Rating: 
Summary: Gut-smashingly funny!
Review: "Every man has a price," says Terry Southern's gonzo big-spender protagonist Guy Grand, and he proceeds to prove this theory with a series of increasingly-hilarious and increasingly-unbelievable pranks. This one's a laugh riot-- the only problem with it is its length. (A good reader will burn through it in under an hour.)
Rating:
Summary: Word up!
Review: A decade after the demise of the award winning show "The Word", it's about time that someone reappraised the career of it's anchorman, Terry Christian. Southern bravely steps into this contentious breach, and thankfully for all fans of the show, the book is a triumph.Christian is well described - his rise from Mancunian gobmeister in the dole queue to Mancunian gobmeister on TV is presented in excellent detail, and the reader really feels they are gaining insight into his character. Perhaps the only downside to the book is the chapter in which is takes time out from talking about Christian to profile some of the other presents. Obviously, one can never have too many photo's of Amanda de Cadenet, but Hufty's inclusion is definitely a step too far...Thankfully, the nadir of the show, "Bruiser" de Cadenet doesn't get a look in on the technicality he was a stand in and never a full time presenter. All in all, a fascinating read, and an excellent retrospective of one of TV's most enduring stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Sporadically funny
Review: Getting this book on a lark my motivations had been these: 1) seeing that southern wrote it and knowing his reputation intrigued me; 2) being a conniseur of religious literature, favorable and non-favorable, I saw the title was instantly excited, hoping that Southern would provide a fresh insight into the religious machine. I was wrong. Though, this book is not bad. Many reviews have made it seem to be laugh out loud funny. Once or twice maybe, but not all the time. Boredom was not an issue, but neither was laughter. An enjoyable piece, just not great. The gist of the book is this: guy grand buys people. There is a tinge of Real World, Survivor, Big Brother in here. An indictment of american culture.
Rating: 
Summary: Cutesy and obvious
Review: I just don't get the sixties guys sometimes. Maybe forty years ago pointing out the flaws in the American experience was novel, although coming twenty years after Henry Miller and others, it was probably not that shocking to anyone that payed attention to the various literature. This is a smug book, with its smugness somewhat masked by Southern's cutesy tones and farcical situations that he sets up. Maybe it was groundbreaking then, but it comes off as a bit dated and ineffectual now.
Rating:
Summary: Cutesy and obvious
Review: I just don't get the sixties guys sometimes. Maybe forty years ago pointing out the flaws in the American experience was novel, although coming twenty years after Henry Miller and others, it was probably not that shocking to anyone that payed attention to the various literature. This is a smug book, with its smugness somewhat masked by Southern's cutesy tones and farcical situations that he sets up. Maybe it was groundbreaking then, but it comes off as a bit dated and ineffectual now.
Rating:
Summary: PLAYING WITH PEOPLE
Review: In "Dr. Mabuse, Der Speiler", Mabuse said that nothing was interesting anymore, except for "playing with people & with the destinies of people". Mabuse may well have been describing the life of Guy Grand, protagonist of The Magic Christian. Though Grand is no doubt a less mean spirited figure than Mabuse, his humor is no less misanthropic in nature. If you enjoyed the Peter Sellers/Ringo Starr movie, expect to be stunned. The book is above & beyond anything you saw on the screen. If you're like me you'll find yourself rereading it on a yearly basis--- it's THAT funny! Really.
Rating: 
Summary: I wouldn't have minded being offended.
Review: It would at least meant that I cared one way or another what was happening when reading it.
Rating:
Summary: This book isn't the usual 6-and-7--it's a 7 or 11all the way
Review: Roughly ten years before the movie was made, came the book by Terry Southern, a look at the world of Guy Grand, that eccentric billionaire who concocts outrageous schemes in order to prove that everyone has their price and turns the perceptions and worlds of ordinary people upside down in the process. It's okay if one is the audience witnessing those schemes, but quite another if one is on the receiving end, e.g. the Musk and Tallow scents. The action jets back and forth to Guy and his two aunts the fuzzy-brained Esther and the pert and serious Agnes, and a history of his antics, which is of course the core of the story.
As for the interludes with the aunts and Ginger Horton, the rational Guy, who doesn't seem to miss much, tries to remain aloof, saying the right words in an off-handed way, and really speaking when the subject turns towards anything relating to business. The dog show involving the panther, the theatre where Guy shows a cheap foreign film instead of a musical, then reshowing the cheap film upside down, violating copyright laws by making his own film inserts in Mrs. Miniver and The Best Years Of Our Lives, the pygmy who became CEO of an accounting firm, and of course, the chaos that takes place aboard the Magic Christian vessel. The Do-It-Yourself books are something that might actually catch on, assuming there isn't already something like that out on the market. Purists might cringe but that only proves the follies of being a hardcore devotee. The conventionally wise response is, "Hey, it's only a book," or "it's only a movie..." etc. The healthy satire of the media that Guy promotes, where actors walk off the set after spouting off words saying "I pity the moron whose life is so empty he would look at this" could be used today. I don't watch any contemporary American TV programs and when I see previews or commercial spots for them, that's what I feel, to use the line from All Our Yesterdays: "Anyone who would allow this slobbering pomp and drivel to his home has less sense and taste than the beasts of the field!" The humdrum of life should be interrupted by some of Grand's schemes. Smashing crackers on the sidewalk with a sledge, now that's something anyone can do, with a borrowed helmet and overalls. And remember, "It's technical." At 147 pages, The Magic Christian should be a quick and fun read even for today's illiterati, assuming we can get them to turn off the Stupidbowl, Worm Series, or hide their PS2's.
Rating:
Summary: Amusing but dated effort to 'epater les bourgeois'
Review: This book was a slight disappointment after the movie, but I'd still say it's often funny, though a little bit dated. Terry Southern's humour is insider's ridicule - if you despise its targets you'll find it hilarious. There are still some funny bits, though. Guy Grand is a multi-millionaire who spends his money in elaborate pranks intended to ridicule bourgeois sensibilities. This is more or less funny depending on your view of bourgeois sensibilities! Never really achieved laugh-out- loud funny for me.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant satire not to be missed.
Review: This was one of the funniest books I've ever read. I bought it in a bookstore and ended up reading it, in it's entirety, before leaving the coffee shop. (Forget that everyone was staring at me for laughing out-loud so often.) I then, of course, ordered all the rest of his novels from Amazon.com. Southern takes you through the absurd, yet never dull, life of one grand guy and his antics, and exceeds mere story telling with an unsurpassed imagination and originality.I found it exceptionally intelligent, appreciated it's hysterical ludicruousness, and will be passing it along to friends and distant cousins, twice removed, as often as possible.His other writing achievements, along with his novels, include various articles, essays, and the screenplays to "The Magic Christian", "Easy Rider", "Barbarella", and "Dr. Strangelove."
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