Customer Reviews

Rumpole for the Defence

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

 

 

It takes a while and some patience to become a Rumpole/Mortimer fan. On first reading one is struck by his egotism and self-absorption, his raw brashness, all his faults and admitted compromises. I will admit to even thinking about putting this book down. I'm very glad I didn't and I now admit to being one of his strongest fans and admirers.

Rumpole makes no excuses about taking objectionable points of views and defending the most audacious, reprehensible villains. He is not a particularly good husband and Hilda (SWMBO) has every right to be frustrated and disappointed. He admits that it's just a job, that without those evil doings he would be out of business. Yet he raises a very important point; like Cicero 2,000 years before, he believes it is an important mission to mount as good a defense as possible. One may take issue with Rumpole's view but it is important in a civilized society, and is what makes America and England different from Russia, China and many other third world countries. It is a matter that is impossible to argue against.

Where else would we be given license to explore the Old Baily and listen to screws, the underground culture and even pick up a few peculiar vocabulary gems?

And so we find Rumpole defending people who really have done wrong, and in one instance (which I won't ruin), he frees someone who actually committed a murder. It's all described very well with wit and typical British depreciation. Mortimer is an excellent writer, very entertaining and a joy to read. I recommend this book very highly.

Rumpole for the Defence, as read by Patrick Tull, is great! Unfortunately Patrick Tull's readings no longer seem to be in circulation. The reader for this set of cd's has a grating voice which is hard to listen to. Ouch!

We again meet with the inimitable Horace Rumpole in this collection of seven short stories. We have our favourite old curmudgeon dealing with all kinds of things from blackmail to corrupt coppers to murder. I can't stress enough how enjoyable these Rumpole stories are. They are extremely funny, and Rumpole's dry wit emerges over and over again. And the other characters in each story are just as memorable. Even the villains are wonderfully unique. John Mortimer is a very talented writer, and I invite you to enter his wonderful world with Horace Rumpole "rising to his hind legs" for each of his orations in court "up at the Old Bailey".

I couldn't put this book down. Rumpole's deprecating wit and touching cluelessness make him impossible to resist or to forget. This book actually made me scream with laughter, especially Rumpole's wry descriptions of one of his old school cronies who looks like a shrimp.

Once I tuned into the voice and adjusted the knobs on the tape player, this proved to be an excellent choice for in-the-car reading. The stories are reasonably short (one cassette each, as a rule) and quite entertaining. There's not much of the left-wing propaganda that comes out in the television series. This is just Rumpole using his ingenuity and accumulated experience to deal with an assortment of cases, from the woman accused of pushing her husband off their yacht to the policeman accused of taking bribes. There's even a case that Rumpole regrets winning when he realizes his client is guilty after all!

Good stuff, and I hope to listen to numerous additional tapes like this one.