On the HahaFiction shelf
Puckoon
by Spike Milligan
An Irish village finds itself on two sides of a newly drawn border. The division separates a church from its cemetery, turning an ordinary funeral into a problem of international paperwork.
From the publisher’s blurb
“Featuring one of the laziest protagonists in all of fiction”Read the full description at Penguin, publisher description
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What makes it funny?
The mourners discover that the man they are burying needs a passport to reach his grave. A coffin also looks useful to people hoping to smuggle explosives, so several incompatible plans converge on the same funeral.
The comedy at work
Milligan starts with an administrative decision and pursues its consequences past common sense. Slapstick and verbal jokes accompany a village’s attempts to deal with officials who treat even the dead as travelers needing documentation.
Try this if…
Readers who enjoy improbable situations, abrupt jokes and bureaucratic rules followed to ridiculous conclusions may find the village’s predicament appealing.
Good to know
This 1963 novel contains racist terminology, flagged by the ABCtales reviewer. Its frantic jokes also sit beside lyrical description and darker reflections on death.
More funny classic comedy
Sources & further reading
- ABCtales review
Review
- Publisher
Publisher
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