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How are you getting on with The Throwback?
Excellent choice Geoff! I have read most, probably all, Tom Sharpe's output in paper version. I shall dig this out of the archives and really enjoy it again. Thanks in advance for recommending a corker.
Thanks Ingnite. I've been re-reading the book too. Unfortunately, although I've had all the pre-writers block books in paperback, over the years they have been leant out and inevitably not returned.After I had chosen the author, I had terrible trouble choosing which one to suggest. A number of the books are part of a series, Wilt for example, so I wanted a stand alone novel that was of high enough quality for you all.
The Throwback is typical Tom Sharpe, witty dialogue that leads you through what appears to be a normal, if a little cruel, world. Then suddenly the situations become increasingly surreal and violent as the situation gathers pace like an atomic chain reaction. Unfortunately for all concerned it's not a stable reaction.
I hope you all enjoy it as much as me and I apologise if you never see a cheese grater in the same way again.
Dave has already started it this morning. I'm hoping I can convince him to write a review when he's finished. He was very pleased to see it in his archive. I had to add it to his homepage for him, mind.
This is just up my street. I've read a couple of Tom Sharpe books before and I loved them.I think you've got the measure of the group with this one!
Great choice.
Oh Brilliant! I love Tom Sharpe and this is one of the few I have NOT read!! off to find it now.....
That looks good Geoff, I will get cracking- I've just clicked it and it looks very politically incorrect ;0) I will enjoy that
Not sure about this, I read Porterhouse Blue and Indecent Exposure many (many) years ago, and although I remember them being pretty good I was very young. Now I'm a grown up, I'm not sure he's really my cup of tea. I've downloaded the sample though, and will give it a go when I've finished my current book
Freddiesmum wrote: "Oh Brilliant! I love Tom Sharpe and this is one of the few I have NOT read!! off to find it now....."You dunno what you're missing. The Throwback is my favourite Tom Sharpe. I reread it once a year. I can't reread it more often because my family won't allow it. I read in my bath in the early hours of the morning and they're fed up with being woken by loud laughter. "Oh, Dad is reading Tom Sharpe again."
I didn't see you arrive Andre. Very sneaky. Welcome.
Actually, I was attracted by the discussion of Tom Sharpe, one of my favourite writers. It was only after I joined and posted here that I noticed the Meet the Authors page, and arrived there with a bang.I shared a publisher, Secker & Warburg, with Sharpe through the late 70s and the 80s, when it was a sort of game to come down on the train from Cambridge when he had a new book out and spot the bowler hats reading his book inside their Telegraphs -- before they disgraced themselves by bursting out laughing aloud.
Thanks for the welcome.
I was reading on a sunlounger on Los Poccilos beech in Lanzarote...Wilt.... if I remember correctly, and the chap a few yards away was also reading it in German. We were both howling laughing all day at odd occasions. Wish I was there now.......
Started it in the very early hours of this morning and have read about 10%.So far looks very promising. As I've read a couple of his books before and found them hilarious, I'm sure to enjoy this one.
10% so far. I like it. Just a bit sad that I don't think I will be getting the full potential of the book though, because of the language barrier. I expect the writing to be "hinting" at things and having "double-entendres" and other word puns, am I wrong in thinking so?
Lorraine wrote: "10% so far. I like it. Just a bit sad that I don't think I will be getting the full potential of the book though, because of the language barrier. I expect the writing to be "hinting" at things and..."Tom Sharpe is famous for his double meanings, especially when it refers to sex (something that we English have always had trouble discussing).
If you have any problems, do drop me a PM and I'll help with the explanation if I can.
That's a brave offer, Geoff! Sharpe himself got into trouble more than once for trying to explain his meaning. Two notable occasions: when had to leave South Africa, and when he replied to a snarky reviewer in one of limper broadsheets who objected to his double entendres.
Cool, Andre! I'll have to google that!
Thanks Geoff. I think for now I will just read it, I think I can still go with the flow and get the general meaning...What I might do is re-read it again maybe in the future, and focus on the things that I don't get... I am worried if I go too much into detail I'll lose the plot (literally) !
Lorraine wrote: "Thanks Geoff. I think for now I will just read it, I think I can still go with the flow and get the general meaning...What I might do is re-read it again maybe in the future, and focus on the thin..."
I warn you Lorraine, by the time you get to 30% or so, you'll be in TS's world where everything goes up like a firework.
Yes theres a lot of lovely background leading up to "business" - its really good Geoff. I didn't realise" Blott" was a Tom Sharpe and now I know that I can see mischief ahead.
Geoff (G. Robbins) wrote: "I warn you Lorraine, by the time you get to 30% or so, you'll be in TS's world where everything goes up like a firework. "ooooh I like fireworks, so pretties !
I hope I am not spoiling (not adding anything to the story after all), but last night I read the bit with the GP, I absolutely loved it !Geoff, Ollie loves your avatar by the way !
I'm afraid I set The Throwback aside last night. I'm just not finding it at all funny.I may try picking it up again, but it was really putting my teeth on edge last night.
Just started it last night - I have to say it took me a while to get back into his writing style but I still think he's great.
Just finished, and very much enjoyed. It eases you into the plot quite slowly Patti, it sets the scene for the ensuing mayhem for about the first third of the book, after that the action is certainly thick and fast.
Tom Sharpe isn't for everyone. He's not a comic writer, he's a farceur. And The Throwback is Tom at his broadest and best -- or worst, if you don't like him.I don't know quite what to recommend. The thing is to pick a personal hate figure and see whether you like Tom doing a demolition job on him/her/it -- or whether you start feeling sorry for the victim that only an hour ago you hated. Having a monster like Tom take against someone, or some institution, makes for a very unfair contest.
Among the lesser-known Tom Sharpes that you might give a go before giving up on him:
The Great Pursuit sends up publishing and literary agents and America.
Vintage Stuff sends up the gungho fraternity, boys and their toys, innocent maidens and so on.
Patti (P E) wrote: "I'm afraid I set The Throwback aside last night. I'm just not finding it at all funny.I may try picking it up again, but it was really putting my teeth on edge last night."
I haven't even picked it up yet, I keep thinking about it then remembering past Tom Sharpe books I've read and going "nah, I've got too much else I want to read to take the time to read this."
Am at 43% and quite liking it. Considering that Geoff said it was kind of the "epitome" of British humour, I would have thought everyone on here would be in fits by now !I don't get all of it, but I just like how things just seem to be going completely bonkers !
Chookgate wrote: "Patti (P E) wrote: "I'm afraid I set The Throwback aside last night. I'm just not finding it at all funny.I may try picking it up again, but it was really putting my teeth on edge last night."
I ..."
Chooks..I do hope you don't mind me calling you that! Same as when I call Simon H-man in Amazoo... Term of endearment.
Any who....
I'm wondering if there is a culture clash in my enjoyment of Tom Sharpe.
I asked a few Brits at dinner tonight if that could be it. They said that I may not be repressed enough to get it! Lol!
You mean being regularly insulted here isn't repressing you Patti? What an indomitable spirit you have, lady!
I never thought about it in that way Patti, if you mean that as we 'Brits" are so stiff upper lip and all that types that we love to read about somebody doing such wonderful awful things that we would only dream about doing if we weren't so law abiding/ boring etc. Yes I agree, it's a type of revenge fantasy for the repressed common man (or woman in this case) ;o)
I am afraid this one is going onto the pile of all the other Tom Sharpe books that I have started to read and discarded. I just can't get into him at all. There is something just unbearably snide about him that defeats me. Even when I find something that might be funny I find myself sniggering instead of laughing and that is not a good sign. Plus when I read the plot it sounds like a steal from Kind Hearts and Coronets.
What an interesting observation Tim. It's one that has escaped me before. Also, Patti, your observation of British emotional repression is probably very accurate.I think the Kind Hearts similarity is only on the surface however. The Throwback is much more basic and violent than that. Also, the humour is much more subtle in Kind Hearts.
I've never heard of this author before havent looked at it on amazon yet but no doubt will get it once pay day comes along, although still have to claim my bank card back from hubby first...
Jud (judder) wrote: "I've never heard of this author before havent looked at it on amazon yet but no doubt will get it once pay day comes along, although still have to claim my bank card back from hubby first..."He's not still holding that hostage, is he Jud?
Started this morning,21% in,so far so good.Have smiled but no giggles as yet.I do like his play with words and have found myself reading some sentences twice to further appreciate just how clever the content is.
he is!! and i keep forgetting to ask him for it. and now I just realised he has gone away for a few days and i still dont have it! raging. I might just have to start spending the joint account money... would serve him right!
Jud (judder) wrote: "he is!! and i keep forgetting to ask him for it. and now I just realised he has gone away for a few days and i still dont have it! raging. I might just have to start spending the joint account ..."Running off with your card, that's just cruel and unusual treatment Jud.
I would so be using the joint account card!
I found my card!! He had lifted it out of his wallet for going on holidays :o) I only have £10 left though... maybe i'll use the joint anyway.
oops just hit 1-click thinking i didnt have a card registered... apparently i do but i have no idea what account it is for
51%It has all kicked off.....
Classic Tom Sharpe...
I might even have to find somewhere sunny and have a read at luch time. There must be a cafe with a garden around here somewhere.
Hmmmmm maybe I'll pick it up again when I finish my current book and press on to 51% then.
I just love it. There is no top over which Tom Sharpe cannot go! He totally lacks taste - wonderfully so.
I have only got one word in mind... well actually two... totally bonkers !
Finished it last night... off to read the other threads now !
57% in.Reading on a hammock swing in the garden,have had to stop for a break as I am exhausted at the pace of the plot.
Philip (sarah) wrote: "...have had to stop for a break as I am exhausted at the pace of the plot."One imagines Sharpe as a pretty fit writer...
90% and it just gets funnier and funnier.His rhymes are terrific,he uses language so poetically(if that's a word)
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Books mentioned in this topic
Kind Hearts and Coronets (other topics)Vintage Stuff (other topics)
The Great Pursuit (other topics)
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