Peeping Tom

Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings

A sharp and satirical literary novel, Peeping Tom chronicles the misadventures of Barney Fugelman, a writer of comic fiction who becomes obsessively fixated on the life and legacy of Thomas Hardy, convinced that his own romantic and creative failures mirror those of the great Victorian novelist. Jacobson constructs a brilliantly layered narrative that uncovers the absurdities of literary obsession, male desire, and the tragicomic nature of self-delusion, all delivered with his trademark wit and intellectual ferocity. The novel presents a protagonist so consumed by his identification with Hardy that the boundaries between homage and mania dissolve in gloriously comic fashion. Jacobson illustrates, with both warmth and savage irony, how men construct grand narratives around their own inadequacies, turning personal failure into a kind of perverse art form. Readers who appreciate erudite, character-driven comedy with a distinctly British sensibility will find this an endlessly rewarding and wickedly funny work.