I really enjoyed this. I've read a couple of the Wilt novels before now but never did get round to reading this. I didn't even see the t.v. series either, so I came to it with a clear view as it were. I wasn't disappointed. There are a lot of novels that inspire reviews along the lines of 'laugh out loud' and so on but rarely do they actually deliver, but this one does. The characters are wonderfully English, even though one of them isn't, and simply draw you into their lives with such ease.

I really enjoyed this and look forward to continuing this journey through the world and imaginings of Tom Sharpe. Very enjoyable, and very funny.

( )

Who’s funnier? Lee Child, P. G. Wodehouse, or Tom Sharpe? (*) What has happened to funny books these days? Most of these are old, some very old. The Goodreads best of 2016 humour category was all non-fiction (apart from an Alan Partridge autobiography which is still sort of... but not quite). There's nothing wrong with old. Except I've read or decided not to read most of them already. Where's the next great comic novelist? Same with TV. Lucky to get anything that isn't swish, poo-faced, up its own arse, wanky drama.

Remember being stuck in the library of the British Council when I was 15 I think and starting to read a borrowed copy of Blott. I’d never read anything even vaguely comic before and was quickly in absolute shuddering tatters. Unfortunately I was a wee specky fanny at the time and couldn’t control myself which was way too embarrassing as the library was jam full of raging adults and weirdly quiet. I kept trying to get a hold of myself and stop laughing. Put the book down, stared at my shoes, all of which made it worse when I battered on a few pages and ended up blowing snot bubbles all over the sofa in the reading room. Later on I bought “Blott on the Landscape”. So many people often asked me why I was laughing so much that they had to borrow the book...eventually the people who borrowed the book lent it to people who wondered why they were laughing so much ...and then they lent it to other people....and I never got the book back !!!!!!!!!... I hate you all!!!.... Bastards!!!
Within a month I think I’d tanned everything he’d written and rattled onto Wodehouse. But the most I've guffawed at a book is when reading Tom Sharpe. From the razor sharp satire of his South Africa books, to his excellent social commentary in the “Wilt On High” and Porterhouse books he always had me roaring with laughter. He abandoned his edge for curmudgeons in his last few books but they still excelled in farce. I recall re-reading “The Throwback”, his tale of inbred aristocrats, and understanding why Cameron et al were such useless sods. You see books advertised as being 'Like Tom Sharpe' but, in reality, none of them are. No-one has captured the sheer farce of his books and think a bit of badly-written smut and bad language is all that it takes. It's “Blott on the Landscape” for me every time I need to cheer myself up.

Un-PC British romping farces! The way he brought his characters to life on the page and the comical antics that they got up to during the seemingly mundane activities of life always made me laugh out loud and was perhaps unique to Tom Sharpe's way of writing.

NB (*): Close call. First things first. Jeeves and Wooster: The episode of Gussie dressed as the devil after a fancy dress ball and the taxi driver clutching the railings made me fall of the sofa with laughter. Honoria Glossop 'with a laugh like a troop of cavalry going over a tin bridge'. I fell in love with them at about 12 and I still have deep affection for them. Gussie Fink-Nottle, 'face like a fish', lives on forever. I must admit that when I was reading Boris Johnson's column in the Telegraph I always hear the voice of a Wodehouse chinless wonder in my head…But I think nothing beats Lee Child. Anything by Lee Child is always improved by the knowledge that Lee takes himself seriously; after a while every novel becomes about when, how, or if Jack Reacher will manage to change his underpants. I few years ago I went on cruise to the Greek islands; the library on the ship was fully stocked up with Lee Child books; his or her readers were happy to discard them afterwards. With nothing else to read, I got started and must confess, the logistics around him not stinking due to his 'travel light' policy was the most gripping thing about the books! I can’t wait to read “Blue Moon” coming out this month. Will Reacher finally change his underpants I wonder? ( )

The Blurb:

The landscape is flawless, the trees majestic, the flora and the fauna are right and proper. All is picturesquely typical of rural England at its best. Sir Giles, an MP of few principles and curious tastes, plots to destroy all this by building a motorway smack through it, to line his own pocket and at the same time to dispose of his wife, the capacious Lady Maude. But Lady Maude enlists a surprising ally in her enigmatic gardener Blott, a naturalised Englishman in whom adopted patriotism burns bright. Lady Maude’s dynamism and Blott’s concealed talents enable them to meet pressure with mimicry, loaded tribunals with publicity and chilli powder, and requisition orders with wickedly spiked beer. This explosively comic novel will gladden the heart of everyone who has ever confronted a bureaucrat, and spells out in riotous detail how the forces of virtue play an exceedingly dirty game when the issue is close to home.

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My thoughts:

If I had read a physical copy of this book, I would probably think it was pretty good. However, I listened to the audiobook narrated by David Suchet, and his narration thrust this into the realms of hilarity. The story is nothing if not convoluted, and the levels of ridiculousness grow with each chapter – but it’s all written so well and with such wit that you can’t help but laugh out loud.

The synopsis above only scratches the surface of double dealings and dirty deeds committed by most of the characters, it does sometimes require concentration to keep up with who is doing what to who. However, it never sags or bores, and I really enjoyed this. I remember my Mom really enjoying the tv adaptation of this in the 1980s – David Suchet starred as the titular Blott in that series – and I can certainly see the attraction.

I would definitely recommend this book – but do yourself a favour and listen to the audio version. ( )

Pretty much your standard mix of Sharpe's ouevre: sex, violent explosions, a dose of politics, and financial skullduggery. Some memorable characters do help, like Blott, the ex-POW who perhaps absorbs too much English literature and political speechifying. If you like Sharpe, good enough. But reading too many of his novels gives you the impression he's simply ringing the changes on the same theme. ( )

This novel would be of interest to

a) someone looking to learn about British culture

b) a Brit with authority issues

I fall into neither of these groups. There's nothing actually wrong with the novel. There are some funny bits. I failed to finish it as I just didn't care what happened. ( )