Wittgenstein Jr is an odd novel, but it is definitely meant to be odd. A lecturer in philosophy, Lars Iyer's comic invention and leaness in his previous works, Spurious, Dogma and Exodus, have invited repeated comparisons with Samuel Beckett.

Wittgenstein Jr is about a Wittgenstein-wannabe, a pseudo-Ludwig, a despairing, tormented philosopher in contemporary Cambridge struggling to produce a proper thought, who is nicknamed Wittgenstein by his students. The junior Wittgenstein has a number of similarities to the original, and Iyer does a skilful job of creating a cod‑Wittgenstein discourse: "We all know what logic is, he says. It is the study of the laws of thought. Of all the forms of reasoning and thinking. The trouble is, we do not know what logic means, he says. What reason means."

The novel is a strange mixture of Tom Sharpe satire, Zuleika Dobson farce and mimicry of Wittgenstein. The city of Cambridge, Cambridge University, philosophy and the modern academic life are all guyed in an entertaining fashion ("He's trying to see Cambridge, Wittgenstein says. He's done nothing else since he arrived. But all he sees is rubble"). However, the serious faux-Wittgenstein act goes on at considerable length: "He doesn't prepare his teaching. He doesn't lecture from notes. At most he produces a scrap of paper from his pocket and reads out a phrase, or a sentence. He wants simply to think aloud about certain problems, he says." And I suspect that a reader unfamiliar with Wittgenstein's life and work, or indeed a fairly good grounding in philosophy, might find progress through the Wittgensteinese difficult or fruitless.

"Katargesis: written on the blackboard in capital letters. And in small letters, below. The fulfillment of the Law. Fulfillment underlined. Then in still smaller letters: The fulfillment of philosophy?? Two question marks. The end of philosophy??? Three question marks." I'm not sure there's much agreement on what katargesis means, even for professionals, whether in the sense that St Paul used it or the later German variant aufhebung (see if you can digest even the Wikipedia entry), so Iyer is often asking a lot of the reader. Denken ist schwer ("thinking is hard"), as Wittgenstein Jr reminds his students. Iyer is clever to point out and have a laugh at the messianic tradition lurking in philosophy, since the one thing you expect from a Messiah is some answers, and from Thales onwards, most philosophers have been trying to have the final word, just as scientists have been battling for a Theory of Everything.

Rather like Timur Vermes' recent resurrection of Adolf Hitler, Iyer's impersonation and re-creation of Wittgenstein is superbly done, but I don't need page after page of it. You can, after all, always go to the source; I found myself picking up a Wittgenstein biography after finishing Iyer's book to remind myself of the facts, so if nothing else the novel is a great trailer for Wittgenstein's ideas.

Some of the logical brooding Iyer indulges in seems to be at least half-serious in intent, which doesn't sit that well with the broad humour of student life (the funniest gag was about the drug dealer so overwhelmed by the new synthetic products that he doesn't actually know what he is selling). Iyer's comic talent can nevertheless rapidly change the tone and pace of the book, and provides welcome refreshment from the philosophical investigations. One of the students produces a musical based on the life of Wittgenstein, the first song of which is entitled "Am I An Idiot, or Just a Philosopher?": "I knocked on Bertrand Russell's Door / Just before the first world war / I said Tell me sir, am I a real philosopher" Or have you heard it all before?

For a philosophical novel, the book could be a bit better thought out; it is more of a witty short story or novella that has been bullied into the territory of a novel. The dramatic substance of Wittgenstein Jr is simply the relationship between the philosopher and his students. "Benwell is drawing cocks in his notebook. Guthrie wears sunglasses over closed eyes. Mulberry groaned audibly when Wittgenstein asked him a question." The lecture hall banter has only so much effervescence between the bergs of cogitation.

Wittgenstein Jr is not a long novel (and there are great clumps of white space), but it does manage to be a little too long. Iyer is to be applauded for his spare style, but Beckett, at his finest, was much more cryptic and laconic; however, Iyer wins on laughs.

• Tibor Fischer's Good to Be God is published by Alma. To order Wittgenstein Jr for £10.39 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0330 333 6846 or go to guardianbookshop.co.uk.