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109th out of 354 books
—
606 voters
What the Butler Winked At: Being the Life and Adventures of Eric Horne, Butler
by
Eric Horne
Eric Horne served as a butler in some of the great English country manors from the 1860s until just after World War I, when many of the families whose heirs died in battle were forced to sell off their homes. Born in Southampton, Horne came from a humble family who valued education. Horne excelled in school and wished to go to sea, but lacking his parents’ permission, he i...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
May 20th 2011
by Westholme Publishing
(first published 1924)
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I picked this up as a selection for my personal "Downton Abbey Reading List", but it took me months to finish. This was one of the first book's of its kind (a servant's true memoir), but doesn't measure up to its great successors like "Rose: My Life in Service" (still, in my opinion, the best of the genre). The writing is very disorganized, the spelling is archaic, and the stories are obscured by a lot of complaining about how horrible a servant's life is and how stupid are any of the available...more
I'll say it up front; If you're looking for a cohesive story as opposed to one man's anecdotes about his life experiences, this is not the book for you.
He does wander a fair amount in his writing and it is certainly archaic in spelling and in slang. It's not the most polished of books, but I found it interesting. I rather liked it myself, but I was using it and the anecdotes therein as research material, so I was coming at it from a different angle than I imagine most folks were.
He does wander a fair amount in his writing and it is certainly archaic in spelling and in slang. It's not the most polished of books, but I found it interesting. I rather liked it myself, but I was using it and the anecdotes therein as research material, so I was coming at it from a different angle than I imagine most folks were.
Quickie reprint of a butler's memoir from 1923,re-released to capitalize on Downton Abbey mania. The writing style is old fashioned, the jokes are musty and most of the anecdotes are pretty dry. But Mr. Horne is Carson-like in his devotion to the old days. I enjoyed imagining him writing this and including every perceived slight and workplace drama he could remember, for posterity.
The author claims to have excelled at school. That may be, but perhaps not in writing and spelling skills.
The book starts with irrelevant childhood memories and proceeds to many largely uninteresting anecdotes about his life in service. I have to admit that I speed-red the second half of the book.
The book starts with irrelevant childhood memories and proceeds to many largely uninteresting anecdotes about his life in service. I have to admit that I speed-red the second half of the book.
I can't imagine that I wouldn't like a memoir by a butler, and a butler who started work in the 19th century. Wrong. The writer is unbearably pompous, and the book's structure is a mess. The book really consists of random stories, no chronological or thematic unity, and to make it worse, the stories are not well told. I skimmed the second half of the book just in case it got better. It didn't.
Marvelous stories of servanthood from the 1860s until 1922. Mr Horne tells of a time when servants worked very hard and were not honored by most of their employers. I felt like he was sitting talking with me about his life and work, trying to do it in an orderly way, but now and then throwing in an out of sequence account or a funny story. Very engaging.
A good quick read in a lighthearted tone. It was a little too choppy for my taste and I think it would have been more enjoyable as a series of essays rather than the one long memoir.
I really wavered between two and three stars. Parts of the book were really interesting and of course other parts not so much. The book read like the ramblings of an old man. There is a lot of grousing here. Horne had plenty to grouse about obviously and I don't blame him for being disgruntled with the life of a servant. There was absolutely nothing romantic about it and any silly show that tries to make it appear otherwise is a peddling a fantasy. However, not so enjoyable to read a long litany...more
Charming book. Quick read. Interesting assessment of the lives of a servant during 19th and early 20th century Britain. Good choice for Dowton Abbey fans!
Given my love of Downton Abbey, I thought this would be a fun distraction while waiting for season three. I found it interesting and entertaining, although a bit difficult to follow at times. Consider this was written by an actual butler from the early 1900s, I was impressed. He definitely had many tales to tell, and I wish there was more.
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