Read: Between August and October, in amongst lots of other books. It's a lovely edition, which Claire and Matthew presented to me on the occasion of their getting married (and on account of my being a bridesmaid), and which was very much appreciated.
Review: This is one of those books where the author sets up a fantastically rich background - a wonderful world full of bizarre and interesting characters - but then sadly fails to do anything interesting with the setting. I understand that these were tales told to Martin's own children, and written down later in life. As such they make perfect sense: an ever-ready background for small-scale telling tales about Uncle, the distinguished elephant in the purple dressing gown, and his altercations with the crowd of miscreants living across the way at Badfort. Uncle's own residence, Homeward, is full of towers, oil lakes, underground railways and farms in unexpected places. I enjoyed the world Martin created, but be aware that this really is a selection of made up bedtime stories melded together into a sort of book. Light hearted and enjoyable, but you sort of feel like it's the kind of joke where you had to be there.
I was there!...and let me tell you Beaver Hateman is no joke!
ReplyDeleteI have to say that Mr J.P.Martin's biographies of my life fail to get across the importance of good citizenship that I have always espoused. They also feature far too much of the Basdfort Crowd's disgraceful escapades.
Yours Truly,
Uncle
http://talesfromhomeward.blogspot.com/