About Harry Towns

by Bruce Jay Friedman

Bruce Jay Friedman has been hailed by critics as a comic genius, a writer whose vision confronts the malaise of contemporary life with a liberating deadpan humor. Grove Press is proud to reissue one of the classic novels by this acclaimed master of modern humor. About Harry Towns is the story of the eponymous screenwriter, a man reveling in the freewheeling atmosphere of the early 1970s, a bicoastal playboy with a broken marriage and a child he rarely sees. But when his perfectly constructed life begins to spin out of control, he must decide to pick up the scattered pieces of his past to begin anew. Praise for About Harry Towns: "A goddamn heartbreaking delight and you are a fool if you miss it. Friedman has created a character unique, haunting, and completely memorable in stories which tickle, depress, gouge below the belt and at second or third reading hold up as nothing less than a joy." -- The Washington Post Book World

Genres: Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1974

About the author

American comic author whose dark, mocking humour and social criticism was directed at the concerns and behaviour of American Jews.

After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1951 with a B.A. in journalism and serving in the U.S. Air Force for two years, Friedman worked in publishing for several years before achieving success with his first novel, Stern (1962). The title character is a luckless descendent of the biblical Job, unable to assimilate into mainstream American life. Virtually all of Friedman's works are a variation on this theme; most of his characters are Jewish by birth, but they feel alienated from both Jewish and American culture. His works are also noted for focusing on absurd characters and situations.
-Encyclopædia Britannica

Reviews

[Stevefk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminds me of early Philip Roth, back when he was good, back in the Portnoy's Complaint days, back before the crappy cliche filled books like American Pastoral days. I need to read more Bruce Jay Friedman, man.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parece una cosita así sin importancia por el desparpajo con el que se narra y al rato de acabarla te das cuenta que Towns ha violado a una niña y ni por esas, por cómo se construye su personaje y su forma de relacionarse con el mundo, consigues odiarle. Eso es dificilísimo.

Joe Biden, esto te va a gustar.

[Mary Ellen Herron · Rating 1 out of 5]

stupid

If you want to read about a scumbag and drugs, this book is for you. stupid waste of my money

[Gizmopapi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harry towns puede ser la peor persona del mundo, pero todos somos un poco Harry Towns. Quizas la gran moraleja de este libro es que hay que aceptarse por muy Harry Towns que sea uno.

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bruce Jay Friedman has been hailed by critics as a comic genius, a writer whose vision confronts the malaise of contemporary life with a liberating deadpan humor. About Harry Towns is the story of the eponymous screenwriter, a man reveling in the freewheeling atmosphere of the early 1970s, a bicoastal playboy with a broken marriage and a child he rarely sees. But when his perfectly constructed life begins to spin out of control, he must decide to pick up the scattered pieces of his past to begin anew.