Actually, this is not really a novel. It's so slapdash that reading the book can feel like a treacle-slow trudge. There are ~100 characters to keep track of in 150 pages, 80% of them appearing just once, as foils to some punchline or gag. The plot has ADHD, the grammar is truant, and the writing occasionally poxed with purple and garish blotches of pointless poetic pablum (e.g. "..so lay Puckoon caught by summer in her winter thrawl, as she lay thus dreaming 'twixt land and sea, all was light, and like a golden finger the morning was writ upon the scene" (8)).
Beyond that, this is sublime stuff. At his best, Milligan is like Kafka in his gift for seeing the absurd in the everyday. In a saner world, he'd be studied in schools as a model of wordplay and satire. The book is (yes) vulgar, sexist, and racist, but in the best way.
The finest praise is to let the text speak for itself. The following are some choice morsels from Spike's buffet of bathos:
--
"His nose was what the French call retroussé, or as we say, like a pig;.." (14)
--
"Like all men in Puckoon he was married but single after six at night." (32)
--
"When he wasn't poaching he was writing bits of poetry, but he lived by the trap." (37)
--
"After all, peace, as any good general knew, couldn't last forever, and the only way to end wars was to have them." (46)
--
"The tall one appeared to be in charge, that is, he did less work than the other, which is usually a sign of authority." (52)
--
Four miles up the line, showing no signs of life, was the six-thirty train for Puckoon. ... From the carriages came enquiries.
'What we stopped for, mister?'
'Is this Dublin?'
'What happens if we can't get started?'
'Well,' explained O'Malley, 'First class passengers will be taken on by private car.'
'What about us third class?'
'You get out and bloody well push.'
(63-4)
--
"Money couldn't buy friends but you got a better class of enemy." (71)
--
"Living in India those days was something. People who had been hungry unemployed farm labourers in Ireland were suddenly unemployed N.C.O.S in the British Army, with real live servants of their own." (88)
--
"Business was bad, it seemed people couldn't afford to die these days." (112)
--
'I say, Paddy.'
Milligan looked up. Webster was outside the customs tent beckoning to him.
'Me name's not Paddy,' he replied defiantly. He hated Englishmen who called Irishmen 'Paddy'.
'Would you like a cup of tea Paddy?'
'Paddy' Milligan dropped his rake and arrived before it hit the ground.
(116)
--
'This is a gun in yer back,' hissed a hoarse voice.
'All right,' gasped Milligan, 'as long as you don't shoot I can stand it.'
(144)
--
"A highly suspicious manager had inquired of him, 'Can I be of help, m'sieur?' and was answered with, 'Speak English, you ignorant swine.'" (149)
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