A Fairy Tale of New York

By J.P. Donleavy

Book Overview

A Fairy Tale of New York is a funny, lusty, and sad novel of comic genius. Returning from study abroad, Cornelius Christian enters customs with his luggage and his dead wife. His first encounter in New York is with a funeral director, with whom he reluctantly takes employment to pay for the burial expenses. In the course of his duties he meets the beautiful Fanny Sourpuss over her millionaire husband's dead body. However, his over-enthusiastic handling of his first corpse lands him in court. Cornelius Christian wanders through the great sad cathedral that is New York, examining the human condition in all its comic pathos and lonely absurdity. Whether lingering in the Automat drinking from half empty coffee cups and stealing baked beans from the plates of customers who go looking for ketchup, or finding love on a street corner only to end up fighting his way out of a hooker's fists, Cornelius Christian, heroic anti-hero, sings of life's goodness in the wake of disaster.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871132648
• ISBN13: 9780871132642
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Of fairytales and Pogue Mahon

Those familiar with the hard charging sound of the trad-punk band The Pogues will find this book has a familiar ring. The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan used the novel as a basis for his song "A fairytale of New York". While the thread of the story is similar throughout the book and the song, the song changes circumstances and specifics to attain it's rythyms. "A fairytale of New York" has been voted the best Christmas song in The UK several times.

One of J P Donleavy's best

My Irish father bought this book years ago, one rainy day in a department store, He dragged me up the the top floor, I remember because he was very keen to get the latest J P Donleavy novel. After he had read it, I picked it up to see what all the fuss was about, and I was hooked immediately! After this I moved onto the Ginger Man then all his others, but this one's the best for me, this book is a classic!

hilarious

This is, without a doubt, one of the funniest books I've read. Donleavy's bizarre wit and lyrical style are superb. If you enjoy absurd humor, you will love this book.