The Incomparable Atuk

by Mordecai Richler

Andre Deutsch, 1963, [First Edition], hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, slight foxing to fore edges, dustjacket shows some edge and shelf wear with some rubbing, bumping, creasing and small chips and tears to edges and corners, (see photographs)

“To be an Eskimo poet doesn’t get a man far, even if he is ‘discovered’, as Atuk was, the Twentyman Fur Company, Prestigewise, as the discoverers would have said, it has its points.  Moneywise, as Atuk soon realized, it stinks.  But luckily Atuk, when transported to Toronto, did not focus the gentle savage’s traditionally innocent eye on that city.  One glimpse of the delights of civilization and he was on the ball.  Soon he was to be seen stepping out of a black Thunderbird at the doors of TV, movie and press magnates – or rolling on a divan with the country’s darling, Bette Dolan, record-breaking swimmer and the wholesomest girl in the land.  Atuk’s downfall did not come until…
But no more should be revealed.  The beauty of Mordecai Richler’s new book lies in its surprises, its lunatic twists and turns, and the laughs it jolts out of you by shock tactics.  The ending of this book must be the most outrageous in literature.”