Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry

B S Johnson

From Shelf: Good books about bad jobs as featured by Lara Williams in The Guardian 22/6/22

B.S. Johnson's most hilarious novel, the story of a disaffected accountant and his plan to put right the wrongs in the world.

Christie Malry is a simple man. As a young accounts clerk at a confectionery factory in London he learns the principles of Double-Entry Bookkeeping. Frustrated by the petty injustices that beset his life - particularly those caused by the behaviour of authority figures - he determines a unique way to settle his grievances: a system of moral double-entry bookkeeping. So, for every offence society commits against him, Christie exacts recompense. 'Every Debit must have its Credit, the First Golden Rule' of the system. All accounts are to be settled, and they are - in the most alarming way.Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry, the last novel to be published in B S Johnson's lifetime, is undoubtedly his funniest.