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Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour (World's Classics)
  
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Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour (World's Classics) (Paperback)

by R.S. Surtees (Author), Joyce Cary (Editor, Introduction), John Leach (Illustrator)
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 526 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; Reprint edition (Dec 1982)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0192815210
  • ISBN-13: 978-0192815217
  • Product Dimensions: 18.6 x 11.6 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,081,226 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #45 in  Books > Fiction > Short Stories > Sport

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, if you can stomach the hunting scenes., 20 Aug 2001
This review is from: Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour (Wordsworth Classics) (Paperback)
I cannot pretend to have heard of this book before I read it but the success of it in the 1850s was so great that it led Dickens' publishers to suggest that he write something in a similar vein, resulting in The Pickwick Papers. It is the story of a fox hunter who travels about the country inviting himself to people's houses whilst passing himself off as a wealthy man. Once installed, he sponges from them mercilessly until they manage to get rid of him. It is a pleasant, amusing story, although I found the descriptions of the kills at the end of the hunts hard to take. However, it is Sponge's tricks that make up the main part of the book and these are enjoyable to read. I never found myself caring about Sponge though, he is vain, selfish and quite one-dimensional. Surtees is not by any means a writer of the calibre of Dickens; compare Sponge to a character like Mr Jingle in Pickwick Papers and Surtees' shortcomings are obvious. That said, I did enjoy reading the book and will willingly read more by Surtees.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic - Austen Eat Your Heart Out!, 20 Jan 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour (Hardcover)
Forget the prissy mush peddled by the 'romantic' authors so associated with the early Victorian era - this is the real thing. Gutsy, biblious, fun-loving, non-PC, its an era before the stultifying hand of Victorian 'correctness' cast a smothering fire blanket over John Bull and his hard-chasing field. There is no better tale of foxhunting folk, and those who would aspire to their company. Funny? Yes! Social history? Yes- but who cares! Enjoy it for a rattling good yarn.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Mr Sponge -- a diamond read, 31 Jan 2004
By MR BA East (Scotland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour (Wordsworth Classics) (Paperback)
This is a forgotten classic, and many potential readers will be put off by the core theme linking the scenes of this novel - fox-hunting. I personally am totally against the sport in the present, and hasten to reassure the potential reader that the novel is not about the sport at all. It is a wonderful portrayal of Regency / Victorian country life depicting all levels of society with a critical and humourous eye.

The hero Mr Sponge, a rogue with an eye to the main chance, tours the fox-hunting shires of England, preying off the characters who at first seek to befriend him and offer accomodation in the hope of advantage to themselves. They find to their cost there is no advantage to be had, but rather that getting rid of this unwanted guest takes a lot of ingenuity and work.

The characters are portrayed with a fresh clarity and vividness that you would dearly love to meet them yoiurself.

A delightful read back to a simpler but no less competitive world of 200 years ago.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Too small
I have known and loved the story of Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour for a long time. In a recent move I lost my old 1920's copy and decided to buy a new copy. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Slow Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Touring England for Fun and Profit
Soapey Sponge is the proto-protagonist of the mid-Victorian/Modern era. He doesn't quite look the hero, (more like Diary of a Nobody's Mr. Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2003 by Jeffrey H. R. Hemlin

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