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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A small comic masterpiece,
By Alan OBrien (London, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold (Hardcover)
If there are any aspiring writers of comic novels out there then I earnestly entreat you to have a quick read of this book. Writing humour is never easy but here is the great Evelyn Waugh showing how to do it. Not a word out of place, the mot juste on every occasion, prose stripped down to the bare minimum.I read this book about twice a year. It is very short and can be read in a day. And, heavens!, how hilarious it is! It is based on a true life cruise that Waugh went on in which he really did start to hear voices. It is not one of his most well-known so it can be hard to obtain; it's well worth it though!
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Drugs and sea air,
By Catspec "Catspec" (VT USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold (Paperback)
Mr. Pinfold has become ill from his use of drugs, food and alcohol, and is in general dried up as far as writing goes. In order to "take the sea air" and follow his doctor's orders he embarks upon a cruise. He does not, however, stop the sleeping medications, and is probably seriously clinically depressed as well. the combination becomes the conduit for a series of hallucinations which become a nightmare and a reality for Gilbert Pinfold. Although humerous, the book is crafted in such a way that we see the suffering that losing touch with reality causes, and when Gilbert finally arrives at port and at peace, we are glad we read the book, and glad the author recovered his muse.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Waugh at his best!,
By Constant Weeder "batttman" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold (Paperback)
Waugh, Evelyn, The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1957.
A middle-aged novelist, somewhat corpulent and partial to his toddy, almost a mirror of Waugh at the time, books steamer passage to Ceylon for a solo vacation to settle his nerves. What he gets instead is incessant noise, voices, music and criticism directed at himself through the walls and floors of his cabin. How he deals with these disturbances makes for a troubling but sometimes hilarious and often moving novella. Are these noises hallucinations or cleverly designed tricks played over the BBC? Who is directing them? How would the reader react to them in Gilbert's place? His solution is cunning and the novella is a fine piece of writing indeed. Five stars.
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