Fup: A Modern Fable (Canons)

I was a "wilderness educator" back in Texas in the mid-eighties . . . At night I used to read these tough, streetwise kids to sleep - Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath, and a fable called Fup by Jim Dodge. They loved Fup in particular, a fable about a duck . . . I still hear from these kids - they're all over the country now and generally they're out of trouble, except for the fact that they might be reading Fup to their kids -- Colum McCann * * Paris Review * * A fairytale ending worthy of Oscar Wilde * * Sunday Telegraph * * You'll love it * * Independent on Sunday * * Short, sharp and wickedly funny * * Elle * * Delightful and constantly surprising. Jim Dodge has produced something rare: a fairy tale that is wonderfully down to earth. * * Daily Telegraph * * A short, masterful and unusual fable. * * The Times * * This novel is fupped uck. * * The Times * * Stupendous. It is a jewel, a gem, a diamond in the cesspool of life. * * San Francisco Chronicle * * A timeless fable that is vibrant, vital, poetic and full of humanity, this is a short but perfectly formed work that you can come back to again and again. * * Waterstone's Books Quarterly * * If you fell in love with Babe then you'll love Fup. Simple, touching and refreshingly short * * The Face * * A pint-sized powerpack of a novel. It's got everything * * Big Issue * * Fup shows Jim Dodge to be one of the most original literary voices * * Elle * *

There's Grandaddy Jake Santee, 99 years old, an unreformed gambler, cranky reprobate and fierce opponent of the work ethic. Thanks to his home-distilled hooch, Ol' Death Whisper, he reckons he's in with good shot at immortality. And then there's Tiny, adopted at the age of four by Grandaddy Jake, a giant young man as gentle as Jake is belligerent. And then there's Fup, an uncompromising twenty-pound mallard, partial to a drink herself, whose unique presence transforms the Santee household. Hilarious, heartwarming and magical, Fup is a contemporary fable that inspires an almost evangelical fervour in all who read it. It is a work of enormous originality with a giant heart.