Description

The time: an entire night in Montreal. The place: a narrow alley where two stubborn drivers come to a preposterous impasse. The cast: a marvelous blend of misfits—Pelzic, the immigrant cabdriver whose ambition is to pull a retzic (bonanza) by throwing himself against moving vehicles and thereby milking some insurance company; Levin, the real estate fat cat whose tenants are pinpricking him mad with inane complaints; a tipsy millionaire; and a girl or two. The book: Shmucks, a brutally sardonic, brilliantly funny novel of confrontation and alienation.

About the author(s)

Seymour Blicker is presently recognized as one of Canada's most important novelists, author of three highly acclaimed works of fiction: Blues Chased a Rabbit; Shmucks; and The Last Collection, which was published in the United States in 1977. Now living in Canada with his wife and four children, he recently spent a year in Santa Monica, California, completing work on the film version of Shmucks and working on a new novel.

Reviews

“An original and engrossing work of fiction. A little gem.” — New York Times Book Review

“Brashly hilarious...The foibles of human nature and the pains of frustration common to all of us are meticulously revealed in this very contemporary and memorable novel.” — Library Journal

“Alternately funny and perceptive, SHMUCKS goes beyond adventure novel to become an exploration of today’s spirit of alienation and violence, with a surprising ending.” — Publishers Weekly

“A brilliantly comic little work that says as much about alienation and frustration in today’s society as works three times as lengthy.” — Minneapolis Tribune

“Blicker’s dialogue is clever, his characters are believable, and the story itself is convincing...What begins as a temper tantrum between two middle-aged men, shortly develops into a fitting metaphor for our combined urban frustrations.” — Washington Post Book World