Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Jim Dixon, the "hero" of this novel, is a young man with some serious problems. He teaches a subject he doesn't much care about at a second-tier British university; nevertheless, he doesn't know what else to do and he is constantly afraid of being found unworthy and losing his position. He is romantically involved with an unattractive colleague against his will, held by pity and a sense of duty. He despises the pretentiousness of his Head of Department but must hide it at all costs. He has fallen for the girlfriend of the Head's equally pretentious son and that will never do, of course. He has been scheduled to give a general lecture on "Merrie England" and has no original ideas on the subject whatsoever.

What's a young man to do? Jim responds to his problems by playing practical jokes, making outrageous faces when he thinks no one is looking, and drinking too much at just the wrong times. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but, in the end, he turns out to be "lucky Jim" after all.

This is a very, very funny book, in a very British way. Some of the humor is pure laugh-out-loud slapstick in the Monty Python vein. Some is more subtle, through understatement and unexpected observations. I think it would be even more humorous to people familiar with the English class system, which this novel seems to be lampooning. It reminds me very much of some of the British comedies I watch on PBS.

Lucky Jim is included on the Time's Top 100 Best Novels list. Recommended.