Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Orbit
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841495077
• ISBN-13: 978-1841495071
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sows, chickens, knights and disappearing housing estates, February 27, 2011

By 

Ivy (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages (Paperback)

A sow that has figured out how to achieve teleportation, a dry cleaners that magically moves lock, stock and barrel every forty-eight hours, a slice of medieval world within a loo, battling knights, chickens who believe they're human, and disappearing housing estates. Just a typical day in the world Tom Holt has created in LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF SAUSAGES.

I'm a big Tom Holt fan and was excited to see LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF SAUSAGES. It took me longer to get into this than any of my previous reads by Mr. Holt. There is a certain mindset required but even then it was hard to get into. For me it lacked the humor and fun that I've come to associate with Mr. Holt's flights of fancy. There were too many tangents, too many characters, and not enough cohesion. The result was a tad confusing on occasion and the tie together at the end was less than satisfying. It's worth the read, especially if you're a fan, but I felt it fell short of Mr. Holt's usual high standard.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars irreverent slice of beef satirical fantasy, February 25, 2011

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages (Paperback)

Real Estate solicitor Polly Mayer fears she is losing her mind. First there is her coffee that someone else apparently drinks. Then there is her party dress at the dry cleaners; only problem is that the dry cleaning store is no longer at the spot where she swears she dropped off her dress. At work, someone has been counseling her clients and keeping her files current.

Desperate Polly talks to her brother Donald the jingle writer who boiled water for pasta but has an empty box. After wishing his neighbor upstairs would leave, the pest abruptly goes away. He next meets chickens arguing that they are human and a sow searching for her missing offspring, Donald muses like Sherlock Holmes until he concludes magic exists, but has run wild. With his stunned sister, he investigates the pasta fiasco only to find experts trying to control the chaos as if pigs could fly; chauvinist sows and porkers attending Harvard or Oxford are attainable except the species is so picky as to the company they keep.

This is an engaging irreverent slice of beef (don't say slice of pork, sausage or bacon unless you are in Congress) satirical fantasy. The story line contains too many subplots that fail to gel into a cohesive tale; yet readers who appreciate something different will enjoy the insanity of Tom Holt's chaos. Placing Gulliver's Travels in Animal Farm, Mr. Holt provides a Theater of the Absurd as the siblings learn pigs might fly.

Harriet Klausner

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic and unusual story!, August 21, 2011

By 

Skylark (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages (Paperback)

While I couldn't get into Tom Holt's earlier books, I think his later ones are all fantastic, and this is no exception. His recent stories remind me very much of those by Diana Wynne Jones, my favourite author of all time, except aimed more at adults. Although represented as 'comic fantasy', I tend to think of his recent books more as 'corporate fantasy'. He takes the concept of being stuck in an office doing an unfulfilling job and turns it into a surreal mystery or adventure. Definitely not something you read every day, and a great idea!

This particular book follows his corporate fantasy format. Polly and Dan, sister and brother, are minding their own business and doing their jobs, when strange things begin happening to them and around them, such as cups of coffee suddenly vanishing and reappearing, intelligent chickens, and a magical pencil sharpener. It's wacky and surreal and absolutely brilliant.

No doubt if you read Holt's books for the comedy factor, you might be disappointed (although there were some parts that had me giggling quite a bit). But if you are looking for a genuinely well-written modern magical adventure as opposed to laughs, this is the book for you! I love it and hope Holt continues writing in this vein for many years to come!