Cocksure

by Mordecai Richler

Book Overview

Cocksure evokes the outrageous and bawdy years of the 'Swingin' Sixties'. Mordechai Richler has assembled the most bizarre gallery of types - Mortimer Griffin, worried about impotence and with good... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: B001HPCGN6
• ISBN13: 9780553024487
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant or Just Crazy: You Decide!

This is a very unusual book and I would compare it with Anthony Burgess's Clockwork Orange or Orwell's 1984 or a some similar book. It is not a classic and it is not as good as either of those two books but that is the type of book that Richler has written: it is experimental or on the "acceptable edge" of writing. By the way, this is a book that Anthony Burgess liked, and interestingly or as a bit of trivia he wrote positive comments about Cocksure which are reproduced on the hardcover jacket of Richler's later novel St. Urbain's Horseman. The book shows a lot of creativity and ability by Richler to remove self imposed limits on his writing - a problem that many writers have - and he writes in a very liberated fashion in the present book, far more so than some of his later works. This novel is by Richler during his British phase and it has a lot of sexual obsessions in it. The book title refers to a male's anatomy. As a point of reference, I have read all of Richler's major works and a few of his early novellas. Modecai Richler (1931 to 2001) grew up in Montreal and that city is the setting for many of his stories - but not all. Many of his novels are about Jews living in Canada and Britain post WWII. He is best known for his tales of life in and around St. Urbain Street. That is an area of three story buildings or walk up row houses located just east of the mountain in Montreal, and north of the commercial center of the city. At one time this was the center of Jewish immigrant life. Many Jews coming to Montreal started there but then moved on to Outrement, Hamstead, and other districts. His father was a scrap dealer and he graduated from a heavily Jewsih high school, Baron Byng High School, which has other famous alumni including William Shatner of Star Trek fame. Some of the local establishments such as Schwartz's Deli on St. Laurent are still in business. He uses much of those biographical experiences in the book. His break out novel is the present novel Duddy Kravitz which is still a great read whether you have seen the movie or not. Also, I like his last book, Barney's Vision, which is probably his most balanced and best written piece of work. That novel lacks the edge and drama of Duddy Kravitz. Along the way, he experimented with different themes and the use of sex in the plots, and usually he did that with a lot of humor. For the present novel, the plot or story is a bit weird and convoluted and has included a bit of the big brother touch. It is about a British based editor, his sex life, and his interaction with a controlling boss and other people. The book takes many twists and turns and has numerous provocative sexual passages. Many of his critics claim that he re-cycles his characters and deals only with one topic, but in general his books are far from the predictable and this book is an example. This is an unusual read. 5 stars for creativity.

"Now more than ever..."

Brilliant satire. This is the only book that has ever made me laugh at loud. But it's not all humour. It's also intelligent and shocking. In the throes of a sexual revolution but hung up on political correctness, the world Richler describes seems eerily close to the western society of today, in which Aguilera can sing about getting "dirrrrty" on a Saturday morning kids' show while race and religion are untouchable fodder(unless of course you ridicule white men and their Christianity). It is very thought provoking to say the least. I still consider myself an open-minded left-winger but Richler challenged me to decide how liberal my views are or should be. And the book also gives a warning about how far we should let things go before we decide good taste has been breached. Richler doesn't come right out and say what his views are but deciphering them is half the fun of this clever read.

a scathing satire on moral values and the media..

Although written more than thirty years ago Cocksure is still a startlingly fresh look at morality and the media; too bad it's no longer in print (..however at least here in Britain it isn't hard to find a copy at secondhand bookshops). Without exercising any form of restraint, Richler paints a modern world where prudes are ostracized and sexual liberation has gone wild. The book is quite rude, and so the easily offended should pass it by (..I think the title of the book is a fair warning of its contents).The story is about a hapless middle-aged media man in London coping with a cheating wife, friends who falsely accuse him as being Jewish ("Jewish-ness", anti-semitism, and paranoia over anti-semitism are common themes in Richler novels), worries over his under-sized member, and a workplace overrun by very strange people. Society is morally corrupt (his kid's advant-garde school is really bizarre), and our poor chump always seems to come out on the losing end. It's a very funny read. However the story seems to move side-ways; nothing really exciting happens. Fortunately Richler's sarcastic wit has never been in better form.Bottom line: a very rude and funny read. Worth a look.

very funny

This is a hilarious book. Those who love satire should find this one somehow. Some of the passages are an absolute laugh riot. Only a Jewish writer could write such funny things about Jewish people. Gentiles will laugh too! If you like Vonnegut, you must source this one somehow.

a hilarious, futuristic novel!

This book shows us liberalism gone too far, in an outlandish, implausible future which may not be as far from our reality as we think....