Light House: A Trifle

by William Monahan

Book Overview

Light House is not a novel for the culturally illiterate. Its sentences loop with gratuitous references and even more gratuitous jokes, all courtesy of former Spy editor William Monahan. Now defunct,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573221589
• ISBN13: 9781573221580
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Incredible

With the air and chaos of Confederacy of Dunces and Catch-22, this book keeps you laughing with its love 'em/hate 'em characters, its constant turn of unpredictable events, and the frequent familiarity to one's own psyche. From the first page to the last, it reads like a polluted city river one can't wait to dive back into.

I Want to Stay at the Admiral Benbow Inn!

This was an incredible piece of reading! All reviewers are correct...it is absolutely hilarious, in many ways. The funniest book I've read since Big Trouble (Dave Barry) and maybe even funnier. It is about a cast of unlikely characters whose lives change dramatically one night at the Captain Admiral Benbow Inn. Each characters' life changes in a different way...although the circumstances leading up to each persons' change all affect how the other peoples' change, and well...it's just so brilliantly executed it's hard to explain, read it! The character development is perfect...we get to see the lighter side of a wide variety of people, such as the artist Tim Picasso (basically the main character), the Miami drug runner/hitman Jesus Castro, the dysfuntional married couple Magdalene and George Hawthorne (also the innkeepers), the paranoid/schizophrenic writer Mr. Glowery (John Wong!), the mysterious guy in the lighthouse, Mr. Briscoe (who shows his true colors near the end....) and several others...There are so many humor styles, one to fit everybody's humor "agendas...:" satire, slapstick, dry, witty, intelligent, crude, to name a few. One minute, you might be laughing at a witty literary reference, the next you'll be laughing at an explicit sexual joke, and everything between. Yes, there are some vulgarities, if you are too sensitive....you may be offended by parts. But do yourself a favor and give it a try, the rest of it is worth it. There is never a dull moment...so many interesting and rioutous situations...from the Literary Workshop, to the Chinese Resaurant, to Briscoe's "escape" and more....leading up to a rousing ending, where there is an unlikely hero and characters go separate ways, and some interesting choices for "where they go!"I am happy to read (in the jacket) that this book is already under contract with Warner Brothers for a movie. WB, do me a favor: don't mess this book up! If done right, this will be a hilarious film. I'm also happy to read that Monohan is working on his second novel. P>Also appreciated, is that it's short, compact, easy to read, yet intelligently written. Just a great book all around. Give it a try, nothing to lose!

MONAHAN ROCKS THE HOUSE

Just when you thought modern fiction was going to be one interminable, anemic New Yorker short story, along comes William Monahan with guns blazing! He shoots down the foibles and pretensions of bloodless academics, Miami hit men, and all the rest of us with deadly accuracy. The characters and dialogue are so perfect that the defiantly wild plot is an extra added attraction. His rhythm is STARTLINGLY good ... Suddenly you remember what it's like to read a master of the lost art of writing. As we have, you'll find yourself collecting your own Monahan-isms...(gnome seign?) Whole sentences come back and make you laugh out loud in line at the bank. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK - You're in the hands of a REAL WRITER.

This one's a keeper, a classic delight!

The only disappointment about this brilliant farce is that it ended while I was still laughing at the outrageousness of the characters and the situations in which Monahan placed them.The author's hilarious disregard for political correctness is a case for taking oneself less seriously. His treatment spares no one, whether Wasp, warped individual, or ethnic composite.This is a classic to be read and re-read in case you were too busy laughing and anxiously turning pages to appreciate the intellect and raw talent involved in the writing of this gem.

Finally, a novel by William Monahan!

Lighthouse kept me laughing out loud from the minute I picked it up until late the same night when I finished the book. I have long enjoyed WM's writings in New York Press and was happy to hear that he finally published a novel.Lighthouse is a bizarre tale of Tim Picasso, the artist hero, who absconds with a bag of money belonging to a Miami drug lord. When everyone ends up in a dilapidated New England bed & breakfast, the result is a hilarious chain of events that gives no quarter to any of the pitiful characters.It is truly refreshing to read a something that is so un-P.C. This is the best book that I have read in a very long time. Buy it, read it, laugh like hell. I can't wait for WM's next book.