained me from letting it leave my hands until I'd finished. A goofy American magic realist, Helprin shares Garcia Marquez's compassion and Rushdie's love of endless story. (Also, this forces fewer of his Republican interjections on you: he wrote Dole's goodbye-to-the-Senate speech.) Our hero, who may be named Oscar Progresso and then again may not be, gets blown out of airplanes twice, kills two men (both of whom richly deserve it), robs a bank, battles to the death with Walloons, has sex in a steamy pizza parlor, and wages a lifelong battle against coffee, the scourge of humanity. In a passage that had me laughing for several days, he is forced to eat kosher turkey anus at a company dinner. Later, he develops a taste for it. As soon as the book ended I wanted to start it again.

Hilarious and brilliant

Unlike the elegiac Winter's Tale (which no one should miss)and the memorable Soldier of the Great War, this book will have you laughing out loud. If you have any coffee addicted friends, you should pass this along to them immediately. Helprin is one of the truly great writers of our time and this book showcases his powers in a more comical light than his other books. Still, he manages to be profound and compelling. Parts of this book are reminscent of scenes from 100 years of Solitude. Not surprising since Helprin uses a kind of magic realism too (but his own brand) in many of his works.

Engrossing and hilarious

I have been prodded and cajoled into reading this book. And like many other things in life that I now appreciate, why did I wait so long? This is a poignant, hilarious, and deep novel. Yes, the reader must let go of reality and suspend belief, but what a sense of wonder I felt as I let Helprin's prose ferry me from sense to nonsense, from heaven to hell, and from love to bitterness. Our "hero" is as complicated and contradictory as are we all and serves as an ingenious metaphor of our times (greed, selfishness, humanity). Helprin's observations on money and wealth ("use it to increase vitality, not to lean on") are serious social criticism and his humor is ingenious.Those readers who do understand and appreciate this book will also love Graham Greene's "Monsignor Quixote" and Kiran Desai's lovely "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard."

This is a must read!!!!!!!!

This is the most complete book I have ever read. By this I mean that it's characters are interesting, it has a labyrinthine plot, and the writing style is extremely interesting. One of the comments on the back of the book by reviews compares his prose style to Joyce and Nabokov. I don't happen to agree with this assessment. If anyone he reminds me, at least narratively, of one of my favorite authors Robertson Davies. If you're an enthusiast of Robertson Davies you will enjoy this book. Conversely, if you like this one you will love Robertson Davies. Read this book!

A brilliant, comic, eccentric work by a gifted writer

Helprin starts by recalling Melville, "Call me Oscar Progresso..." and then lets us know we are in for a wild ride, "Or, for that matter, call me anything you want, as Oscar Progresso is not my real name.Nor are Baby Supine, Euclid Cherry, Franklyn Nuts, or any of the other aliases that, now and then over the years, I have been foced to adopt". In a book with flights of fancy that soar every bit as high as those in the bestselling "Winter's Tale", but infinitely funnier and less grandiose, Helprin charts a course few writers dare. Giving away the story is betrayal to the reader, so suffice it to say that Helprin's newest hero is defined by his hatred for the "evil bean that enslaves half the world", coffee. His life struggles put him in harms way and at the top of the world. He knows riches and love, he knows betrayal and poverty. I laughed out loud continuously while reading our hero's description of his fall from corporate grace, defined by the ever changing quality of the art hanging in his office. Helprin has always been a comic writer, his "serious" works had a deftly comic touch, but this is his first work of pure comedy, and of course as all of Helprin's books are, it is a morality play of sorts and an exploration of life's abusrdities. But don't let that thought deter you, this a funny, brilliant, eccentric, even dazzling book. Read Antproof Case and let this extravagantly gifted author take you where he will.