Another goofy novel similar to The Importance of Being Earnest. Short and funny. I think in the 160 pages that Jerzy Koskinski has he does a better job telling the story of Being There than was done in The Importance of Earnest. Things are clearer but still funny.
I would think may have seen the movie but might not realize that there was a book first as that happens so often now. The book was first published in 1970 and the bubbling but lovable Peter Sellers does a great job 9 years later portraying Chauncey Gardiner. Sellers is depicted on most of the covers of the book that you can find now.
Chance or Chauncey as he is later known in the book is a gullible simple-minded man. The is the gardener of a fancy home near Wall Street. When his wealthy benefactor dies, Chance has to leave the house. He runs into a nice young lady that is completely convinced he is a rich businessman of amazing intelligence.
What follows is a comical series of events where Chance is basically set for life, even though he is still the simple-minded fool we meet at the beginning of the book.
I found the story entertaining and very telling of society and the way we only see each other, but don’t really know each other. The book also made me reminisce of when I had seen the movie many years ago as if pulling the memory from the deepest part of my mind so that I could just bearly remember seeing the movie a very long time ago. The book heaved those memories to the forefront and I was pleasantly surprised that I knew the story, but still needed to be reminded of how everything turned out for Chance.
I happily bestowed 4/5 stars for Being There.