Customer Reviews

Paul Clifford

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lytton got a bad rep because of the opening sentence of this novel. However, this novel is an unexpected delight: it is rather ironic, witty and the plot, with the highwayman as the hero, is very complicated and involving. I especially like the satirizing of polite society through the twisted reflection of its meaningless conventions in the criminal circles.

Not as good as Last Days of Pompeii or Pelham, but certainly worth a read.

Must we pooh-pooh Bulwer? Sure he writes with diffuse floridity, but he was a clever man.

Although the plot of this book is somewhat oblique, it remains compelling and entertaining. The characters are interesting, and the moral of the work(and it has a very important one) is still relevant today. If you like to read things that challenge you and you enjoy stimulating your vocabulary, you will enjoy Bulwer.

My wife wanted the orignal book, not the updated version, and so I ordered this for her. As I've come to expect from Amazon, the book arrived on time in new condition. The book is much larger in format that we expected, 8-1/2 x 11. I guess we never looked at that part of the description. The inside pages appear to be a photocopy of the original book, but is of good quality, and very readable.

He wrote "Two years before the mast", and was working on the (then) desolate California coast in 1835, stacking and curing hides and hauling them out to his ship, even though he was Harvard-educated and starved for something new to read. So he was "thrilled beyond measure" to find "Paul Clifford", and devoured it over the next few days, during his infrequent off-watches. The only reason I would read this is based on his recommendation and the notorious first line; if I get hold of a cheap copy, I'll check back in.

If you ever wondered where that phrase came from, this is the book. Other than that, there just isn't much here.