Flashman: A Novel [Paperback]

George MacDonald Fraser (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 1, 1984 | Series: Flashman

If ever there was a time when I felt that 'watcher-of-the-skies-when-a-new-planet' stuff, it was when I read the first Flashman."– P.G. Wodehouse

Fraser revives Flashman, a caddish bully from Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes, and relates Flashman’s adventures after he is expelled in drunken disgrace from Rugby school in the late 1830s. Flashy enlists in the Eleventh Light Dragoons and is promptly sent to India and Afghanistan, where despite his consistently cowardly behavior he always manages to come out on top. Flashman is an incorrigible anti-hero for the ages. This humorous adventure book will appeal to fans of historical fiction, military fiction, and British history as well as to fans of Clive Cussler, James Bond, and The Three Musketeers. 
 
Flashman is the first book of the famous “Flashman Papers” series.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'There is a little of Flashman in all of us - but not enough.' Evening Standard 'The Flashman Papers do what all great sagas do - winning new admirers along the way but never, ever betraying old ones. It is an immense achievement.' Sunday Telegraph 'In our crass, humourless, anaemic, politically correct age, there could be no better tonic or treat than the outrageous Flashy's bold descriptions of action in battle or bedroom. To relish George MacDonald Fraser is to rediscover the joy of reading.' Daily Telegraph --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

The author of the famous 'Flashman Papers' and the 'Private McAuslan' stories, George MacDonald Fraser has worked on newspapers in Britain and Canada. In addition to his novels he has also written numeous films, most notably 'The Three Musketeers', 'The Four Musketeers', and the James Bond film, 'Octopussy'. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Plume; 1st Plume printing edition (August 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452259614
• ISBN-13: 978-0452259614
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (145 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

185 of 188 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The first in this famous series, and still the best. July 1, 1996

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

It is hard to believe that this first book of the Flashman series is now nearly 30 years old. Written as if it is an actual published memoir (later books put "a novel" on the cover, probably to protect the publisher from receiving annoying letters of shock and outrage from the truly ignorant and profoundly clueless). This is a book for lovers of historical fiction, military fiction, or British history, but will be enjoyed by those who otherwise would never read in these areas. They are books of humor, following a knave and poltroon -- Harry Flashman -- as he stumbles into many of the great events of the 19th century (often fleeing irate husbands). Events he has visted so far include Little Big Horn, the Chinese Boxer Rebellion, the Indian Mutiny, the American slave trade, and the Prussian court where he was forced to act as a royal imposter. To the world he is seen as a great heroic figure, a development that Flashman finds hilarious yet endlessly useful. This first book introduces the Flashman character, beginning with his being expelled from school, forced into the British Army, and suddenly finding himself in the midst of the disasterous British Afghan campaign. The only books that ever left me laughing harder were the original three books of what should have remained the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" by Douglas Adams. Highly recommended, though with this warning: reading this book and its successors will leave you considerably more educated about the important events of the last century without you even realizing it is happening

148 of 153 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything I need to know I learned from Flashman August 16, 2000

By John DiBello

Format:Paperback

I discovered and read George MacDonald Fraser's masterful "Flashman" series in my teens (I'm now crouching this side of forty), at the same time I first read Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.

From Bond I've learned how to play baccarat, how to pull an Aston Martin out of a skid, and how to climb through a tunnel of scorching hot metal.

I have never in my life had to do any of these things.

On the other hand, from Flashman I've learned lessons I use every day of my life:

* When the trouble starts, keep your head down, or better yet, in a totally different country.
* Never be afraid to accept credit for something good you did. That goes double for something good you didn't.
* Never volunteer.
* Wine, women, and song? To hell with the song.
* There's no shame in living as a coward. Beats dying as a hero.
* Always have an escape plan. If not, steal someone else's.

Game, set, match: Flashy.

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Flashy's Strange Appeal March 11, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

The Flashman papers - the memoirs of the fictional 19th century British officer Harry Paget Flashman - are the product of George MacDonald Fraser's fertile imagination. If they had really been found in a Leicester saleroom in 1965, as Fraser tells us in the preface of the first Flashman book, their discovery would have been as serendipitous as the discovery of the ruins of Pompeii. These books are really special, and it's a pity that more people don't know about them.

The first of eleven books in the series, Flashman: From the Flashman papers, 1839-1842 recounts Harry Paget Flashman's adventures as a young adult, primarily his participation in the First Afghan War. The book presents certain thematic elements that recur delightfully throughout the series: Flashman's propensity for finding himself at the center of major historical events, brushing shoulders with important historical figures like the Duke of Wellington and Queen Victoria; his uncanny luck in getting out of the stickiest situations imaginable while getting credit for heroic deeds not his own; and his unbridled hedonism.

Flashman is a talented equestrian and linguist. His positive characteristics end there. By any objective measure he is a deplorable human being. Flashman is a coward, a lecher, and a libertine; and yet, oddly, most readers will wind up liking him. Some have compared him to James Bond, but that would be an insult to 007, who was after all a decent guy.

This contradiction is hard to explain. How can we like a guy who has a deplorable character and yet always seems to come out on top? Perhaps he appeals to the irresponsible freedom-loving id in all of us. There is a part of us that envies someone who can sin often, get away with it, and never feel burdened by a guilty conscience. Flashman is a scoundrel and knows he's a scoundrel; it just doesn't bother him. We feel privileged to be let in on the secret, for while some of the book's characters recognize Flashman's true nature, most do not. And Fraser makes an art of killing off the characters that have the most damaging information on Flashman before they get a chance to expose his treachery. Near the end of the book, we can only chuckle when a young Queen Victoria, filled with emotion, gushes to Flashman, "You are a very gallant gentleman. God bless you," as she pins a medal on his coat in recognition of his "service" to England in the Afghan campaign.

As you follow Flashman's every move, devouring this action-packed adventure like ice cream, reveling in its bawdy humor and ironic twists and turns, you'll realize that this is very high quality stuff. Flashman is an extremely well-written piece of historical fiction. The eloquent narration fits with what one might expect from a memoir by a 19th century officer in her Majesty's service. The British retreat from Kabul in early 1842, which is recounted in all its gruesome detail, really did happen as described in the book, with men, women, and children savagely hacked to pieces by Afghani tribes. And true to form, Fraser does justice to the book's many historical figures, who at least in spirit are similar to the real life personalities.

Flashman is a great book that can be seen on many different levels: comic adventure story; commentary on Victorian life; or historical fiction. In the end, no matter how one chooses to view Flashman, there is no denying the entertainment value of this book, which is unparalleled, unless compared to some of the other books in the Flashman series (i.e. Flash at the Charge or Flash for Freedom). One word of caution: given Flashman's offensive views on race and gender, you can throw political correctness out the window with this one.