Thread: Do you know of any novels specifically about a slacker or loafer?

Do you know of any novels that specifically are about the life of a slacker, layabout or loafer and how he (she?) avoids work?

I know such a lifestyle existed for many rich people in an earlier time, about which novels may have been written.

However I'd be more interested in learning about stories with a present-day setting, stories which depend more on the MC's cunning than on wealth as the way out.

Title and author thanks.

I'm pretty sure that Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger meets your requirements.

The Catcher in the Rye Study Guide - J. D. Salinger - eNotes.com This is the link for a basic summary of the novel.

Sorry if it's not quite what you are looking for

I know you asked for modern setting but I know of none. However the first thing that came to mind that fits the rest of your requirements would be Jeeves and Wooster by P.G Wodehouse. I think his first book is called "My man Jeeves".

If you haven't already heard of them, its about a bit of an idiot toff in the 1930's with a very smart and cunning man servant (Jeeves) who gets him out of the tricky binds that wooster manages to get himself into. Very funny and all about a guy who avoids work at all costs.

Three Men in a Boat

The History of Mr Polly

About a Boy by Nick Hornby features a protagonist who earns a living from royalties that he made early in his career, so he doesn't have to work.

In The Game, I seem to remember Neil Strauss depicting Mystery and the rest of the 'playas' living in a commune with Courtney Love- I don't think any of them had real jobs apart from picking up girls.

Both are set in the last 10-15 years.

Will let you know if I think of any others.

Came in here to suggest the enormous dosser that is Holden Caulfield, though it seems I've been beaten to it. I could be mistaken, though I think the protagonist in Pushkin's The Queen of Spades fits the bill, as does Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment, though you said you need more modern examples.

How about Patrick Bateman in Ellis's American Psycho? Both in the book and the film, he pretty much did nothing but shoot his mouth off and dine at various restaurants. What a bum.

I may get some flack for this, but what about Jean-Dominique Bauby in The Diving Bell and The Butterfly? I mean, the guy could only be bothered to move his eyelid he was that lazy...

Surely you mean tosser? I've noticed you do a lot of this. You aren't a descendant of Mrs Malaprop, perchance?

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

Surely you mean tosser? I've noticed you do a lot of this. You aren't a descendant of Mrs Malaprop, perchance?

I think I should append a 'don't give too much credence' sign to all my posts. Dosser, tosser; how far detached are those in backwards land?

A dosser is one who sleeps on a makeshift bed, a tosser is an unintelligent man or other low-life. "Toss off" is slang in certain Northern parts of the world for male masturbation.

And it's flak, which definitely originated in England.

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

A dosser is one who sleeps on a makeshift bed, a tosser is an unintelligent man or other low-life. "Toss off" is slang in certain Northern parts of the world for male masturbation.

Or in the antipodes, an unsavoury practice with dwarfs, rugby players and matresses up against the wall.

Does Withnail and I count?

You might get some hints in this magazine: The Idler

Originally Posted by Bloggsworth

Or in the antipodes, an unsavoury practice with dwarves, rugby players and matresses up against the wall.

Does Withnail and I count?

You might get some hints in this magazine: The Idler

Must I keep saying this? It's dwarfs. Dwarves are where dboats tie up.


Thanks for the link.

On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Basically a semi-autobiographical novel about 'hobos' in the post-war period. I wouldn't exactly call the characters slackers since there's plenty of activity, but there's certainly little working On the Road Summary | GradeSaver

"Into the Wild", by Jon Krakauer, is the true account (Non-Fiction novel) of Christopher McCandless, a boy who, after graduating from college, abandoned his family and his inheritance in favor of becomming a vagrant to escape the responsibilities and materialism of modern society.

Originally Posted by KyleColorado

"Into the Wild", by Jon Krakauer, is the true account (Non-Fiction novel) of Christopher McCandless, a boy who, after graduating from college, abandoned his family and his inheritance in favor of becomming a vagrant to escape the responsibilities and materialism of modern society.

What's interesting is the different interpretations we all seem to have of 'slacker'- although I also thought 'Catcher in the Rye' when I first read the thread header.

I never saw McCandless as a traditional slacker, maybe because I associate the word more with someone who happily sponges off others to pursue their goal-lessly hedonistic lifestyle, and he wasn't like that (at least, as far as I could tell from the book).

Withnail and I, however, I heartily agree with. Total slackers. Actor-slackers even, the worst kind.

There's also Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters as per the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test from Tom Wolfe, but I don't know how far back we're allowed to go till it's not really modern anymore.

Trainspotting, if you can read Glasweigan.