Yollop

"Yollop" by George Barr McCutcheon is a funny story from the early 1900s that follows what happens when Crittenden Yollop, who's a good guy but kind of clueless, meets Cassius Smilk, a burglar who's not very good at his job but knows it. The book begins with Mr. Yollop accidentally beating up Cassius Smilk during a break-in, making Smilk confused. Right away, the story is funny because Mr. Yollop can't hear well and is clumsy as he tries to talk while holding Smilk with a gun. As they talk but misunderstand each other, we see that Yollop is innocent while Smilk is charmingly sneaky. This odd start points to the bigger ideas in the book about what's normal in society, how weird life can be, and how unlikely friendships are able to happen.