Product Description

The characters at the Griffins Club established Mollo's reputation as one of bridge's most inspired and humorous writers. Now a fresh generation of readers will be able to enjoy the Hideous Hog and the Rueful Rabbit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #552223 in Books
• Published on: 1995-08-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Customer Reviews

Are you A Rueful Rabbit or a Hideous Hog?
Surley one of the best bridge books for casual reading ever written. This book continues to delight readers many years after the characters were first introduced to the bridge playing public in the 1960's. There are many varied characters which give you a whole new persective. There has been many a night at the bridge club when I've gone to my dad "Rabbit" and the two of us have burst into laughter and everyone else thinks we are insane. But they just dont know what they are missing. This book is a classic and should be on the shelf of any bridge enthusaist.

Meet the Hideous Hog and Friends!
Victor Mollo introduces the appalling Hideous Hog, the timid Rueful Rabbit, the too clever by half Papa and other members of the Griffins in this, the first book on his famous characters. See them make slams without any aces, practice accidental double squeezes and make four hearts as North/South or East/West on the same hand. VM developed the characters more later on but this book is the genesis and continues to give me a great deal of pleasure. Worth a place on any bridge players's bookshelf.

the most enjoyable bridge book ever!
(from my amazon.com review)

There are plenty of instructional "how to" bridge books--books on how to bid, how to defend, dummy play, squeezes, and all that. This is NOT one of those books. This is the first in a magnificent series of character-driven bridge tales. S.J. Simon had some classic books of this type (Why You Lose at Bridge, etc), but the menagerie books go way beyond those of Simon.

The Hideous Hog (based on Mollo himself), the Rueful Rabbit, Papa, and the rest are wonderfully drawn, and the hands are a true delight. The Hog hates being dummy, and the Rabbit always gets remarkably lucky breaks. The Walrus is a dedicated point-counter, the Secretary Bird is a dutiful and diligent enforcer of the rules of bridge--enforcing the rules invariably backfires on him. Most of the hands have different options for play, and you'll often see radically different results. As Oscar the Owl, the main kibitzer says "Curious Hand! Both sides can make 4 hearts". The Hog will snarl bitterly about the Rabbit's lucky break "If declarer discovers prematurely that he has the ace of trumps [that card is still in the sleeve in front of the Rabbit] the contract cannot be made". You'll see slams misbid on a 3-2 fit and made.

This is a series I reread at least once a year. Mollo has a flair, a finesse (so to speak) and a delightful sense of humor. For educational bridge books, go elsewhere, but for great fun, try the menagerie!