Being There

Chance, the mentally handicapped hero of this story, has spent all his life working in the garden. Having never been on the other side of the wall surrounding the house he is living in, he has learned everything he knows about the world and its people from TV. Suddenly launched into the real world, dominated by money and power, Chance accidentally becomes a media superstar. Due to his metaphorical speeches about nature, wrongly interpreted as political statements by everybody, he becomes very popular. His road to success leads him straight to the top. Will Chance's emergence find its end in being the next President of the United States of America?
“Being There“ is a well written satire criticizing American society and the media in particular. Although this novel is fiction, Kosinski included some personal experience he gained. “Being There“ partly is an imaginative projection of his life. Connecting both, satirical and thrilling elements, Kosinski created a story which is worth to be read. The image of modern society mirrored by this novel will still survive in your mind when putting the book down.

The story of Chance Gardiner. Is a great story. In the book Being There, he plays a character that doesn't know a lot. But when he is put into a situation that he needs to try and figure what is happening. He Doesn't ever really figure out what is going on he just kind of goes with the flow. The book is about how he does this and it is great ll teh expreinces that he has makes the book great.

I bought this book expecting some answers to questions the movie posed. Nothing doing. Don't get me wrong, this is a great book and it literally zips right by. But I couldn't help but think that Mr. Kosinski wrote the book and when Peter Sellers finally got someone to make the movie (Sellers tried selling the idea of an adaptation of this book to the studios for years) that he took the opportunity to change, and improve things, in his story. I read it in about four hours and it's an inexpensive book so go ahead and buy it. I'm sure you'll enjoy it for the price.

Jerzy Kosinski brilliantly links Chance--the product of television--with the age we so gracefully are entering. Perhaps, it is not Chance that is the videot; he has flourished from little bud to a flower by the end of the novel. Maybe, then it is the people surrounding him that Kosinski is more concerned about. Those who created Chauncey Gardiner, and those who continue to create their presidents and beliefs in objects that appears well on television. It is an interesting novel to read as it was written in the 1970s, and is almost prophetic of what the world has become today. There are many gaps left by Kosinski to allow the reader to read between the lines of this seemingly "simple" novel. In the land of videots, it would be Kosinski's dream that by chance, you see what most do not.

Terrific, quick read that brilliantly satirizes the influence of television on our society, as well as our ability to delude ourselves into creating false icons. Chance is the Forrest Gump of the 70s, achieving great feats because he doesn't realize that he can't. Enjoy this one....much to chuckle and think about!

this book is strange. i read it on the recommendation of a really literate friend, but maybe this book was just too deep for me. I got the general gist of it, like underlying commentary about society and stuff, but dude...I just couldn't get into it. But i mean, if you're really into weird esoteric fantastical situations...give it a try. it's always better to create your own opinion about these things.

Both during and after the election, I was reminded of this excellent novel. With the "light, less-filling" pronouncements of our president elect, it was time to return to "Being There".

While not 100% aligned with the recent election (no one would claim that Obama is not intelligent) it highlights how, when listening to carefully crafted rhetoric, we apply our "insightful" interpretations or biases.

Mr. Kosinsky experienced the horrors of facism and communism. Here he warns us of the danger of quick, easy-to-swallow solutions for complex problems.

It doesn't really matter that the events in _Being There_ are completely improbable. It's still a very funny book, and it works well as a parable about innocence, stupidity, and how we choose our heroes.
Viewers of the movie miss the dramatic irony in the first-person narrative of the book. This makes things much funnier, and the satire that much more trenchant.

Hegel believed we must see ourselves in the other to know ourselves and achieve self-consciousness; Chance has never experienced reciprocation and only knows tv. In this, Kosonski places American culture under a cold, bright light and exposes it for what it is: shallow and consuming. A great read.

I think the novel "Being There" describes well a problem of our modern society. The book has an interesting plot and tension is created all the time. Funny misunderstandings are a leitmotiv throughout the book. Also for young people it is easy to read because the language is not too difficult. Of course the speaking name of the protagonist called "Chance" absolutely fits him. When you read it you have to watch out for many hidden surprises. All in all it is a good book, read it.

I think you could compare the plot in Being there with the good old bible "..God made the world in seven days and the last day he rested." Just like chance/chauncey does in the end. I think the book is difficult to understand completely.

The protagonist of this amazing novel is called Chance. This spelling name "Chance" symbolises the development of the satire 'Being There'.The whole story consists of a number of misunderstandings, which underline the criticism on American political system. The whole novel is well written and easy to read even for students who do not have a lot of previous knowledge in the english language. Also the plot may be interesting for pupils in upper grades.

Jerzy Kosinski's Being There is an entertaining and funny novel which was immortalised by Peter Sellers in the film of the same name.Reading it at first it seems to be uninteresting but as continuing it gets more and more exciting when the lonely gardener Chance has to move out of the large mansion ,he has been living since his childhood .Chance is led by various misun- derstandings which reach their top when he is ellected for a president candidate.

Jerzy Kosinski created an amaising satire about our modern society. The story: An analphabetic simpelton becomes famous just because nobody understand what he really wants to say. Jerzy shows us how easy it is for a silly man to become popular by the power of the media. The novel is written in a funny way and easy to understand.
P.S. for younger readers: you should ask your parents to cut pages:61,82,85 this pages should not be read by kids under 18 years, because of heavy sex scenes

I think you could compare the plot in Being there with the good old bible "..God made the world in seven days and the last day he rested." Just like chance/chauncey does in the end. I think the book is difficult to understand completely.

The protagonist of this amazing novel is called Chance. This spelling name "Chance" symbolises the development of the satire 'Being There'.The whole story consists of a number of misunderstandings, which underline the criticism on American political system. The whole novel is well written and easy to read even for students who do not have a lot of previous knowledge in the english language. Also the plot may be interesting for pupils in upper grades.

Jerzy Kosinski's Being There is an entertaining and funny novel which was immortalised by Peter Sellers in the film of the same name.Reading it at first it seems to be uninteresting but as continuing it gets more and more exciting when the lonely gardener Chance has to move out of the large mansion ,he has been living since his childhood .Chance is led by various misun- derstandings which reach their top when he is ellected for a president candidate.

Jerzy Kosinski created an amaising satire about our modern society. The story: An analphabetic simpelton becomes famous just because nobody understand what he really wants to say. Jerzy shows us how easy it is for a silly man to become popular by the power of the media. The novel is written in a funny way and easy to understand.
P.S. for younger readers: you should ask your parents to cut pages:61,82,85 this pages should not be read by kids under 18 years, because of heavy sex scenes

This book is well written by Jerzy Kosinski. It is a good book which reminds us of the role the media play in our society. We are controlled by media and the book shows it very well. A man without any special abilities is pushed to the top by the media.

While it is interesting to read a satire that deals in the transformation of a recluse to become a celebrity and potential candidate to high office, it is important to note that according to Wikipedia Kosinski built his international career with his first two books: "Being There" and "The Painted Bird". Both of these stories were copied from other polish authors. See specifically:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_There_%28novel%29 which reports as follows:

"When Jerzy Kosinski published Being There – wrote historian Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska – "most Polish critics immediately recognized [his book] as a version of Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy (Nikodem Dyzma's Career) by Tadeusz Dolega-Mostowicz, a very popular novel from the interwar period, and Kosinki was again accused of plagiarism."[2]
"The authorship controversy was a repetition of an earlier case, concerning Kosinski's first novel, The Painted Bird published in 1965, which was plagiarized from a book published in the Second Polish Republic by the Polish ethnographer Henryk Biegeleisen.[2]"

Plagiarism is sanctioned by international law, and often leads to suppression of the published copy, or commands major financial penalties. It is possible that the inheritors of the polish Dolega-Mostowicz and Henryk Biegeleisen estates either lack the means to attack the estate of Kosinski, or there are no inheritors left to do so.

In other regards it is interesting in its simple style, which reminds one a bit of "The Stranger" by Albert Camus' with its existentialist theme and the predicament of the title character, Meursault, caught in a similarly absurd (though much more dire) situation.
Here Chance, or as he is renamed, Chauncey, impresses the people in the circle of busines executives and politicians he meets so much, that they begin to suggest he might become a Wall Street financial mogul, or a White House presidential advisor. (This becomes less absurd when one contemplates the White House in the George Bush era, or looks across the Atlantic and reflects on the level of the current French leadership.)

Assuming that the Wikipedia report is accurate, the book leaves a bit of a bad taste in one's mouth, irrespective of its (and the subsequent film's) commercial success.

Perhaps I'm missing something here......this tale lacks substance and is too fantastical is hold my attention. Maybe the author wants us to consider the vagaries of politics, the stupidity of people, and our desire to rub shoulders with a "star". In my view, a waste of time!

It is, most likely, plagiarized after the Polish pre-IIWW Dolega-Mostowicz "The Nicodemus Dyzma's Career" bestseller. Kosinski was born and lived in Poland until he emigrated to USA in 1957. Probably bet no one in USA would be familiar with this position, and decided to sell it on the US market as his own.

I am not sure Dolega's copyrights owners ever tried to sue Kosinski about this. But in my view a lawsuit like this would be very legitimate.

Both books bear striking similarities. Both talk about a man-from-nowhere who, by a strange twist of circumstances, is taken from the street into the highs of social and political life.

Our book discussion group read this book and we all felt that it a pretty good story. The ending was disappointing but after discussing further, was appropriate. This is a quick read book and can be read in about 4-5 hours.

In Being There, Kosinski, a Polish "writer" working in English, copied almost word-by-word a novel written in the 1920's (or 30s) by T. Dolega-Mostowicz "The Career of Nikodem Dyzma" (Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy). I am sorry to hear that Kosisnki is dead because I would love nothing more than to say this directly in his face: Shame on you!