This book is supposedly a novel, but it's a novel only in the sense that a series of connected short stories is a novel. The stories are narrated by Dobie Gillis (memorably portrayed on TV by Dwayne Hickman), who at the age of 13 is dismayed by the fact that all the girls in his class are taller than he is. Dismayed, maybe, but indefatigable in his pursuit of them, and all the girls he loves and loses through the years, up until the age of 30, where the book ends. Interestingly enough, many of the girls live next door to him. There's a big turnover in the inhabitants, as most people find that they can't live there very long. (This is not Dobie's fault and indeed has nothing to do with him.)
Reading Shulman's books now, I wonder if anyone younger than about 60 would find them funny. I can read them again with the same sensibility that I did when I was a kid (which probably means I've never grown up), and I still find them hilarious. The Dedini illustrations probably help, but I marvel at the clarity and humor of Shulman's prose. Subtle? Maybe not. But funny (to me)? Very.
8 comments:
In my salad days, I devoured every book I could find by two very different Shulmans -- Max and Irving. The salad may be wilted now but my appreciation for these writers has not. Sad that neither author is readily available today.
Loved this one.
And to answer your question, probably not.
I don't remember this one but I did love the Shulman books I read...and of course the Dobie Gillis TV series.
Jeff
Like others, I read as much Schulman as I could find at the time, including this one. I remember thinking the cover was pretty racy. (Does anyone use that term any more?) I'll bet I'd still find this and the others funny and entertaining.
I loved Shulman. SLEEP TILL NOON is probably my favorite, and I'll revisit it one of these days. Long live Dobie Gillis.
Well, you had me at the title! new to me.
I have RALLY ROUND THE FLAG BOYS! near the top of my stack of Read Real Soon stack. Love Max Schulman's works!
I’m 77 now and was just able (this week) to replace my pages-falling-out paperback copy of ‘The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis’ with a 1976 Aeolian Press hardback reprint of the paperback copy (along with the Eldon Dedini illustrations). This joins my 1959 Geis Associates copy of ‘I Was A Teenage Dwarf,’ acquired at thirteen merely a year after meeting Dobie in the first collection. It was a more innocent time and I read and re-read these stories during my early teen years and they were a great escape from the day-to-day tribulations of approaching young adulthood. I remember, a few years earlier than that, a movie came out that I really loved, 1955’s ‘The Tender Trap,’ co-written by Max Shulman. It starred Debbie Reynolds as Julie Gillis (some coincidence, huh?) and I think it was seeing her that started my 10 year-old juices flowing and led me to jettison my
Davy Crockett coonskin cap. Three years later, ‘Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys’ appeared and I was a Max Shulman follower forever. It is wonderful to be able to read these stories again 64 years on. Long live Dobie Gillis!
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