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the_jesus_fandom's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Another fun read. Through the silliness JKJ's more serious side shone through. In this case, when he talked about religion. No matter what religion's holy house you are in, there will be silence. Silence teaches us no creed, only that God's arms are around the universe.
Of course, there are also enough hilarious quotes:
I do not intend to describe it [a starry night] to you. To do justice to the theme, I should have to be even a more brilliant and powerful writer than I am. To attempt the subject, without doing it justice, would be a waste of your time, sweet reader, and of mine - a still more important matter.
It looked like a cheese that had seen trouble.
It is undermining my moral character, this book is. [an inaccurate timetable of trains] It is responsible for at least ten per cent of the bad language that I use every year.
Of course, there are also enough hilarious quotes:
I do not intend to describe it [a starry night] to you. To do justice to the theme, I should have to be even a more brilliant and powerful writer than I am. To attempt the subject, without doing it justice, would be a waste of your time, sweet reader, and of mine - a still more important matter.
It looked like a cheese that had seen trouble.
It is undermining my moral character, this book is. [an inaccurate timetable of trains] It is responsible for at least ten per cent of the bad language that I use every year.
em_beddedinbooks's review against another edition
5.0
It was fabulous. I had really read, reread and enjoyed other books by JKJ such as three men in a boat and three men in the bummel, mostly fiction. This book by the way, is non-fiction, mainly ruminating on life in general and Germany in specific, while the author was travelling with his friend B. in Germany to witness a religious play held once a decade or so. It was funny, scathingly sarcastic, but deeply thought provoking, and actually intense and serious if you chaff through all the humor coating. I just LOVED the book and may read it again in my dottage.
smcleish's review
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in January 2001.
The passion play at Oberammergau is unique, and to many people a journey to see it would be something of a pilgrimage. Such a journey is the subject of this comic novel, very much in the style of Jerome's big success, Three Men in a Boat. The journey is made by rail, and the humour is on such subjects as the obscurity of railway timetables.
It is interesting to compare Diary of a Pilgrimage to Jerome's later [b:Three Men on the Bummel|324296|Three Men on the Bummel|Jerome K. Jerome|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328606877s/324296.jpg|3352742], which is also about a German holiday. The later novel is much more anti-German and intolerant, while Diary of a Pilgrimage is easy going. Neither novel is as funny as [b:Three Men in a Boat|4921|Three Men in a Boat|Jerome K. Jerome|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1347518006s/4921.jpg|4476508]; both are more interesting from a social history point of view - answering questions like, how have the things that people find funny changed in the last hundred years, how did the attitude of the British to Germany change in the years leading up to the First World War - than they are humorous today.
The passion play at Oberammergau is unique, and to many people a journey to see it would be something of a pilgrimage. Such a journey is the subject of this comic novel, very much in the style of Jerome's big success, Three Men in a Boat. The journey is made by rail, and the humour is on such subjects as the obscurity of railway timetables.
It is interesting to compare Diary of a Pilgrimage to Jerome's later [b:Three Men on the Bummel|324296|Three Men on the Bummel|Jerome K. Jerome|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328606877s/324296.jpg|3352742], which is also about a German holiday. The later novel is much more anti-German and intolerant, while Diary of a Pilgrimage is easy going. Neither novel is as funny as [b:Three Men in a Boat|4921|Three Men in a Boat|Jerome K. Jerome|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1347518006s/4921.jpg|4476508]; both are more interesting from a social history point of view - answering questions like, how have the things that people find funny changed in the last hundred years, how did the attitude of the British to Germany change in the years leading up to the First World War - than they are humorous today.
mholla's review
3.0
Jerome is a classic. This is similar to Three Men on a Bummel (also set in Germany) but they mainly travel by train. The short bit that actually concerned the play (and therefore pilgrimage) was moving, but the rest is just class Jerome - very sarcastic and insightful.
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