A Short Gentleman
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Review
`with great panache and assurance, Jon Canter lampoons the pretentions of England's top legal set...this comic tour de force'
--Independent
--Independent
The Scotsman
`A Short Gentleman is unusual these days: an English comic novel which is elegantly written, civilised and genuinely funny...'
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, poignant and very English,
By
This review is from: A Short Gentleman (Hardcover)
One of the funniest, most enjoyable books I've read in recent years, 'A Short Gentleman' is the confession of emotionally repressed aristocratic Englishman, Robert Purcell. He tells of his priviledged childhood, his determination to follow in the footsteps of his judge father, and then of his downfall, having committed an unspecified (until the end) crime.
The narrator is a character who, if I were to meet him real life, I would dislike greatly. He is arrogant, pompous, vain, self-righteous, snobbish and condescending. In fact, he is proud of all those qualities. And he remains true to those defining charactersitics throughout the story. Yet the remarkable achievement of this book is that I actually found myself sympathising with him, and by the end I pitied and disliked him in equal measure. I was reminded throughout of the 'Adrian Mole' novels of Sue Townsend. Although about in some ways very different chracters, the reader has the same ability to see in the narration of events situations to which the narrator himself remains blindingly oblivious. I had the same urge to shout at the protagonist 'for goodness sake, can't you tell that...!' There was something vulnerable in Robert's pomposity, his great intelligence hampered by his naivety and determination to act 'properly'. He was a man clinging to a way of life which is largely gone, left behind by time. Yet there was no trace of self pity in his narrative, because that wouldn't be 'correct'. I very much enjoyed the story - whether Robert is an entirely believable character is debatable, but even if he is a little exaggerated I've certainly met people a bit like him. It's one of the few recent books that has made me laugh. It's not just a comedy though, it will make you think and even move you. The humour and jokes are largely about Englishness (not Britishness even) - particularly in its more stereotypical form - and therefore I think it is more likely to be appreciated by those with a reasonably good knowledge of English culture and customs, probably those who have lived in the country. Readers without this knowledge would probably enjoy the book less as a lot of the humour and observation are very England-specific and therefore may not be meaningful. But I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's spent any length of time in England or the UK, and will certainly be looking out for more of the author's books.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A comic novel,
By
This review is from: A Short Gentleman (Paperback)
The narrator of this book is a Robert Purcell, a barrister who is the quintessential English Gentleman. Born into a rich household, Robert had a privileged childhood during which he dreamed of one day emulating his father by becoming a judge, gaining a respectable wife and having two children; a boy and a girl. Quite early on in the narration we learn that Robert has committed a crime for which he has been sent to prison and thus his career and personal life has taken a nose dive. We do not learn what this crime is until the end of the book and it was great fun reading about Robert's life going according to plan before completely unravelling.Robert is not a nice character, he's condescending, pompous, arrogant and a terrible snob. These are aspects of his personality of which he is very proud. So why did I like this book? Well because these attributes meant that the narrator was never 'self pitying' and also because it gave the narration its wit and humour. 'I've inherited my politics from my father. I believe in a free market but I also believe it's the primary duty of a political party to look after the poor. The poor must be fed and clothed and housed, though preferably not next door.' He seems to be a man who reminisces constantly about a bizarre bygone era. An era which, in reality, probably didn't exist except in the minds of people suffering from a hopeless rose-tinted nostalgia for 'Englishness'. "He came from a time when such questions went unasked. A man could have a mistress and a wife, without the wife asking questions. A man could visit a prostitute once a week, without the wife accusing him of having 'intimacy issues',........A man could have a close male friend, without that friend insisting they walk down the aisle of the Church of St Elton the John." By the end of the book I don't think I really cared what crime Robert had committed because that wasn't the reason I was turning the pages, in the end I was drawn in by the story which had become quite developed and I ended up warming to Robert if only because the other characters were so much worse but just as hilarious.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Innovative and Successful Comic Novel,
By
This review is from: A Short Gentleman (Hardcover)
Robert Purcell,the narrator in this novel is
'a short gentleman',and like his Judge father, a wealthy highly-educated lawyer.He is also a self-important emotionally illiterate prig, who from an early age has meticulously and successfully planned his life,until he commits a crime.The novel is his attempt to explain himself and his crime. The author Jon Canter is a comedy script writer, and this a well-written satirical novel which with humour reveals the shallowness and narcissism of much of contemporary life.
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