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Major Benjy (Paperback)

by Guy Fraser-Sampson (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Major Benjy + Mapp And Lucia [DVD] + Lucia Victrix: Mapp and Lucia; Lucia's Progress; Trouble for Lucia
Total RRP: £47.97
Price For All Three: £28.01

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Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Troubador (11 Sep 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1906510741
  • ISBN-13: 978-1906510749
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.2 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 113,970 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

More Mapp and Lucia - what bliss! Major Benjy on the rampage - what joy! --Gyles Brandreth<br /><br />As you read Guy Fraser-Sampson's sinuous narrative and needle-sharp dialogue, Tilling suddenly takes shape all around you … Benson himself would have loved this book, and so will you. --Tom Holt

As you read Guy Fraser-Sampson's sinuous narrative and needle-sharp dialogue, Tilling suddenly takes shape all around you … Benson himself would have loved this book, and so will you. --Tom Holt

Tom Holt

"Sinuous narrative and needle-sharp dialogue ... Benson himself would have loved this book, and so will you"
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Major Benjy
66% buy the item featured on this page:
Major Benjy 3.6 out of 5 stars (15)
£6.04
Lucia Victrix: Mapp and Lucia; Lucia's Progress; Trouble for Lucia
8% buy
Lucia Victrix: Mapp and Lucia; Lucia's Progress; Trouble for Lucia 4.8 out of 5 stars (5)
£9.09
Lucia in Wartime
7% buy
Lucia in Wartime 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£28.95
Lucia Rising: "Queen", "Miss Mapp Including the Male Impersonator", "Lucia in London"
5% buy
Lucia Rising: "Queen", "Miss Mapp Including the Male Impersonator", "Lucia in London" 5.0 out of 5 stars (6)
£10.27
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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
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 (2)
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Major Benjy to the Fore, 24 Sep 2008
By Miss Mapp (Oxford, England) - See all my reviews
As a fan of E F Benson's Mapp and Lucia books, I opened this new book about the characters with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Tom Holt has written two extremely successful 'follow-on' books about Benson's characters Mapp and Lucia, and I wasn't sure that Guy Fraser-Sampson would pull off the same authentic feeling as Holt did. I guess that the answer is that he pulled it off in parts. It was great to have another 'Tilling' novel to read, but there were places where I was pulled back to reality with the thought that Benson would not have written in that unsubtle way. It was also a bit short of those wonderful Benson intricacies where you really have no idea how the series of small plots will resolve themselves.

I also found that I was 'proof reading'. Incredibly, Elizabeth Mapp became 'Elisabeth' for most (not all) of the book, Diva became 'Miss' not 'Mrs', and various tradesmen's names were misspelled - all of which reduced the authenticity which presumably Fraser-Sampson was aiming for, and also my enjoyment of the book.

It was a pleasant read, however, and if you are a Mapp fan this is another chance to meet the Tilling characters before the arrival of Lucia. If you are not already acquainted with Benson's books, then I would definitely recommend that you go for the real thing first.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, 30 Mar 2009
By Tilling fan (Birmingham UK) - See all my reviews
Although enjoyable to meet again Tilling's residents, this version seems set in a parallel universe where they've all gone sex mad. It's crudely done, in all senses. Do we really need such detail about the Majors bowel habits? I think not. The author seeks to remedy the one dimensional nature of some of the minor characters, yet succeeds only in rendering all the characters one dimensional, lacking the deft subtlety of E F Benson. No one could hope to compete with the original of course, but this book is slapdash, with many spelling mistakes and errors of fact, as mentioned in other reviews, and worse still, errors of tone and judgement. Like seeing Tilling after an unfortunate leak from those pipes best unmentioned, as they were later by Lucia herself.
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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting addition to the series, 6 Oct 2008
By Mr. Paul A. Bines "quaint1" (Essex, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
It's been over 20 years since the last author attempted to continue the "Mapp & Lucia" series created by E.F.Benson; that author was Tom Holt and his two books, "Lucia in Wartime" and "Lucia Triumphant" did much to prolong the interest of those who wished that Benson had written more than the 6 novels that make up the series. Now, there is a new entry into the series, and a newcomer to fiction, Guy Fraser-Sampson.

"Major Benjy", as noted by other reviews, was written to fill the gap between "Miss Mapp" and "Mapp & Lucia" and this it does well. Yes, there are some minor inconsistencies (again, as noted in earlier reviews), but it wouldn't be a Tilling book if there were not at least one irreconcilable issue! Benson is gone and his particular style of writing, though often imitated and pastiched by fans and critics alike, is irreplacable; however, that should not prevent new stories being created, and this Fraser-Sampson has done with some aplomb.

The author set out to answer some of the questions left unanswered by Benson; in particular, what happened to Lucy, the 'companion' of artist and eccentric Quaint Irene Coles. Well, this Fraser-Sampson does well; it is true that the way in which this is achieved is, perhaps, a little more 'modern' than the usual Benson style, but it is very well executed.
Fraser-Sampson set himself the somewhat difficult task of filling in the gap between two existing novels and this is never easy, especially when one considers that he had to deal with the somewhat erratic chronological timeline Benson created when he wrote the original six novels.

Bridge is a game that features prominently in all the Tilling books, and Fraser-Sampson does an excellent job in recounting an epic bridge 'battle', during which the characters of the characters are explored and revealed - even this reviewer, who does not play bridge and has a distnctly pronounced ignornance as to the rules of the game, was enthralled by the almost battle royal!

I enjoyed the book - the plot flowed well from chapter to chapter (if, occasionally, it felt a little rushed in places, then I put it down to being keen to get in as much plot as possible - in Tilling books this is no bad thing!) and ended with a most appropriate cameo appearence by Mapp's arch-enemy throughout the rest of the series, Lucia herself.

Yes, the book has it's imperfections - very few books, especially first novels, are free of such imperfections, but for all that it is still an enjoyable read, especially for those of us who despaired of ever reading more of our favourite characters. I recommend it to all Tillingites as an entertaining first step, and I look forward to seeing the rest of the rumoured trilogy that Fraser-Sampson has planned.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars The Curate's Egg
There are moments of humour in this pastiche of the E F Benson "Mapp and Lucia" novels, but the author is certainly no Tom Holt, so expect neither brilliant wit nor innovation... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Skippy

5.0 out of 5 stars What Joy........
What a joy to come across this book. As a long time fan of the Mapp and Lucia novels of Fred Benson, I was delighted to find "Major Benjy" by Guy Fraser-Sampson and just had to... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Duke of Sheffield

5.0 out of 5 stars Please give it a chance
All I can say is Thankyou for another slice of life from Sussex, some of the rather harsh reviews do not do the book justice, just enjoy it for what it is, those of us who crave... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Gary Gallagher

2.0 out of 5 stars Good intentions
In the author's note to this book, he bemoans the fact that some of the minor characters in E.F. Benson's Mapp & Lucia series are two-dimensional and in `Major Benjy' he sets out... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Brian Kavanagh

4.0 out of 5 stars No comparison (yet)
I really enjoyed this book, and the real measure for me of its ability to compare with the original will come when I first try a Benson. Read more
Published 7 months ago by M. Goodliffe

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile but don't expect subtlty.
On the basis of the Benson originals and the later Tom Holt offerings I was expecting a well crafted, Bensonian comedy of manners (or lack of manners). Read more
Published 11 months ago by The Mole

5.0 out of 5 stars Tilling lives on
A delight to find this follow up (in fact the story sits in the middle of the original E F Benson books) to the exquisite world created on the south coast of England... Read more
Published 12 months ago by D. Parry

3.0 out of 5 stars I so wanted to like this book more
Guy Fraser Sampson was always going to have two very hard acts to follow; The Benson originals and the Tom Holt sequels. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Gareth Roberts

5.0 out of 5 stars Such fun!
I loved Major Benjy! Not very often does one laugh out loud when reading a book but I did reading Major Benjy. It was just a pleasure from start to finish. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Yew Barn

1.0 out of 5 stars A Disaster!
Be warned! This book is DIRE! ! Whereas Tom Holt in his brilliantly written sequels, unerringly catches the style and spirit of the original books and exactly captures the... Read more
Published 16 months ago by John Perry

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