num_pages: 221
description: This is the story of man who thinks he's Groucho Marx. Delusions of grandeur? Well, not exactly. Middle-aged, middle-class, freelance writer Bob Swirling has a rather poor opinion of himself, as a matter of fact, and after a series of bruising events under progressively more deflating circumstances, he fetches up at Silver Slopes sanatarium, happily bustling about in the adopted guise of his favorite comedian, of whom he has been doing imitations for years. He just stays inside the impersonation.How all this came about if the subject of Peter De Vries's new comedy, Madder Music. When Swirling mistakenly believes himself to be terminally ill, he calls for madder music - particularly that of a sexual nature. Unfortunately, he is trapped by the mentality of the "bohemian bourgeoisie," and discovers, along with the rest of us, that the road to "liberation" is littered with surprises...and some happy misunderstandings. Swirling copes by retreating into the identity of Groucho, on whom he can pin all the unexpected hostilities that have for so long kept the puritanically raised hero racked with guilt. Off Groucho's tart tongue can be bounced all the pent-up antagonism toward fellow men no better than might be expected. As Swirling's surrogate Groucho faces squarely up to the cockeyed world - making a merry shambles of Silver Slopes into the bargain. Even when Swirling is at last lured out of Groucho's shell back into his own, with the help of a ravishing black girl who has been one of his major complications to begin with, his troubles aren't over, and neither is the fun.
language: English
title: Madder Music
titlecomplete: Madder Music
genres: Fiction, Humor
ratings_count: 63
awards: awardedAt: 252489600000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Fiction
publisher: Penguin Books