The Incomparable Atuk

mass market paperback, 192 pages

English language

Published by New Canadian Library.

ISBN:: 978-0-7710-9973-1

Transplanted to Toronto from his native Baffin Island, Atuk the poet is an unlikely overnight success. Eagerly adapting to a society steeped in pretension, bigotry, and greed, Atuk soon abandons the literary life in favour of more lucrative—and hazardous—schemes.

Richler's hilarious and devastating satire lampoons the self-deceptions of "the Canadian identity" and derides the hypocrisy of a nation that seeks cultural independence by slavishly pursuing the American dream.

Transplanted to Toronto from his native Baffin Island, Atuk the poet is an unlikely overnight success. Eagerly adapting to a society steeped in pretension, bigotry, and greed, Atuk soon abandons the literary life in favour of more lucrative—and hazardous—schemes.

Richler's hilarious and devastating satire lampoons the self-deceptions of "the Canadian identity" and derides the hypocrisy of a nation that seeks cultural independence by slavishly pursuing the American dream.

11 editions

DirkReading reviewed The Incomparable Atuk by Mordecai Richler

This satire made me laugh

5 stars

It's w satire from another time but current enough for many jokes to still bite and many cliches to be still recognizable. I had fun reading this book and was completely taken by surprise by the ending.

Subjects

Richler, Mordecai - Prose & Criticism
Fiction - General
Fiction
Literary
Fiction / Literary