Topper

by Thorne Smith

Paper Book, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

813/.52

Publication

New York : Modern Library, 1999.

Description

It all begins when Cosmo Topper, a law-abiding, mild-mannered bank manager, decides to buy a secondhand car, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of its previous owners: the reckless, feckless, frivolous couple who met their untimely demise when the car careened into an oak tree. The capricious ghosts make it their mission to rescue the inhibited banker from the staid �??summer of suburban Sundays�?� that is his life. With their ectoplasmic reappearances and whimsically insane actions, they leave Topper, and anyone else who crosses their path, in a whirlwind of discomfiture and delight. Smith�??s hilarious ribald comedy was the basis for a Cary Grant movie and hit televis

User reviews

LibraryThing member jaygheiser

Absolutely delightful. Must read the rest of these. While in some ways this was considered scandalous, it certainly seems innocent today, and what man hasn't fallen in love with a ghost? This modern era farce has a sweetness and innocence lacking in a post-modern era characterized by violence and

overt sex. Smith uses an interesting motif in this book that he did not use in "Gods". Keep your eyes open for it.

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LibraryThing member leslie.98

Barrett Whitener did a good job narrating this 1920s satire.

I have long loved the Cary Grant film version of this book but this is my first time reading it. While the characters and basic premise is the same, the novel is much more about the title character of Topper. Topper, a stodgy New York

banker, is suffering through a mid-life crisis aggravated by the intrusion of some ghosts (including one of a dog who only partially materializes). While less farcical than the film, it is a better story.

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LibraryThing member antiquary

Topper is a respectable banker who finds himself haunted by a very un-respectable young couple whose wild lives had ended in a car crash --but they have not intention of letting that stop their fun. My father had several of Thorne Smith's works which I enjoyed when young (notably NIght Life of the

Gods), but I did not buy this one until relatively recently, though I was vaguely aware of the plot from references to the movie, which my wife enjoys. Smith was considered risque in his day, though he is mild by recent standards.

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LibraryThing member SChant

very funny whimsica fantasy.

LibraryThing member SeriousGrace

Cosmo Topper is an odd duck and his story is an even goofier one. After hearing about a young couple tragically killed in a car accident he sets out to buy their automobile from a mechanic. He has never driven a car and so obviously he doesn't have a license. Despite all that, something prompts him

to hide the purchase of the car from Mrs. Topper as well as keep secret the subsequent driving lessons he needs in order to operate the motor vehicle. But the trouble really begins when the ghosts of George and Marion Kirby, the couple killed in the accident, start haunting Mr. Topper and their old vehicle. For lack of a better word they are troublemakers, materializing at will and causing general mayhem. Things turn scandalous when Mr. Kirby leaves his wife. Vixen Marion is left to haunt Mr. Topper by her playful self.

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LibraryThing member Razinha

There was a time when people didn’t have instant entertainment, when they weren’t fed what to think or feel. Before easy and cheap access to television, before radio, before movies ... okay, “talkies” ... there was little to entertain themselves. Books helped. And the readers still had to

think. I found a copy of Topper Takes a Trip in an antique store, bought it, and though I’d seen the movie (it was entertaining, sue me), thought I should read this first.

Rich language. Mr. Smith sure had a way with words. Vivid imagery with stately descriptions. Now, I’m not sure if Smith ever drank because he exaggerated mightily the consumption of the milquetoast Cosmo Topper and wild, if generally ... dead ..., friends. Comical adventures, risqué in a way that seems a surprise for a book published in 1926. We need not be naive to think that people weren’t risqué, but in print? Regardless of its entertainment value, I can’t forgive Cosmo Topper his, um, spirit-ual indiscretions...but this book was written for a different era. Not that it was forgivable then, but that is just the way things were written. I might watch the movie again to compare, and I expect I’ll read the sequel soon enough.

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LibraryThing member NinieB

Cosmo Topper is a bored New York banker with a wife who has taken to permanent dyspepsia (indigestion). Until he buys a car and learns to drive. It's the car in which George and Marion Kerby, an unconventional, party-loving young couple, lost their lives one night when they hit a tree. When Topper

out of curiosity drives by the tree, George and Marion in their ghostly form, join him in the car. Topper's life is never the same. It's a good story, if aimless much of the time, and the humor is enjoyable if not laugh-out-loud funny.

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LibraryThing member kevn57

Coming of age or mid life crisis story about a middle aged man "Topper". Through drink his soul was reclaimed. I first came across the story as a kid watching Leo G. Carroll as Cosmo Topper in the TV series, then when I was a little older the movie with Cary Grant quickly became a favorite. An

early example of urban fantasy with a humorous twist.

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LibraryThing member nordie

Cosmo, a banker stuck in a rut, buys a car on a whim, despite being the car in which a young couple died in a few months before after crashing into a tree.

Little does he know, but the car is haunted by the dead couple, and soon the three are having a whale of a time. Topper escapes from his humdrum

life (and wife), spends most of his time excessively drunk, getting into trouble and hanging around with a lot of dead people - and Oscar the dog.

I do vaguely remember the film with Cary Grant and I can just imagine the special effects being created for this - such as when Oscar can only (back) half appears.

Think the book would best be described as "screwball" which is a type of book - and film - which has fallen out of fashion, especially in early 21st century England. We like our humour different now I think. Whilst mildly amusing, this is not the funniest book I've read

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