The twenty-first-century revival of James Purdy continues with his classic novel of innocence and corruption.

Introduced simply as ?the boy on the bench,? the titular character of Malcolm is a Candide-like figure who is picked up by the ?most famous astrologer of his period? and introduced to a series of increasingly absurd characters and bizarre situations in ?the most prodigiously funny book to streak across these heavy-hanging times? (Dorothy Parker).