O's Books That Made a Difference - Classics - Celebrity Reads
Books that have stood the test of time, loved by Oprah, Gwyneth, Julia and more...
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O, The Oprah Magazine | From the July 2009 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
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This novella is explicitly a book about ridicule and caricature—Professor Pnin is a joke of a man on a college campus. He's an awkward Russian émigré with bad English, false teeth, a clumsy sense of humor, a tendency to burst into tears or take offense at small slights. Everybody on campus can do an impression of him. He's a clown. But at the core of the book is the idea that there is a Pnin who is as real as the people who ridicule him. You are invited to laugh at him, and then you are humbled and shamed by your own laughter. It's a gorgeous, hilarious, humane book that uncovers the reality of a man's life in sly, piecemeal fashion. I think it's my favorite novel. — Zadie Smith See all the books that made a difference to Zadie Smith |
