Mufti

by H.C. McNeile

Reproduction of the Mufti by H.C. McNeile

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1919

About the author

See also works published under the pseudonym Sapper.

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sapper's first novel coming between his war stories and the thriller novels he's generally remembered for is an odd and disappointing affair. The book gives more of an idea of H. C. Mcneile the man rather than his more famous pseudonym and his ideas on "the breed" are quite disquieting today. Still the book becomes a bore well before it's over.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes hard going but overall a fascinating insight into the impact of war, not only at the front but on issues of social class and opinions about the roles of women at home.

[Mondrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sapper has a mixed reputation. I like his books especially Jim Maitland but you can see why he gets a bad rap, some of his scenes are not to modern taste. That said he was a man of his times. I have no doubt in years to come books that celebrate eating meat or typecasting women will get a bad press. Sapper wrote this in 1919 straight after the end of ww1. He goes in for a lot of soul searching but his sincerity and the impact of his 36 months in France comes through. It is a little slow and contrived but it is readable. Not as good on ww1 as a farewell to all that or a chronicle of ancient sunlight, but a snapshot of the time.
A quote: "But the observer was not much damaged outwardly. He lay—arms outstretched—looking up at the sky, on the ground that the farmer had just ploughed. He seemed to smile cynically at the hoarse cheering now spreading from field to field, from camp to camp. Perhaps even then he had realised the futility of it all..."
Or
And at that moment a flight of cockchafers seemed to sweep down the road. Vane felt the stinging pain in his right shoulder, and then he looked foolishly at the gas expert...
"You were saying," he began...
But his late companion had taken a machine-gun bullet through his heart.


I read an autobio by an Australian artillery man in ww1 and an autobio by a british soldier who later joined the camel corps in Jordan. All have that lost melancholy, that shock and confusion, guilt and fear. Sapper is a good writer, this book is not his most exciting the second half is slow and the story is weak but the first part is entertaining enough.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

read SOMETIME in 2006