Reviews

This had been recommend to me by two people with hugely varied tastes. After looking at it on the To Read pile for a long time I decided to take it on. And what a great read it was. Old Filth read like a proper well written and considered novel that actually managed to treat characters sympathetically without being cloying or saccharine.

With Empire being such a subjective and divisive topic, I loved the cold and detached manner in which the characters were forced to endure and deal with Empire's all pervasive fog, that choked the globe and shaped lives.

Stunningly good novel.

ms_greenjeans's review

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4.0

I owe the Biblioracle in the Tribune thanks for this book. There’s no way I would have known about it or even picked it up. Old Filth is a Raj orphan, whose life seems stolid and ordinary until he lets you know his story. So much pain and heartbreak and emotional coldness (JFC, the stiff upper lip of the British!) and under it all a man who wants love but doesn’t recognize it. Excellent writing and characters and would have been a great movie for Peter O’Toole.

alisonjfields's review

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4.0

A great, clever little summer book that manages to evoke Kipling and Forster without too much of the associated baggage. Old Filth follows the loose biography of its titular hero, a sometimes grumpy, rather old-fashioned former judge and relic of Empire, as he navigates old age in 21st century England. It's often very funny and a little sad. I didn't love the "haunted by a dark secret" twist that emerges about halfway through the book and threatens to derail the plot into melodrama toward the end. But I'm probably too picky about that kind of thing. All I'm saying: this is really a great book to read beside a pool. G&T, optional.

krobart's review

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5.0

See my review here:

https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/review-1731-old-filth/

thonht's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

bluestarfish's review against another edition

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4.0

I don't like the title of this book. I almost picked it up at the library a couple of times and put it back down again due to the title... However a few good reviews of Jane Gardam and this book convinced me to give it a go and I'm glad I got over it as it suprised me it a good way! I've not really read much about the Raj orphans before.

peaches1951's review

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3.0

I read this to see if I can understand British humor. Slogged through this, and realized...Nope, not so much.

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