Topper (Modern Library)
by Thorne Smith, Carolyn See | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0375753052 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0375753052 Global Overview for this book
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 4/10/2017
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 4/10/2017 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I found this good-condition paperback at a local thrift shop, and nabbed it for another release copy. It's the novel that inspired the 1937 Cary Grant film and the early '50s TV series (which I recall seeing, though it must have been in re-runs).
The book proved to be a very entertaining romp - and considerably more risque than I recall either the film or the TV series being! Cosmo Topper, a man settling into middle age with a mild sense of having missed something, is fond of his cat Scollops and tries to be obliging to his wife, but often finds himself wishing for - something different. When he buys, on a whim, the sports car in which the dashing young Kerbys were killed a while back, he finds that the Kerbys are still around - and that they seem to derive a perverse pleasure in taking the wheel, leaving him apparently riding around in a driverless car. Marion likes flirting with him as well, and though he fights the urge to go play with the Kerbys for a while, eventually he accepts them wholeheartedly and dives into a life of increasingly hedonistic pleasures. [I'm not sure where he gets the money for all this; by the end of their adventures his savings must be shot, poor guy!]
The rules of ghostly behavior seem to change as needed by the story, with varying degrees of visibility and tangibility, but for the most part it seems that the Kerbys can materialize at will and can manipulate items (and drive cars, drink booze, etc.) whether visible or not. They take full advantage of this, sometimes to Topper's despair, but he grows used to it in time - though he finds himself far too attracted to Marion for comfort.
There are lots of hilarious slapstick scenes here, and plenty of quips. Good fun!
[There's a TV Tropes page on the film and the series, with some entertaining tidbits.]
The book proved to be a very entertaining romp - and considerably more risque than I recall either the film or the TV series being! Cosmo Topper, a man settling into middle age with a mild sense of having missed something, is fond of his cat Scollops and tries to be obliging to his wife, but often finds himself wishing for - something different. When he buys, on a whim, the sports car in which the dashing young Kerbys were killed a while back, he finds that the Kerbys are still around - and that they seem to derive a perverse pleasure in taking the wheel, leaving him apparently riding around in a driverless car. Marion likes flirting with him as well, and though he fights the urge to go play with the Kerbys for a while, eventually he accepts them wholeheartedly and dives into a life of increasingly hedonistic pleasures. [I'm not sure where he gets the money for all this; by the end of their adventures his savings must be shot, poor guy!]
The rules of ghostly behavior seem to change as needed by the story, with varying degrees of visibility and tangibility, but for the most part it seems that the Kerbys can materialize at will and can manipulate items (and drive cars, drink booze, etc.) whether visible or not. They take full advantage of this, sometimes to Topper's despair, but he grows used to it in time - though he finds himself far too attracted to Marion for comfort.
There are lots of hilarious slapstick scenes here, and plenty of quips. Good fun!
[There's a TV Tropes page on the film and the series, with some entertaining tidbits.]
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Government St. (See Notes For Details) in Kittery, Maine USA on Saturday, April 15, 2017
GoryDetails at Government St. (See Notes For Details) in Kittery, Maine USA on Saturday, April 15, 2017
Released 7 yrs ago (4/15/2017 UTC) at Government St. (See Notes For Details) in Kittery, Maine USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I plan to leave this book in or near the Black Birch gastro-pub at 2 Government St. at around 5, on my way in to dinner. Hope the finder enjoys it!*** Released for the 2017 Movie release challenge. ***
*** Released for the 2017 TV Series release challenge. ***
*** Released for the 2017 Theater release challenge. ***
