The Throwback by Tom Sharpe
|
Our Price: $33.33 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Throwback
Book Review: The funniest book ever
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is probably the funniest piece of writing I've ever encountered. I literally laughed so hard I cried the first time I read it. Sharpe is a terrific writer of black comedy, and in my opinion (having read all his books) this is his best work. You will NOT be sorry with this purchase!Book Review: "Sharpe" as a skieve; bend 7 ways to Sunday to read this!
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book based on the reviewer from Pittsford...indeed! The antics of the idiot son are hilarious. If only the tale could live on...such imagination flows like salad dressing over the leaves of firm lettuce. Just what we need in this icy spot of land to warm us with gaiety.Book Review: incredibly funny, wacky book
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It is full of the situational humor that the British excel at. People who like Monty Python will probably love this book. If laughter can cure, then this book is great medicine!Book Review: All-Time Funniest
Summary: 5 Stars
Quite simply the funniest book I have ever read. At points I could not continue reading for laughing so hard. If you like Monty Python, League of Gentlemen, Little Britain, and humour in that vein, PLEASE read this book!Book Review: slapstick yet morbid comedy; not for the squeamish
Summary: 4 Stars
The Throwback is my second Tom Sharpe novel (..the first being Wilt). So I was expected a non-stop barrage of comic (and absurd) scenes. Or rather, pure comedy thinly wrapped into what can loosely be called a novel. I was not disappointed.The story, such as it is, concerns the travails of backwater yokels living in an obscure corner of northern England. The patriarch of a large estate is nearing death, and must decide on what to do about his will. His only surviving relative is a bastard grandson with unknown parentage. So he his will mandates his grandson needs to discover who his father is before inheriting money.
Ah, but there are complications. His grandson is a backward, bizarre young man who marries an extremely naive young woman from Surrey. Her mother has eyes on marrying the old patriach to get her hands on the loot. And so on. The story then spins into endless comic, sometimes very darkly comic, scenes.
My only complaint with The Throwback is, I suppose, its overall theme. In Wilt the leading character was a hapless middle-aged man who somehow gets into a world of (humorous) trouble. Much of the humour was also satiric. But in The Throwback it is the innocent people associated with the patriarch's grandson (and wife) who are cruelly victimised. Yes, it is very funny. But I couldn't help but feeling guilty about it all.
Bottom line: black, slapstick comedy in superior form. Not quite as enjoyable as Wilt, but Tom Sharpe certainly knows how to entertain his readers.