A Fistful of Fig Newtons - by Jean Shepherd (Paperback)

About the Book

Frequently republished with this same ISBN but with slightly differing bibliographical details.

Book Synopsis

From the wild and wacky world of favorite funnyman Jean Shepherd, a dozen truer-than-life tales of tailgating on the Jersey Tumpike, infuriating infants, and other everyday catastrophes, defeats, and humiliations that are the familiar fate of Americans everywhere.

Jean Shepherd was one of America's favorite humorists, his most notable achievement being the creation of the indefatigable Ralphie Parker and his quest for a BB gun in the holiday classic A Christmas Story. But he was so much more, a comic Garrison Keillor-like figure whose unique voice transcended the airwaves and affected a whole generation of nostalgic Americans. A Fistful of Fig Newtons is classic Jean Shepherd--sidesplittingly funny and sardonically irreverent. It is a brilliant comic assessment of American life--all of them delivered in Jean Shepherd's witty, classy, unforgettable style.

Review Quotes

"One of our great major humorists . . . [Shepherd] writes about our life and times, the ordinary bits and pieces that every American recognizes and that are loaded with meaning for us all."--New York Times Book Review

"Shepherd has a style and a vision all of his own . . . A Fistful of Fig Newtons is as bright and pleasant a diversion as one is likely to encounter."--Library Journal

"Certainly the greatest American humorist of the last twenty years, and arguably one of our best writers, period . . . A Fistful of Fig Newtons is an excellent introduction to those who know no Shepherd, and refreshment to those who do, and who would trade almost anything to be able to read him again for the first time."--National Review

About the Author

For many years a cult radio and cabaret personality in New York City, Jean Shepherd was the creator of the popular film A Christmas Story, which is based on his novels In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories, and which has become a holiday tradition on the Turner Network. Jean Shepherd passed away in 1999.