The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker
Well, I learned this much about David Boyer. He was twenty-six when The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker came out. So, that makes him 66 right now. Man oh man, the guy could still be alive! He grew up in Croton-on-Hudson graduating from Groton.
I found the following blurb about the book . . . “Our hero Jonathan drives a taxi to show the world the back of his neck. Born with a gift for laughter and a sense that the world is mad, he drives from whimsical inclination rather than necessity. At age 24 he has exemplary credentials. Social correct parents, collge graduate and associates with peers who are not kooks. He is the possessor of an undemanding affluent mistress. Jonathan knows that the world is mad but what does that make him?”
Also . . . “Born,like Scaramouche, with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad, Jonathan is a cab driver by whimsical inclination rather than by grim necessity. He is concerned with all he sees in a what-the-hell style. And that style is very much of today, for, as any fool knows, the world is mad.”
I’m rereading the book, and I’m still very much drawn to Jonathan. He doesn’t have the immaturity of Holden Caufield, and he’s more engaged with the world than Benjamin of The Graduate. In the opening pages, he talks with Charlie (the pissed off cabbie), is repulsed by the surface love of the Christmas season (which is not reflected in the shoppers who “push” him when he gets into a store), shoplifts a ring and a raincoat (both of which he gives to some homeless guys) and some tulip bulbs (most of which he gives to his mistress), but one of which he tosses into the Schuykill River . . .
“ a wretched river and needs more than a tulip bulb to restore it to any sort of grace. Besides, I thought by the time the bulb reaches the Atlantic, it will probably have undergone an evil mutation and produced offspring that blossom industrial smoke and have the texture of an oil rag. But it was the Christmas season, so who could tell?”
Get this book. I just ordered one of Amazon’s used copies – a hard cover version.
I’m going to continue my detective work.
I found the following blurb about the book . . . “Our hero Jonathan drives a taxi to show the world the back of his neck. Born with a gift for laughter and a sense that the world is mad, he drives from whimsical inclination rather than necessity. At age 24 he has exemplary credentials. Social correct parents, collge graduate and associates with peers who are not kooks. He is the possessor of an undemanding affluent mistress. Jonathan knows that the world is mad but what does that make him?”
Also . . . “Born,like Scaramouche, with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad, Jonathan is a cab driver by whimsical inclination rather than by grim necessity. He is concerned with all he sees in a what-the-hell style. And that style is very much of today, for, as any fool knows, the world is mad.”
I’m rereading the book, and I’m still very much drawn to Jonathan. He doesn’t have the immaturity of Holden Caufield, and he’s more engaged with the world than Benjamin of The Graduate. In the opening pages, he talks with Charlie (the pissed off cabbie), is repulsed by the surface love of the Christmas season (which is not reflected in the shoppers who “push” him when he gets into a store), shoplifts a ring and a raincoat (both of which he gives to some homeless guys) and some tulip bulbs (most of which he gives to his mistress), but one of which he tosses into the Schuykill River . . .
“ a wretched river and needs more than a tulip bulb to restore it to any sort of grace. Besides, I thought by the time the bulb reaches the Atlantic, it will probably have undergone an evil mutation and produced offspring that blossom industrial smoke and have the texture of an oil rag. But it was the Christmas season, so who could tell?”
Get this book. I just ordered one of Amazon’s used copies – a hard cover version.
I’m going to continue my detective work.
posted by Jeff Vande Zande at 6:01 PM
2 Comments:
I also want to find this book. I spent an evening with Mr. Boyer almost 38 years ago. His wife played a wonderful maccordion in their handbuilt cabin in Vt. He was extraordinarily charismatic with a generous open personality. I look forward to rereading this book.
Estragon,
Did you find a copy of the book?
Jeff
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