The Mackerel Plaza (Twentieth Century Classics)

by Peter De Vries | Humor |
ISBN: 0192814710 Global Overview for this book
Registered by 4evagreen of Furness Vale, Derbyshire United Kingdom on 5/29/2014
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by 4evagreen from Furness Vale, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Thursday, May 29, 2014
Spotted this and could not resist picking it up.

Journal Entry 2 by 4evagreen at Furness Vale, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, June 11, 2014
“It is the final proof of God’s omnipotence that He need not exist in order to save us.”

The Reverend Andrew Mackerel wakes one morning and looks out of a window to see that a billboard with the message 'Jesus Saves'. Upset by this evangelical zeal he sets off to the town planning office to put his complaint into writing whereupon he manages to fall in love at first sight with the clerk there. This is complicated by the fact that he has been recently widowed by a tragic accident and is worried how his parishioners will take his new romance especially as his ex-wife is revered within the town. Thus begins a sometimes comic sometimes banal set of occurrences.

Mackerel in many ways a 'too open minded minister', he hates piety and prefers to visit parishioners at home to try and dispel them from visiting hospitals saying prayers for others but he is also very shallow, egotistical and sees some Machiavellian hand, in particular that of his housekeeper who also happens to be his late wife's sister,in every event within his parish. Mackerel is also portrayed as 'libidinous' and has one of his elderly parishioners constantly regaling him with stories, some imagined, from his own racy past.

The minor characters are generally only sketchily drawn, although this is no doubt down to Mackerel's own self obsession rather than a defect in the author, but what does come through is that this is also a critique of American middle-classes prejudices and failings.

On the whole this book did not make me laugh out loud but I did at least read it with a smile on my face at the absurdities within which can be no bad thing.

Journal Entry 3 by 4evagreen at Furness Vale, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Thursday, February 26, 2015

Released 9 yrs ago (2/26/2015 UTC) at Furness Vale, Derbyshire United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This is a book that deserves to be read more widely IMHO so is going out as a Bonus book. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 4 by han_cat at Leeds, West Yorkshire United Kingdom on Saturday, February 28, 2015
Ooh a surprise book! Very intrigued by the Ivy Compton-Burnett comparison, though I should know by now not to trust blurbs ...

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