A CERTAIN MONSIEUR BLOT

by Pierre Daninos ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 10, 1962

Report repeated from the December 1st bulletin, when scheduled for earlier publication, as follows: ""The satirist reponsible for the Major Thompson series has created another typically French, terribly amusing caricature. A certain Monsieur Blot uses his vacation time to enter a contest seeking the 'average' Frenchman. Blot takes the extensive questionnaire as a kind of existential stepping off place. Marginalia consist of related philosophical tidbits, comments on his own 'transparent' normalcy, marriage, office machinations, women, politics, etc. By dint of his wife's three month pregnancy, Blot wins the contest by a decimal point: Monsieur, has indeed, 2.3 children. The fame and fortune of his actuarial victory catapult him up several sociological strata; he then proceeds to take the serrated edge to the upper crust of the French bread. The result is an utterly delightful tour de force. Unlike our own sweatered demolition boys, Daninos goes about his work without bitterness and with a mature awareness that to plummet beneath a certain depth is self-defeating. The reader can almost hear the strains of leit motif accompanying each of his caricatures-so well drawn are they. If box office receipts from Fernandel movies are a valid indication, this one should do quite well.

Pub Date: May 10, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1962

Categories: FICTION