The Gropes
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Gropes for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"A major craftsman in the art of farce . . . vengeful, chaotic, Swiftian in his tastes, cartoonish in his extremes, and above all wild and amusing."
-- "Observer"
"Tom Sharpe serves up the loudest laughs in literary comedy."
-- "Mail on Sunday"
-- "Observer"
"Tom Sharpe serves up the loudest laughs in literary comedy."
-- "Mail on Sunday"
Book Description
The hilarious new novel from the bestselling author of the Wilt series
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Dont waste your money on this book.
It could have perhaps been Chapter 1 of a decent Sharpe farce but it fails on every front. Yes its got some of the classic ingredients-dynamite, bungling police, strange families with strange history and apparent murders (all sound familiar?)but thats where any resemblence to a classic Sharpe ends.
Large font, blank pages and chapters starting half down the page.
It rushes to a variety of disjointed conclusions and at the end I thought "Is that it?"
I am amazed Tom Sharpe penned this one(if indeed he did?)
It could have perhaps been Chapter 1 of a decent Sharpe farce but it fails on every front. Yes its got some of the classic ingredients-dynamite, bungling police, strange families with strange history and apparent murders (all sound familiar?)but thats where any resemblence to a classic Sharpe ends.
Large font, blank pages and chapters starting half down the page.
It rushes to a variety of disjointed conclusions and at the end I thought "Is that it?"
I am amazed Tom Sharpe penned this one(if indeed he did?)
51 of 53 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Tom Sharpe has written many hilarious books that will make you laugh out loud. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them. All the typical elements are there; deranged characters who are arrested and misunderstood by the police, drunkenness, people who live how they choose on the moors far from any civilising influences, but it just doesn't work. In books like Wilt and The Throwback, these elements are hilarious. In The Gropes, we start off in the dark ages, have a quick history of the central family up to the present day, then the story starts with someone else. Most authors create their character's backgrounds, but they don't usually include them as the starting chapters.
Perhaps it's because it's a short book. There are a lot of very brief chapters of two or three pages. He then leaves half a page blank and starts the next chapter on a new page. You feel like you've been given short weight.
I thought the author never really got a grip on his story. It's pointless to introduce characters who then run away from the others who are driving the plot. Each character's problem is resolved separately, but not in a satisfactory or convincing manner. I got the impression that the author didn't really know what to do with each story thread. Each person's fate has more to do with the author tidying things up than the result of their characteristics and decisions. There are some funny moments, but there's nothing that you'd remember and discuss with someone else who'd read the book. It feels amateurish, it's hard to believe that it's the same Tom Sharpe who gave us the homicidal Konstabel Els and the ill-educated Lieutenant Verkramp. I wonder about the person who thought this was worth printing. Did anyone actually read this book, or did they just look at the name on the manuscript and write him a cheque?
Perhaps it's because it's a short book. There are a lot of very brief chapters of two or three pages. He then leaves half a page blank and starts the next chapter on a new page. You feel like you've been given short weight.
I thought the author never really got a grip on his story. It's pointless to introduce characters who then run away from the others who are driving the plot. Each character's problem is resolved separately, but not in a satisfactory or convincing manner. I got the impression that the author didn't really know what to do with each story thread. Each person's fate has more to do with the author tidying things up than the result of their characteristics and decisions. There are some funny moments, but there's nothing that you'd remember and discuss with someone else who'd read the book. It feels amateurish, it's hard to believe that it's the same Tom Sharpe who gave us the homicidal Konstabel Els and the ill-educated Lieutenant Verkramp. I wonder about the person who thought this was worth printing. Did anyone actually read this book, or did they just look at the name on the manuscript and write him a cheque?
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
On the day I discovered that my second favourite comic writer Terry Pratchett had written a new book I also discovered that my favourite comic writer had written a new one too. I bought them both and spent the next few days chuckling... Then I started this book and the laughter died.
It's tough giving a beloved author a bad review, but honestly there's nothing to enjoy here. The initial set-up is fine, promising the usual mayhem involving inadequate men and dominant women. It has the feeling of The Throwback, but it never gets going. The story, such that it is, is so mundane it's hard to see why anyone thought it worth the effort of putting on paper. Nothing is extreme enough to be comic, or real enough to matter.
Neither is there a single comic set-piece that works. Events in Sharpe novels used to spiral ever more wildly out of control with a simple misunderstanding leading to trains derailing and whole suburbs blowing up, but not here. They just fizzle out without a pay-off. But worst of all there's a complete lack of comic one-liners. No wit, no wry smiles, no nice turns of phrases. Nothing. The only way you know this is supposed to be a comedy is by looking at the cover.
Sad though it is and painful though it is to say it, go read an early Sharpe novel again rather than this. The only good thing about this book is it's very short. I read it in two and a half hours and then wished I'd gone to sleep instead. Oh, and note to self: next time make sure you read amazon reviews before buying. They'll save you money!
It's tough giving a beloved author a bad review, but honestly there's nothing to enjoy here. The initial set-up is fine, promising the usual mayhem involving inadequate men and dominant women. It has the feeling of The Throwback, but it never gets going. The story, such that it is, is so mundane it's hard to see why anyone thought it worth the effort of putting on paper. Nothing is extreme enough to be comic, or real enough to matter.
Neither is there a single comic set-piece that works. Events in Sharpe novels used to spiral ever more wildly out of control with a simple misunderstanding leading to trains derailing and whole suburbs blowing up, but not here. They just fizzle out without a pay-off. But worst of all there's a complete lack of comic one-liners. No wit, no wry smiles, no nice turns of phrases. Nothing. The only way you know this is supposed to be a comedy is by looking at the cover.
Sad though it is and painful though it is to say it, go read an early Sharpe novel again rather than this. The only good thing about this book is it's very short. I read it in two and a half hours and then wished I'd gone to sleep instead. Oh, and note to self: next time make sure you read amazon reviews before buying. They'll save you money!
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Simply not the Sharpe of old!!
I am going to keep this review because I would only be repeating what has already been said by countless others. Read more
Published 5 months ago by bader40
Run out of ideas
The trouble with Tom Sharpe books is that they are all the same.
I started reading them back in 70s on the recommendation of friend. Read more
I started reading them back in 70s on the recommendation of friend. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Bob from Beds
All the other 1* reviews are accurate!
I have read and thoroughly enjoyed a lot of other Tom Sharpe books. This never seemed to gather pace or plot. Just a collection of words loosely tied up and committed to paper.
Published 10 months ago by T. Wheaton
Not so Sharpe?
I am a great admirer of this magnificent author but was a little disappointed in the plot of this latest work. Read more
Published 10 months ago by paulus
Another Tom Sharpe family
The Gropes are another strange family from Tom Sharpe's imagination except the more you read the more you realise you have met families like the Gropes. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. A. Guy
Is 82 too old to be writing cutting-edge farce?
In a word, yes.
Time to call it a day, and enjoy the garden i think.
It is something of an insult to the reader that this ever saw the light of day, and a... Read more
Time to call it a day, and enjoy the garden i think.
It is something of an insult to the reader that this ever saw the light of day, and a... Read more
Published 13 months ago by quantumpoker
Gropes - short, too short
Having read all of TS's books the majority have been excellent - funny, gripping etc - but this one was as others have commented rather short overall, and with pointless chapters. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Chappers
Disappointing, but reminiscent
I have every book bar one by Tom Sharpe, whom I greatly like. In recent years his powers have faded a little and you feel him straining to achieve the effortless chaos of his... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mark Slattery
Familiar Territory - but Familiar Fun
I am somewhat surprised at all the negative comments, but they are all from devout Sharpe fans. If you are not a regular reader of Tom's efforts, do not let those impressions... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. Michael Smith
Immensely disappointing
This is a bizarre thing to have been published. I've been a fan of pretty much everything Tom Sharpe has written - even Grantchester Grind and The Midden were quite good - but this... Read more
Published 18 months ago by mark68068
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
