Submarine is proper laugh-out-loud funny all the way through. I can't quote the funniest bits here though cos it would be out of context, and also they are too rude, sometimes extravagantly oedipal, sometimes just plain bonkers. Yes, the protagonist of this book is an original. Forget the two-dimensional sub-Mole narrator of 'dog in the night time' - this book is in a different league, rightly taking its place among the greats: if you've enjoyed any of the following books, then I suggest you give Submarine a try - Black Swan Green (Mitchell) The Wrong Boy (Russell) There Is A Happy Land (Waterhouse) Henry Tumour (McGowan) The Wasp factory (Banks) Riddley Walker (Hoban) A Clockwork Orange (Burgess). if your taste in books is folk flying around on broomsticks, errr, ...