The Boy Who Kicked Pigs Paperback – Illustrated, 20 Oct. 2005

I love this story so much. I have bought this for so many friends.

I absolutely love this book. Tom Baker's dark wit is well illustrated here and I thought it had a spiky feel to it. I bought the paperback after reading the first page and of Robert going to die. June the 13th, a 13 year old teen and he's about to expire! Tom has this knack of oozing a morbid sense into the story and of which is as dark as Tim Burton's works. I also loved the illustrations by David Roberts and these added a perfect mood to the overall nightmare. I just wish Tom would write a few more stories based on his intelligent, good-natured and dark mind. Please, Tom ... more for your fans.

I bought this book as a gift, with a little curiosity myself too. Glanced at it when it arrived and was immediately drawn into the strange world of Robert Caligari, who kicks pigs.It lives up the marketing on the front cover, "A grotesque masterpiece". To be enjoyed by young and old alike. The author aims certain comments and lines very clearly at the older reader, but never for long enough to loose the younger reader or listener. It would be an great book to read to children, as you would a Grimms fairytale.My only disappointment is that Tom Baker hasn't written other fiction as his dark humour is very entertaining in this form.

A tale of life in post War Liverpool and a fantastic story of human foibles and misadventure. As I read it I could have been listening to Tom himself and seen a smile spreading over his face at each embellishment as he expounds to the gathered family by a blazing fire on a November evening.

I really enjoyed the layout of this book, very simple and a fantastical mix between dark adult humor and a childish appearance. Without giving too much away, I felt the ending was a little too graphic and its childish demeanor was completely lost. I do enjoy a bit of gore (American Psycho would definitely feature in my top 10) but I felt it was a little out of place here. Other then that, I quite enjoyed this book. Easily readable in about... an hour? About 100 pages long (with 'pretty' pictures and full of vibrancy. Except nothing less from Doctor Who.

Bizarre but funny, I have bought this book for several people. Definitely worth a read!

Bizarre little story. Probably not for kids.

I have a strong feeling that if you're going to write a novella, then you've really got to compensate your readership for lack of wordage with a tangible and unique 'something else'.A more intensive and poetic writing style, perhaps. A brilliant and memorable twist. Or a parable so resonant that it lingers with you for days after putting the book down.Unfortunately, you'll get none of the above here. 'The Boy Who Kicked Pigs' is grim without being obviously ironic, short without being pacy, witty or stylish, and concludes with a (very, very unpleasant) punishment but no real moral. Writers - REAL writers - like Philip Pullman do this sort of thing so much better.Had it not been written by an ex-Dr Who, then I'm convinced it would never have been published at all.The illustrations, however, are uniformly superb... for which the book earns its second star. Shame David Roberts' name isn't on the cover...

Been a fan of Tom since the Dr. Who TV programme, and delight in his articulate way of telling a tale of a very bad little boy!

It was worth reading something by this important actor. He is weirder than any of his characters. This book is an entertaining story but it also is hard to like. The main character is a psychopathic boy. Most of the rest of the characters are victims.

This is a very fun story by old Tom. Twenty minutes total read time, but you must stop to enjoy the artwork facing every printed page.I would suppose that this is a work of fiction, but one never really knows what adventures have a grain of truth embedded at the center.

It is a weird book, but I couldn't stop reading it until I reached the end. Read it in one sitting.

Pretty ironic that I should be writing this in the wee hours of January 20th, 2014...as it so happens, Mr. Baker has reached 80 as of today. But he was 65 when hewrote this black-humor classic. Even that was almost twenty years after he stoppedplaying the legendary Fourth Doctor on everyone's favorite British science-fictionprogram. The man can clearly do anything. As long as you can handle that super-twisted Tim Burton kind of humor, this book is your cup of (poisoned) tea.