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When I first had the book described to me, I failed to see how hilarity could ensue from such a basic premise. As book titles go, this is one of the most self-explanatory; Jerome and his friends Harris and George decide to take a holiday rowing down the Thames with Jerome’s fox terrier, Montmorency. However, Jerome’s characters are so pleasantly pathetic and their dialogue verges so frequently just on the right side of absurd that such simple events as pitching a tent or opening a can of pineapple leave the reader guffawing heartily at the words on the page (I’ve learned from personal experience that reading this book on the train makes for some odd looks every time you let out an involuntary giggle.)
What really gives the book its humour, though, is Jerome’s incessant sidetracking into anecdotes as the story goes on. His anecdotes probably make up about half of the pages on the book and cover all manner of subjects, from friends encountering the inherent challenges of learning the bagpipes to the difficulties involved in transporting cheeses on the train from Liverpool, all the while being kept tenuously relevant to the plot and keeping the reader chuckling at Jerome’s impressive comic style. These anecdotes are so wonderfully written that they never seem to fall flat and remain funny no matter how many times you’ve read them before.
Another real delight lies in reading this book however that has nothing to do with comedy. It appears to have captured its age so astutely, describing the utter pleasantness that was late Victorian England. Jerome presents us with a world of cloudy lemonade and cold roast beef enjoyed on riverbanks, of foaming pints of ale in riverside village pubs, a world of song and good cheer and true British eccentricity. It is not too often that I read a book that makes me so keenly want to climb into its pages and live in the world created by its author, but the world of Three Men in a Boat promises a lifestyle that few would be able to turn down. It’s no wonder that in their BBC series Griff Rhis Jones, Dara O’Briain and Rory McGrath sought to emulate Jerome’s adventure as authentically as is possible in the 21st Century.
Whatever your preferred read, Three Men in a Boat is one book that it would be impossible not to enjoy, it truly is (and I’m aware this term gets overused) a classic.
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