Tom Bedlam

by George Hagen

Growing up fatherless in Vauxhall in the 1860s and working in a porcelain factory, young Tom Bedlam doesn't have it easy. Yet he is a positive spirit, cunning in his pursuit of love and a steadfast friend. Everything changes when his perfidious father turns up, followed by the revelation that Tom had an older brother, who disappeared at birth. Tom's desire to find him and unite his family proves an elusive but compelling quest. Sent to a boarding school where he learns the power of the ambitious over the meek, Tom makes a Faustian pact that will haunt his adult life, as he strives to be the husband and parent his father was not. Ranging from London to South Africa, from the Boer War to the final months of the First World War, Tom Bedlam captures the spirit of the times as it portrays a man wrestling with his loyalties, affections and conscience - until he realises that the simple bonds of family can prevail against human folly and the march of progress. Dramatic, whimsical and shot through with lively humour, this is a novel as beguiling as it is affecting.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Victorian, Historical

456 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2005

Reviews

[Girl with her Head in a Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Bedlam was published about six years ago and I never see it anywhere any more which I think is a real shame because I absolutely loved it. I read it the year that I studied the Development of the Novel module at university and it was fascinating to read this modern celebration of that journey. Although Hagen is obviously a fan of Dickens, Tom Bedlam is also reminiscent of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding. This book is full of the bizarre and the incredible; there are foundlings, coincidences, ragamuffins, impostors, cross-dressers, theatre troupes, child labour, orphans and lots and lots of smog.

Tom Bedlam starts out as a fatherless waif in a factory, with his pious mother but as the opening line of the novel announces, iIt is quite possible that Emily Bedlam was simply a very good woman, but to her son, Tom, she appeared insane'. The two of them trudge through their poverty-stricken life, hindered by the occasional reappearances of Tom's scoundrel father Bill Bedlam, wannabe actor and frequent conman. The first half of the novel is a real mix of Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby with Tom as the put-upon urchin trying to make his way in the world. The action focuses on London, Scotland and the countryside. There are lots of brilliant Dickensian names such as Arthur Pigeon, the Limpkin family, Sissy Grimes with the most hilarious one of all naturally belonging to the hero - Tom O'Bedlam is the traditional name for a madman. There is a delicious cast of characters to be enjoyed here with many of the tropes of Victorian literature being deployed but with a real creative energy. I enjoyed Hagen's previous novel, The Laments, but this one is terrific.

For my full review:
http://girlwithherheadinabook.blogspo...

[James Kinsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one really crept up on me - by halfway through I was almost considering chucking it in. It felt like the drama didn't have enough import - Tom Bedlam was doing reasonably well in life, he'd overcome some troubles, and was experiencing more, but it wasn't the rollercoaster of extravagant highs and lows the back cover suggested. His troubles were at times pressing, but rarely desperate. And then I finally clicked into what was happening - Tom was genuinely growing up. Much of the time, characters in books, even ones we see from cradle to grave, essentially feel like the same person, maybe with a few life lessons learnt, but ultimately the same persona cast in stone, with only the body growing. Tom Bedlam's magic is in the book's ability to depict time passing. Tom genuinely grows up, the child becomes a man, and more crucially the son becomes a father. The book is essentially all about family dynamics, how those closest to us - the ones we don't choose - shape us, for better and worse. And the spell the book weaves is in using this subtler story, against the backdrop of boarding schools, vendettas and war, to create something that feels so authentic that when the final threads pull together, and the emotional coda on the final page is played, I don't mind admitting it genuinely moved me to tears. Delightful.

[Kirstie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it may not really change your life, this is an enjoyable and incredibly satisfying book that I looked forward to reading every day since I cracked open the cover. Many reviews emphasize the Dickens-like quality of it which is true, particularly for the beginning half. However, I think it's also just one of those books where you enjoy the spirit of the main protagonist throughout his entire life including both his adventures and his hardships. At the end, you feel like you know him personally, even if he never existed at all.

[Jonathan Gruber · Rating 4 out of 5]

terrific dickensian fiction. Not quite as good as teh Laments, but a page turner with all the great elements of fascinating characters, weird coincidences, and a terrific sense of place and tim

[✿Juli✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit weird, good story though.

[megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book to read while confined to the sofa after knee surgery. It's hefty and described as "a thrill ride: bleak, deep, and hilarious" by the NY Times, which is as good a recommendation as any, don't you think?

It is bleak and it is hilarious. It's VERY Dickensian. A horde of characters, mostly exaggerated to caricature, populate a fictionally historical England and English Africa. It's well written. I can imagine it being adapted to an engrossing BBC miniseries. The thing that made me not love this book though, the thing that irritated me throughout the whole story, is that Tom Bedlam is singularly stupid. He's not just foolish or careless; he comes across as being incredibly dense. He misses things that are bashing him over the head, he fails to grasp the importance of glaringly relevant moments, he comes to realizations last, long after the reader and all the other characters have moved on. He blunders through everything, much like we do in real life; but since the narrative is rather more omniscient and the story is seen a from a wider range than that of Tom's eyes, he seems dull in comparison.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book by the author of The Laments (and not just because his wife is a good friend!) Hagen creates a rather Dickensian tale of orphaned boys, harsh boarding schools, child labor, and smoggy, dangerous London, then shows how the end stages of colonialism and the Great War ushered in the new complexities of the modern era. The book is intricately plotted, yet never feels confusing or loses sight of character, and even in the darkest settings, there are nuggets of humor, tenderness, and eros.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Dickens fan, I am sure I went into this with too much excitement. Due to this issue, I really enjoyed Part I, but not so much Part II. The second half seemed to plummet into a downward spiral that was too predictable. I also felt kind of let down at the end of the novel. I'm not sure exactly why yet, as I am still digesting it all. If you enjoy Dickens-like books, I would steer you towards Drood (long, creepy, and excellent), The Meaning of Night, and The Glass of Time are all great.

[Siobhan Markwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining page-turner of a Victorian boy's life story. From down-on-his-luck factory hand with a ne'er-do-well, absentee father and a fey, look-on-the-brightside mother, Tom becomes a modestly successful and respectable father who navigates the modest successes and painful interludes of life with a likeable humility and dark humour. There aren't any major surprises or philosophical revelations but the cast of characters give the reader the odd chuckle as the plot romps along. Fans of Carey's Oscar and Lucinda would enjoy Hagen's eccentric, very human touch.

[Diederik Verstraete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heerlijk boek: de auteur is duidelijk een bewonderaar van Charles Dickens maar geeft zijn boek ook een persoonlijke tint. Het is niet alleen het levensverhaal van Tom Bedlam en een kleurrijke familiekroniek, maar ook een spiegel voor de lezen die doet nadenken over het bestaan zelf. Sterk aanbevolen.

[Patrick Farley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great coming of age novel about family dynamics ... The pacing is a bit odd. The book is really more of an epic covering most of Tom's life with time jumps sometimes multiple years between chapters while at other points describing events that take place within the same year. It would have helped if dates were added at the beginnings of the chapters. Great humor.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/4.0 stars

Saga of a brave and bright young man born into dreadful circumstances in the age of Dickens. Novel spans 50 years from Tom's growing up years in 1860's London to his life as a family man.

[Kat Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite Dickensian in style, scope and characters. Very enjoyable, but I wish the evil people had greater karma delivered upon them. There wasn’t much depth to much of the novel...just the high and low points of Tom Bedlam’s existence.

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like a long book, and looking back it did cover a lot! But although at times it was slow, and long, I enjoyed the characters and the story.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard to know how to start discussing this book. It was quite vast--almost the entire scope of a man's life. But I think the author bit off more than he could chew. There were many aspects of the book that I liked. I loved the character Tom Bedlam, his father (the rapscallion!) and his outspoken daughters. The author did such a great job creating his characters that he sacrificed on plot. What plot there was was just too contrived. Characters kept running into each other other all over the world! The world is small these days but I'm not sure how small it was during Victorian times. Other contrived aspects were when an evil schoolmate who killed Tom's best friend ends up as a War Minister and marries Tom's spurned lover. And Tom's father's roommate ends up as the leader of a doomsday cult that Tom's daughter, Charity, joins. Too many of these incidents occur to be believable. The author introduces characters who serve no purpose, or a minor purpose, and they just drift off (or are conveniently killed). On the plus side, as I said before, I enjoyed many of the characters. And the author does a good job of bringing Victorian England and Africa to life. But, ultimately, the story really isn't believable.

[Miss_otis · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were things I quite liked about this book - Tom's estranged parents, for instance, were a wonderfully drawn, as was the Limpkin family- but Tom's early life was a little too Horatio Alger for me. I'm not all that fond of the "mysterious benefactor lifts boy out of the slums" trope. Even if there is a solid reason behind the benefactor's generosity, it usually feels like simply a plot device to me.

Once past that,however, the story was well-built and well-written. Me being me, though, I found Tom's children and their paths in life far more interesting than anything about Tom himself. Of course, the character I thought was most interesting - Audrey- didn't get near enough page-time, but I thought the time she did get was extremely well-done and a fairly realistic portrayal of what sort of "justice" a woman might expect, at that point in time. I could have read a book the same size about her.

I quite liked the WW1 portions, the rivalries between Tom's children were realistic (and familiar in places,; and overall, the book did keep my interest. There's just some nebulous...something that kept it from being quite as satisfying as I would've liked.

[Robin Malcomson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love historical fiction...as you all know, and I think this could have been better than it was. I did enjoy it and would actually give it a 3.5, but I don't think the author did as much research as he could have. Parts of it felt a little too modern considering it takes place in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The story follows the life of a boy named Tom Bedlam. He grows up with only his mother and the sense that his father could be out there somewhere. His mother was married when he was born but his father left soon after. His mother will not give him any clues as to what happened. A bad word or thought never crosses her lips. When Tom is 11 his father shows up....He is a street hustler, or as he puts it a fantastic actor, with many fans, and people begging him to be in their plays. Tom's mother dies and someone steps in to pay for Tom's education. This changes the direction of his life. There are many interesting characters and relationships...but I left with the feeling that I would have wanted more more. Not necessarily a longer book, but more meat. I did like it well enough that I am going to put his other book "The Laments" on my hold list.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine if Charles Dickens were writing today; that's what I kept thinking as I read this delightful book. Indeed, this chunky whale of a tale kept reminding me of Dickens, from the wonderful names (Polly Peckham, Arthur Pigeon, the hero of the book's title) to the improbabilities that pile up as the book goes on.

A book that begins, “It is quite possible that Emil Bedlam was simply a very good woman, but to her son, Tom, she appeared insane.” will give you a good idea as to whether or not it is for you. I chortled over the first sentence, and was hooked, and riveted to the very end...no mean feat for a book that runs for more than 400 pages. We follow Tom from boyhood through his years at school to raising his own family, and my attention never flagged; it's funny and heartbreaking, and has characters that I will never forget...a rich, delicious read.

If you love Dickens's novels, but find the language difficult to enjoy—it always takes me some time to adapt to the rhythm, but I love the way he writes—this may be the book for you. I adored every moment.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes a good, fun romp with characters that are purposely larger than life. Other times, it drove me a little nuts because I was expected to forgive the protagonist his faults because, well, he tries to do the right thing. Having the best of intentions does not make you a good person or worth of people's sympathy, especially when those good intentions cause you to do the wrong thing -- in that case, having good intentions usually is just an indication that the person confuses what is best for his or herself with what is best for others. In other words, it is an indication of selfishness. It could be that I am becoming a curmudgeon in my old age, but I really only have a limited amount of sympathy for those who expect sympathy for problems that they create. And I know that some of the most interesting characters in literature could fall under the category I just created, but Tom Bedhlam is no Crime and Punishment.

[Americanogig · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who don’t know: Tom O’ Bedlam is a synonym for a madman. From this poor choice of a child’s name we enter the drama that is the life of Tom. His mother? Kind, but a little nuts. His father? A scheming actor who abandoned his family when Tom was a baby…and as a mystery unfolds, we find it may have been better if he had “stayed gone”. I am not usually drawn to books that encompass a character’s whole life, for if it does not, there is always room for imagination to have its sway. Thankfully, the book did not go quite that far and the biggest problem with the novel was that I felt the injustice done to others perhaps a little too keenly. It reads like a faster-paced David Copperfield but I would recommend it to those interested in the end of Edwardian times and into the 20s.

[Shana · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing, tongue-in-cheek Dickensian romp. Of course, there are orphans, child labor, deep poverty, a wealthy benefactor. Hagen throws in a few other things in Tom Bedlam's life that keep this from being the same old same old.

Unlike some books of this genre, Hagen deals with issues of gender and injustice. Not that good things happen, but they are exposed for the bad that they were. Much like books of this genre, the plot is a bit too convenient (people finding each other again in different parts of the world) but it wouldn't be this type of book without that. Things got a bit slow in the middle, but picked up with some unexpected plot twists that kept it going until the end.

The characters are enticing -- I would say Arthur Chapel is my favorite.



3.5 would be a perfect rating.

[Terri Epp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book a fair bit. It is quite long so it is not a quick read. Tom is the main character of the book. He begins his life as a poor lad without a father. One day his father shows up but he is not what Tom had expected. Along the way he learns he has a sibling who was given away by his father at birth.

The remainder of the book keeps coming back to Tom's search for his sibling and how his fortunes change due to his mother's hidden background and the death of a friend.

Some might find the method of writing a bit dragging and difficult but the storyline was interesting.

[Gillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Covers a very long life span of the life of Tom Bedlam. Although not very realistic in parts, for instance, the bully of his school days turns out to be the Minister of War for England during World War 1. There is one really nice part of this book, where the son of Tom Bedlam takes part in WW1. And a scene is described where the son plays the organ in a destroyed church. I could really feel that scene come alive - and it was almost worth reading the entire book for, even though the majority of it disappointed me.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as fab as "The Laments," this book tracks Tom from his youth as a London factory worker to his turns of fate that lead him to bullies at a boarding school, a scoundrel father, med school in Scotland, and married life in S. Africa with 4 children. Always looking backwards to avoid his own mistakes. Entertaining, probably too many coincidences.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a really charming book -- it's got all kinds of elements in it, but I guess I would describe it as modern Dickensian. Lots of plot twists that are sort of melodramatic, but done in a way that's sort of light, so it doesn't feel so heavy-handed. More or less, Tom Bedlam thinks about family his entire life, because his never seems to be really ideal. It's a great book to lose yourself in, and goes to unexpected places. Good story.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts off Dickensian and then morphs into Galsworthy, and it's full of interesting characters. I do have a bone to pick with the reviewers quoted on the cover who called it "hilarious" and "black humor." While there is some humor in it, there's not much, and it certainly isn't black. That aside, it was a good read.

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved everything about this book. Quirky, Dickensian, whimsical. Unlikely coincidences abound but with a loving nod to Victorian tradition. With rich characters and fresh writing, Hagen weaves a tale of one man's life, a life both tragic and compelling. I've always been drawn to the complex characterization of writers like Dickens and King. Hagen follows that tradition.

[Angie Swain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every so often, one picks up a book by an author unknown to one and is captivated by the story, the prose, and the humour. It is a Dickens-ish tale of great poverty, a pact made with the devil, and wrestling of conscience until peace is acheived through love of family. The author has only written one other book - what a very great pity - and I intend to hunt it down.

[Julia Lesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

i just started reading this book, but have become quickly addicted. it is the story of a poor, british boy who is abandoned at a young age. As the reader you follow throughout his life to see how the small deeds in childhood can resonate for a lifetime.Highly recommended!

[Sara Gerstel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't life changing or anything. Even a bit predictable at times, but the characters are really well written. It's one of those inbetween books, although it's around 500ish pages, it's a light read. It's a bit heart breaking at times, and completely endearing.