The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B

By J. P. Donleavy

Balthazar B is the world's last shy, elegant young man. Born to riches and a blonde mother's breast in Paris, raised in lonely splendour, a soul bemused with the world's haphazard frailties, he hopes to find each new day just as he left it yesterday. Balthazar B's life spreads from Paris across the Channel to prep school in England. There he is befriended by the world's most beatific sinner, the noble little Beefy, kindly to small dogs and old ladies, fearless to masters and bullies. And in holidays spent in Paris, Balthazar B falls upon love and sorrow with his beautiful governess, Miss Hortense. He soon loses her to live out lonely London years, waking finally in the green sunshine of Ireland and Trinity College. Here, reunited with Beefy, he is swept away to the high and low life of Dublin. From the black-eyes little Breda, met in Irishtown, to the arms of the dark, strange and beautiful Miss Fitzdare. Until, caught between college authorities and a landlady's dentures, their university careers come an inglorious end. They return to the seasons of London, there to take their tricky steps into marriage, Beefy in search of riches, Balthazar in search of love. This touching story, as sad as it is hilarious, in Dublin in its heyday and London in its prime, between a Paris of all its pleasures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Lilliput Press
• Release date: Sep 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781843512134

J. P. Donleavy

J.P. ‘Mike’ Donleavy has written more than twenty books since The Ginger Man, including The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B, Meet My Maker the Mad Molecule, A Fairy Tale of New York, The Onion Eaters and Schultz (all available as eBooks from Lilliput), along with several works of non-fiction such as The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival and Manners. He lives along the shores of Lough Owel near Mullingar in County Westmeath.

Reviews for The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B

[jeffreybrayne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic. My favorite Donleavy book to date. If you take the likable characteristics of his other characters from Ginger Man, Darcy Dancer, etc. and roll them up, you have Balthazar B. If you're a Donleavy fan, this book is a must.

[hagelstein_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Born in Paris between the wars, Balthazar B. is spoiled and wealthy in all regards, except for love. His father dies, leaving Balthazar to be raised by nannies, with an occasional appearance by his haughty, distant mother. On one such visit she discovers that twelve year-old Balthazar and his beautiful nanny, Bella Hortense, have been sharing a bed. Years later she travels to Dublin, where he is attending Trinity College, from Buenos Aires, apparently with the sole purpose of telling him Bella had his son, who he will never meet.Balthazar's true love, Elizabeth Fitzdare, dies before they can be married. It is years before he discovers why she and her father suddenly cut off contact with him - after a horse riding accident from which she never recovered. He ends up being trapped into marriage by a gold digging woman, Millicent - who seems a lot like his mother - and her parents.Sad as Balthazar's story is, it is highly humorous. His lifelong friend, Beefy, is a troublemaking sexual madman, who draws Balthazar into situations that get them both expelled from Trinity, where Beefy has been studying religion. Maybe no one is more adept than J. P. Donleavy at combining loneliness, scandal, beautiful prose and ribald humor into an elegant, totally satisfying story.

[griff_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A book filled with wit, bawdiness, and pathos - a winning combination in Donleavy's hands. We follow the melancholy life of Balthazar B. As part of the journey, we get a glimpse into the debauchery-filled life of Balthazar's friend, Beefy. Both are in search of a finer life - each with a different vision of what that means. Both are endearing characters. Despite the antics, immaturity, and poor decisions, we care. The touching ending is not out of line with where the book has taken us. Donleavy has a gift in providing raucous stories that inevitably touch hearts and minds amid the laughter and absurdity. It has been decades since I first read Ginger Man. Given this recent encounter with Balthazar B, I may need to pick up another copy and read it again.