This book is definately a "guy book". It covers a period of Hungarian history from the end of World War II up until the 1956 revolution as told by a group of basketball players. These boys spend lots of time talking about, dreaming, about, telling jokes about, or thinking about sex. Intertwined with this running theme is an interesting perspective on Hungarian though during the Soviet Occupation (just another in a series of defeats for the Hungarian army that as many characters echo, "...can't last forever."

Mr. Fischer's style is sometimes bold and explicit such as "Now, of course apart from the bad taste it would leave in his soul, his participaton in the Communist movement would be as welcome as a bonfire in an ammunition dump. He had as much chance of joing as a blue whale had, assuming it could make its way to Budapest." Other times, he has such a complicated sentence structure and compound adverbs and adjectives that it takes three times to read the sentence. Compounding that is a lack of clear plot. The story consists of chapter after chapter of vinettes flashing back and forth through the period. There are many references to figures and events in Hungarian history that are good to know about ahead of time in order to more fully enjoy the dialogue.

If you can get past all hat, there are many wonderful passages accurately depicting the Hungarian character and view of life such as Guryi's reaction to watching a girl jump the bridge into the Danube "there goes another one." Having lived in Hungary and experienced the culture, I never the less enjoyed the book.

A brilliant debut novel which, to coin a cliche, will make you laugh hysterically before making yoiu weep uncontrollably. Set in 1950's Hungary, it is the story of a young member a works basketball team and his search for love, sex and work avoidance. The joy and optimism of the peaceful anti-Soviet uprising is supplanted by the sadness of repression. A wonderful book you will read in a single sitting.

From the dark days at the end of World War Two, through to perhaps even darker days at the time of the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian uprising. Under The Frog is a deeply moving whilst seriously funny book. Seen mainly through the eyes of a basketball playing, perenial under achiever. Under The Frog effectively shows how laughter can rise out of tradegy, and tradegy out of absurbity. Under the frog for me remains one the bitterst denouciations of a totalitarian regime and the evils that it can generate. All that the hero wishes for is freedom. Better a street sweeper in Stockholm than a general in Hungary. This is Fischer's first book and acts as an excellent introduction into the unique prose style. I would heartily recommend the equal excellent 'Thought Gang' and 'Don't buy this if your stupid'

Tibor Fischer can be expected to produce great works in the future, if he remains at all consistent with the ability he has demonstrated in The Thought Gang. The novel is a darkly sarcastic comedy that proffers insight into the mind of an Oxford Professor of Philosophy and his less than brilliant, thieving acquaintances. The book is written concisely, but does not lend itself the impression of a journalistic work. It is rich in detail, as well as in character development. Basically, the story is of a middle - aged, alcoholic genius who vacations from University life and goes to the south of France, where he is promptly mugged in his hotel room. He convinces the robber to stay, and the two of them go on a spree of robbing small French provincial banks with both chivalry and class. The plot is twisting, yet simple and the story itself is inspiring in its creativity. I would suggest this book to people who enjoy comedy, yet serious thought, as well as inspiring, but careless characters

Tibor Fischer is one of the best writers on the planet -consistently hilarious, fiercely inventive and possessed of thatintuitive insight which makes you think - "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?"

The Thought Gang is a blast - a bald, lazy, dishonest Cambridge Philosophy professor joins forces with a one armed, sociopathic, French armed robber to form the Thought Gang - bank robbers with a philosophical bent who embark on a bank job spree in the south of France. From the ridiculous to the.... well, even more ridiculous really, Fischer draws you into his world where statements such as "I suppose we've all found ourselves running brothels in Amsterdam without the proper training at some time or another" or questions like "Does it help being the clever pig on the way to the abbatoir?" are pretty much the norm. Many zeds and Fischer's penchant for turning nouns into verbs add to the sense of absurd realism, giving the Thought Gang the feel of a Woody Allen movie, but with more philosophy (if that's possible).

Both the Collector Collector and Don't Read This Book If You're Stupid are excellent, while Under the Frog is even better. If you've never read any Tibor Fischer, you are definitely missing out. So treat your brain to some comic philosophy (or is it philosophical comedy?) - read the Thought Gang.

My favorite work by Fischer. I can't say anything about this that hasn't been stated already- I just wanted to add my two cents. I love this novel. I've read it four times since I first picked it up in '99. It is whimsical, hilarious, poignant, original and (best of all) a completely dead on send up of academic philosophy/ers. Experience in point: as an (philo)undergrad, I lent my copy to all my favorite philo profs. Only one of them thanked me. And he didn't return it. Even if you don't dig on the love 'o wisdom bag- you will laugh out loud at this book. And his other novels as well (though I will say, if you are a female- you may like Under The Frog or The Collector Collector, better- I've noticed a trend that way, with my female friends who ask for good reads).

"The Collector Collector" is a veritable, dark comic medley about life, love, success, failure, etc... Fischer, like Tom Robbins (and a semi-obscure writer named J. Joyce) before him, uses unbridled structural imagination and hybridization as the central vehicles to express his protagonist's vaguely normal existence in a sea of eccentricity. This book deserves considerable attention, if nothing else, for the author's choice of narrator; the wise and discerning urn. For all it's whimsical satire, this novel presents deep sobering insight into contemporary society.

This is another book review from Wolfie and Kansas, the boonie dogs from Toto, Guam. The narrator of Tibor Fischer's novel "The Collector Collector" is a 5,000-year old ceramic bowl. (Since the bowl never divulges its name, we'll refer to it below as Mr. Bowl.) Mr. Bowl relates both its present-day adventures with Rosa, a London art appraiser, and numerous tales about other humans it has known in the past several millenia.

This book is very clever, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. The modern human characters and the situations they get themselves into are consistently amusing. Some of Mr. Bowl's flashbacks are fascinating. There is only one thing missing here. In 5,000 years of existence, Mr. Bowl apparently never served as a dog food bowl. At least he does not recount any tales of memorable canines. Don't Mr. Bowl and Mr. Fischer know that the two most famous bowls or bowl-like objects in the history of literature are a Grecian urn--and Snoopy's supper dish

"I've had a planetful," begins the narrator of this comical novel, which is no understatement for an ancient ceramic bowl which knows some 5000 languages and which has seen the whole of human history happen past. This is a "bowl with soul" that knows it all, from the ubiquity of frozen iguanas to the secret symbolism of earrings, from the two-hundred and eighty-four types of buttocks to the ninety-two types of surprise to the ten unceasing conversations.

Leave it to the off-kilter imagination of Tibor Fischer to make a piece of curmudgeonly pottery the hero of his 3rd book. And, if you think about it, you can forget about the proverbial fly-on-the-wall: sentient crockery *would* make the ultimate unseen observer. Rarely do people look around & wonder if the earthenware is listening in.

But Mr. Fischer isn't content to let the idea of an (ostensibly) inanimate narrator sink in before he starts throwing the reader curve-after-screwball in! ! his inimitably rarefied-but-no-less-pungent style. Enter Rosa, a lovelorn art-appraiser with the ability to "divine" the history of objects. Enter Nikki, a nymphomaniacal kleptomaniac who aspires to circus stardom. Enter Lump, less an ex-lover of Nikki's than a protective Golem, more undead than living. Enter a kidnapping, some thefts, and not a few couplings.

Now read on as these and a host of other colorful denizens & complications (both past & present) move through what is essentially a pot's-eye view of humanity's endless struggles with the most basic of dilemmas, illustrated with hilarious asides & boiled down to one final question: Who finds true love?

Give The Collector Collector a gander. In it, you'll find true entertainment.

This collection of short stories was less than stellar. The writing was simplistic and obnoxious, with no purpose or irony to any of the stories. Everyone is so impressed with the fact that his stories are 'true' - I'm trying hard to figure out why blatantly writing about everyday situations-i.e., being forced to interact with losers on a daily basis - is suddenly innovative art. The self-deprecating characters did a good job of observing how life sucks-something I easily do myself everyday within my own mind or via conversation with other disillusioned people. These stories left me dry, empty, and disappointed that I wasted both my precious time and money.

Admittedly, I did laugh a few times-so I guess all was not forsaken.

I should have paid more attention to the title. It is the same book as the one titled " I Like Being Killed" I must be stupid for buying this one.
Anyway, Fischer is one of my favorite authors. I really enjoyed "The Collector Collector" and "The Thought Gang."
Both were superb -much better than this collection of stories.

Tibor Fischer is one of the three greatest living British novelists, a modern day Celine who makes the majority of his peers look like they write with Scrabble boards. "We Ate The Chef", the first story in this collection, is hilarious, sad and above all VERY true.

I was excited to find this book when it first appeared in the Amazon catalog. I loved Mr. Fischer's previous titles and have bought many duplicates to give to friends and family. Unfortunately, these stories are neither very interesting nor inventive. In fact, they bare more resemblance to filler articles in more-upscale magazines. Furthermore, I'd purchased the identical collection earlier which bore the title "Don't Read This Book If You're Stupid". If you're a fan, buy it used and don't expect too much. I still have both copies........

While there are moments in several of the stories where the reader
will say 'yes!' or 'that's what I've been trying to articulate,' these
moments do not make a satisfying book.

The stories are interesting
studies of men in bad circumstances. However, they run much too long
to hold the reader's attention without interruption. The plights are
notable, but the characters lack qualities that allow you to empathize
with them. You find yourself wondering why the author didn't allow
something good to happen (by luck or by sheer force of will on the
part of the character) to prevent some of the stories from having
whiny lead characters. I read this book on the bus, and often found
myself becoming more interested in freeway traffic than the
stories.

After reading this book, reading additional titles by this
author is not high on my priority list.

A wonderful introduction to Fischer's other books! It was the first Fischer book I had read, and I was instantly enthralled by his grasp of the characters. He has a real talent for getting inside the characters, and even if you hate them, you can't manage to put the book down. A truly incredible display of Fischer's wicked sense of humor!