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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
This is still funny. This will never NOT be funny as long as humankind doesn't change. When our pleasure trips are sailing among stars, we will *still* be squabbling over who is doing all the work.
After self-diagnoses of almost every ailment under the sun, friends George, Harris, and J. decide to take a break with a leisurely jaunt up the river Thames. Naturally, not everything goes to plan for this absurd trio, and they encounter their share of farcical adventures along the way. Throughout the excursion, they must deal with the (hilarious) drama of: packing and unpacking the rowboat to find missing objects, contradictory weather reports, stubborn tea kettles, terrible singing, and errant tow ropes-to say nothing of the dog.
This would be a great classic for anyone who is a little intimidated by Victorian literature. It is incredibly readable with a highly anecdotal style of writing. Three Men in a Boat is light, entertaining, and absurdly funny. So much of the humor is completely timeless, and I laughed out loud more times than I can count. The struggle with the pineapple tin, the group photo on the river, and the story of the Hampton Court maze were some of my favorite moments. As a Terrier owner, I also loved all the mentions of the Fox Terrier Montmorency. Jerome K. Jerome was clearly familiar with the terrier group!
Full review here: https://dwellinpossibilityblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/21/classics-club-review-three-men-in-a-boat-by-jerome-k-jerome/
This would be a great classic for anyone who is a little intimidated by Victorian literature. It is incredibly readable with a highly anecdotal style of writing. Three Men in a Boat is light, entertaining, and absurdly funny. So much of the humor is completely timeless, and I laughed out loud more times than I can count. The struggle with the pineapple tin, the group photo on the river, and the story of the Hampton Court maze were some of my favorite moments. As a Terrier owner, I also loved all the mentions of the Fox Terrier Montmorency. Jerome K. Jerome was clearly familiar with the terrier group!
Full review here: https://dwellinpossibilityblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/21/classics-club-review-three-men-in-a-boat-by-jerome-k-jerome/
I'm sad to say this did not stand up to my fond memories of it. It may be that I've been reading so much Wodehouse lately that in comparison this had a humor felt too mean spirited at times. Also the misogyny was off putting. I didn't remember it being that way. Don't get me wrong - it does have its moments. It still had scenes that made me laugh. Still, there was too much self-indulgent description for my taste - passages that went on and on, and I never really connected with any of the characters. I think I'll stick with Wodehouse from here on out.
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
After all these years I finally got around to this book. We took it along as an audiobook on our last long trip. It was just as wonderful as I've always heard. Seinfeld, folks. Seinfeld a hundred years ago. Clever. Smart. Funny.
The story is simple: three friends head out on a boat trip down the Thames. All three are a bit lazy and negligent and self-centered. It's all in good fun. A great read. Mustn't miss it.
The story is simple: three friends head out on a boat trip down the Thames. All three are a bit lazy and negligent and self-centered. It's all in good fun. A great read. Mustn't miss it.
funny
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was an interesting mix of humor, travelogue, and Victorian sentiment. For this reason I had a hard time finishing the book despite its brevity. I did adore the humor! Jerome's gift with wit reminds me of Wodehouse. One of those books where I wanted to read the funny bits out loud to someone except it is so tied to what has gone on before, it is difficult to know where to begin (besides the fact, my family wouldn't really "get" what was funny). I wonder why 19th century books like this are overlooked and Tess of the Depressingville is shoved down one's throat. I guess great humor isn't as classic as terrible tragedy is. Either way a great read if you can overlook the lapses into romanticism.
https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/12/21/three-men-in-a-boat-to-say-nothing-of-the-dog/
I love To Say Nothing of the Dog. Adore it enough to own two copies, a paperback for reading/ lending, and a hardcover for keepsies. Love it enough, in fact, to write a ridiculous review comparing it to a Beethoven symphony (my review). Willis dedicated her book to Heinlein, who “introduced me to Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat.” So when I saw Project Gutenberg offered Three Men in a Boat, I snatched it up.
It is the time of year when I don’t have much time to devote to reading, particularly not long, involved plots with thirty-four funky character names, taking place in imaginary worlds I can’t pronounce (or even in this one, Mr. Jonathan Strange). Three Men seemed perfect for the kind of read I was looking for, and it turned out to be true. But I’m viewing it through the fond lens of a reader of To Say Nothing of the Dog, whose author was clearly amused by Three Men in a Boat, whose own author was riffing on other Victorian tales. So it’s all a bit meta, and I can’t really tell if I love it, or just the spiderweb of connections I feel with the authors.
Let me be honest: there’s virtually no plot. It’s an uneven narrative, flagrantly digressive, in whichBertie, I mean, Jerome, George, William Harris–to say nothing of the dog, Montmorency–are interacting in an Abbott and Costello sort of way as they plan, travel and conclude an idyllic boat ride down the Thames. Narrated by Jerome, the details of the trip are frequently interrupted with humorous asides, commentary on the sights of the Thames and musing on historical sites they are passing. Characterization is about all that holds it together– detail on historical events near the Thames, is frankly, rather yawners, as I am indifferent student of historical events (signing of the Magna what?).
And yet Three Men in a Boat amused me. It could have been the beginning, in which
“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. … 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 medical advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form.“
Though written in 1889, it indirectly emphasized to me, a nurse, that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I think that’s why the characterization appeals so much. The three men bear a strong resemblance to people we all know; in fact, I was rather reminded of Jerry, George and Kramer, whose own self-absorbed behavior provided so many laughs. For instance, after Jerome tells a story about another man watching him work, he comments:
“Now, I’m not like that. I can’t sit still and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and walk round with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do. It is my energetic nature. I can’t help it.“
As a dog person, I couldn’t get enough of the sassy, spirited Montmorency:
“We went downstairs to breakfast. Montmorency had invited two other dogs to come and see him off, and they were whiling away the time by fighting on the doorstep. We calmed them with an umbrella, and sat down to chops and cold beef.“
But it wasn’t all irony and laughter, there were moments of quite lyrical, perhaps even indulgent writing (to take a line from Willis: “a tendency to maudlin sentimentality, like… a Victorian poet cold-sober”):
“In the sunlight–in the daytime, when Nature is alive and busy all around us, we like the open hillsides and the deep woods well enough: but in the night, when our Mother Earth has gone to sleep, and left us waking, oh! the world seems so lonesome, and we get frightened, like children in a silent house.The we sit and sob, and long for the gas-lit streets, and the sound of human voices, and the answering throb of human life. We feel so helpless and so little in the great stillness, when the dark trees rustle in the night-wind.“
Without doubt, it kept me entertained. Read in small doses before bedtime, it perhaps started to feel a little like the three men experiencing the Thames: interesting, humorous, thoughtful, and perhaps just a day or two too long. Hopefully, the above quotes give enough of a flavor to see if it will appeal. For me, I’m looking forward to my next read of To Say Nothing of the Dog; with the insight I’ve gotten from Three Men, I expect it to be even more amusing.
I love To Say Nothing of the Dog. Adore it enough to own two copies, a paperback for reading/ lending, and a hardcover for keepsies. Love it enough, in fact, to write a ridiculous review comparing it to a Beethoven symphony (my review). Willis dedicated her book to Heinlein, who “introduced me to Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat.” So when I saw Project Gutenberg offered Three Men in a Boat, I snatched it up.
It is the time of year when I don’t have much time to devote to reading, particularly not long, involved plots with thirty-four funky character names, taking place in imaginary worlds I can’t pronounce (or even in this one, Mr. Jonathan Strange). Three Men seemed perfect for the kind of read I was looking for, and it turned out to be true. But I’m viewing it through the fond lens of a reader of To Say Nothing of the Dog, whose author was clearly amused by Three Men in a Boat, whose own author was riffing on other Victorian tales. So it’s all a bit meta, and I can’t really tell if I love it, or just the spiderweb of connections I feel with the authors.
Let me be honest: there’s virtually no plot. It’s an uneven narrative, flagrantly digressive, in which
And yet Three Men in a Boat amused me. It could have been the beginning, in which
“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. … 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 medical advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form.“
Though written in 1889, it indirectly emphasized to me, a nurse, that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I think that’s why the characterization appeals so much. The three men bear a strong resemblance to people we all know; in fact, I was rather reminded of Jerry, George and Kramer, whose own self-absorbed behavior provided so many laughs. For instance, after Jerome tells a story about another man watching him work, he comments:
“Now, I’m not like that. I can’t sit still and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and walk round with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do. It is my energetic nature. I can’t help it.“
As a dog person, I couldn’t get enough of the sassy, spirited Montmorency:
“We went downstairs to breakfast. Montmorency had invited two other dogs to come and see him off, and they were whiling away the time by fighting on the doorstep. We calmed them with an umbrella, and sat down to chops and cold beef.“
But it wasn’t all irony and laughter, there were moments of quite lyrical, perhaps even indulgent writing (to take a line from Willis: “a tendency to maudlin sentimentality, like… a Victorian poet cold-sober”):
“In the sunlight–in the daytime, when Nature is alive and busy all around us, we like the open hillsides and the deep woods well enough: but in the night, when our Mother Earth has gone to sleep, and left us waking, oh! the world seems so lonesome, and we get frightened, like children in a silent house.The we sit and sob, and long for the gas-lit streets, and the sound of human voices, and the answering throb of human life. We feel so helpless and so little in the great stillness, when the dark trees rustle in the night-wind.“
Without doubt, it kept me entertained. Read in small doses before bedtime, it perhaps started to feel a little like the three men experiencing the Thames: interesting, humorous, thoughtful, and perhaps just a day or two too long. Hopefully, the above quotes give enough of a flavor to see if it will appeal. For me, I’m looking forward to my next read of To Say Nothing of the Dog; with the insight I’ve gotten from Three Men, I expect it to be even more amusing.
This is a very humorous (English humor).
I did find the humor to be repetitious about half way through. This lead to it become predictable.
Still this is an enjoyable read . This probably inspired some early silent picture comedies.
I did find the humor to be repetitious about half way through. This lead to it become predictable.
Still this is an enjoyable read . This probably inspired some early silent picture comedies.