THE PRICK OF NOON

by Peter De Vries ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 16, 1985

De Vries novels often feature unabashed social climbers--but Eddie Teeters, the narrator of this under-par sex/manners comedy, is much less endearing (and much less convincing) than all those other parvenus and gate-crashers. Supposedly hailing from Backbone, Arkansas, the son of a town-cemetery caretaker, Eddie nonetheless narrates in basic De Vries--verbose, a bit smirky, punning and allusive--while dropping in an effortful batch of malapropisms from time to time. (""You may have noticed that I'm sometimes more subtle than at others. It comes of a high-school dropout's drive to raise himself up by his own bootstraps, or petard, which I gather is another way of putting it. . ."") Furthermore, Eddie's crass, minor quest here--to worm his way into the elite suburban society of Merrymount, Conn.--remains a flimsy, unengaging one. His primary, specific goal? To woo and wed Cynthia Pickles, patrician career-woman and would-be publisher of a serious political-opinion journal. His primary, specific obstacle? The secret source of his lucre: Eddie produces--and appears in, from the neck down--""Sexucational Films"" for the video-cassette market. So, while making a persistent play for cool Cynthia-bedding her with gusto, doting on her eccentric stepmother, buying a stretch limo--Eddie keeps delaying the moment of truth, even when one of his videos turns up at a suburban party. (""I would propose to Cynthia and then soon afterward reveal that I was Monty Carlo."") Eventually, in fact, stirred by Eddie's life-threatening hospitalization for an esophagoscopy, Cynthia agrees to get engaged. But then, before Eddie can confess on his own terms, his secret is uncovered in print: ""Local Mystery Man Unmasked as Porn King."" Cynthia recoils. A local obscenity trial ensues--complete with evidence from a pregnant, unwed teenager whose downfall is attributed to a Monty Carlo video. (Verdict? Guilty. Sentence? Suspended.) And finally, after a last-ditch attempt at becoming the adoptive heir of Cynthia's rich stepmum, Eddie (now impoverished) settles down in lusty bliss with an earthy, unpretentious bride: longtime bedmate Toby Snapper. De Vries fills out this familiar scenario with swatches of country-club dialogue, vignettes from Eddie's sex-life (some tired sit-corn), and his run-ins with high life and low life (a motorcycle gang). But the laughs here are mild and few, the satire seems dated, the prose is often Perelman manqu‚--and, though De Vries' recent track record as a critics' darling is likely to remain intact, fans of first-class social comedy (including first-class De Vries) will probably be disappointed.

Pub Date: April 16, 1985

ISBN: 0786117168

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1985

Categories: FICTION