Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of The Pigman

The Pigman
The Pigman
Author: Paul Zindel
ISBN-13: 9780553253979
ISBN-10: 0553253972
Publication Date: 2/1/1983
Pages: 158
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
 3

2.5 stars, based on 3 ratings
Publisher: Bantam
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

12 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

hoopridge avatar reviewed The Pigman on + 252 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
I used to teach this in my ninth-grade English class and the kids really liked it a lot. It's a story about two teenagers who try to scam an old man, but end up befriending him and getting profoundly affected by his outlook on life.

While somewhat dated, since it was written in the late 1960s, it's still relevant to teenagers today, though the references to dialed pay phones are really foreign (I had to explain to this cell phone generation what they were!) and the kids often can't understand how times have changed in 40 years. Still, the themes of friendship, ageism, loyalty, and death are universal.
havan avatar reviewed The Pigman on + 138 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This is a coming of age story told from a young adult perspective with the narrative split between John Conlan a young good looking rebel who one day hopes to be an actor and Lorraine a not very attractive girl who lives with her single mom.

Both kids are up to no good when they make the acquaintence of the Pigman, an older Italian man who's lonely enough to let these two teens invade his life and somewhat take advantage of him.

Set in New York City in the mid sixties, this story doesn't feel dated at all and deals with issues that are just as current today as then.

The story is a quick read and is expertly told with all three main characters becoming more and more real and more and more understandable the more you read.

At 149 pages this is a fast read but, as with any good book, some of the ideas will stick with you longer than that. The author asserts in an afterword that everyone has a Pigman. I'll be contemplating that one a while...
reviewed The Pigman on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Just as good and probably a little better than when I read it twenty years ago. There is a different perspective from adulthood that makes the book fresh when read again.
kellilee avatar reviewed The Pigman on + 66 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book was first published the year I was born: 1968. It was one of the most frequently banned books in the 1990s. That's right. Not the 1970s or the 1980s, but the 1990s. Why? Not really sure. The two main characters are high school sophomores who lie, drink, smoke, make crank phone calls. There is no profanity and no sex and maybe just a little violence (but not much). These were clearly the reasons why certain pressure groups worked to banned this book. Instead of being profane and inappropriate, the story explores the loneliness of a widower (The Pigman) and the regret the kids have when they realize that they have taken for granted a very special and short-lived relationship with The Pigman. This super fast read would likely be of interest to most young adults (and a few not so young adults).
reviewed The Pigman on + 75 more book reviews
Very good book
reviewed The Pigman on + 74 more book reviews
Good read.
reviewed The Pigman on + 21 more book reviews
Really good.
reviewed The Pigman on + 45 more book reviews
A good read for middle school readers and older.
reviewed The Pigman on + 74 more book reviews
A touching story about a friendship that blossoms between two misfit kids and a lonely old man.
moosesue avatar reviewed The Pigman on + 28 more book reviews
This book was okay. Did not like the ending
Mom2-4dogs avatar reviewed The Pigman on + 3 more book reviews
This book has been required reading for some of my classes. I, as an adult, loved this book and have used it as an oral reading and read alone experience with students who might not read a book otherwise.
Pro-Nomos avatar reviewed The Pigman on + 23 more book reviews
Meet Mr. Pignati, a lonely old man with a beer belly and an awful secret. He's the Pigman and he's got a great big smile and would have an awesome street corner Santa Claus, if you stuck a white beard on him in December. Two young kids, John and Lorraine, are his friends and know his whole sad zany story. They tell it right here in this book.