Three Men in a Boat
Book Description
A humourous account of a holiday boating trip along the Thames River. Originally meant to be a serious travel guide, the comical elements overtake the sentimental passages to create a witty novel. Written in 1889, the witty humor is still relevant today. From The Observer: "On its publication in 1889, this rambling travelogue got sniffy reviews. The slang was vulgar, the characters common and th...
MoreA humourous account of a holiday boating trip along the Thames River. Originally meant to be a serious travel guide, the comical elements overtake the sentimental passages to create a witty novel. Written in 1889, the witty humor is still relevant today. From The Observer: "On its publication in 1889, this rambling travelogue got sniffy reviews. The slang was vulgar, the characters common and the prose uneven. Though the criticisms can't be denied, neither can the warmth, humour or charm of Jerome K Jerome's book. And 120 years later with millions of copies sold worldwide, four film adaptations, three TV versions, stage adaptations and even the rather dubious achievement of inspiring a Razorlight music video, Three Men in a Boat has never been out of print and continues to find new fans today. The book was meant to be a serious travel guide recounting a river trip from Kingston to Oxford undertaken by three young men, but Jerome's rambling anecdotes and humorous take on travellers J, Harris and George - and J's feckless fox terrier, Montmorency - turned it into something far rarer: an honest account of male friendship. This pompous, hapless and touching trio are very familiar; in fact, reading this, it feels as if the only difference between modern and Victorian men is the latters' interest in pipe smoking. Jerome's narrative meanders through such wildly varied topics as hypochondria, tents, girls' uselessness in a boat, playing the bagpipes and making an Irish stew as his trio grumble, drink, smoke and snooze on the river. Yes, the prose quality varies, but the pleasure you derive makes up for that. It's funny and gentle. Reading it is like spending time with a favourite uncle whose anecdotes you'd happily listen to over and over again because it makes him happy and it makes you laugh. And there's nothing common or vulgar about that." -Alice Fisher, The Observer, Saturday 25 April 2009 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/26/jerome-k-three-men-boat) From Chapter One: There were four of us-George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency. We were sitting in my room, smoking, and talking about how bad we were-bad from a medical point of view I mean, of course. We were all feeling seedy, and we were getting quite nervous about it. Harris said he felt such extraordinary fits of giddiness come over him at times, that he hardly knew what he was doing; and then George said that he had fits of giddiness too, and hardly knew what he was doing. With me, it was my liver that was out of order. I knew it was my liver that was out of order, because I had just been reading a patent liver-pill circular, in which were detailed the various symptoms by which a man could tell when his liver was out of order. I had them all. It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form. The diagnosis seems in every case to correspond exactly with all the sensations that I have ever felt. I remember going to the British Museum one day to read up the treatment for some slight ailment of which I had a touch-hay fever, I fancy it was. I got down the book, and read all I came to read; and then, in an unthinking moment, I idly turned the leaves, and began to indolently study diseases, generally. I forget which was the first distemper I plunged into-some fearful, devastating scourge, I know-and, before I had glanced half down the list of "premonitory symptoms," it was borne in upon me that I had fairly got it.
| Publisher | CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |
| Binding | Paperback (237 editions) |
| Reading Level | Uncategorized
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| # of Pages | 226 |
| ISBN-10 | 1480043923 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1480043923 |
| Publication Date | 10/04/2012 |
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