Customer Reviews

Some Experiences of an Irish R.M.

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I first found out about "Some experiences of an Irish R.M." when I watched the whole series "The Irish R.M." on PBS a few years back. After the show ended I bought the book, and found that even though the t.v. series was wonderfully funny, the book was knock-down, drag-out HILARIOUS! Not a book to take to bed with you, while your spouse is attempting to sleep!

Each chapter is complete in every way, a perfect humorous short story and could stand alone by itself. So it makes the perfect daily read, as long as you can resist going on to the next chapter!

I have now read it 5 times and will be going on my 6th soon. I usually save the book for Fall reading.

I gave it to one of my friends, whose husband is a literature professor, and she loves it. HE, "who must be obeyed", hasn't read it, HATES it since it makes her laugh, and has almost shamed her into not rereading it, by calling it "vacuous". Well, that inspired me to give her another vacuous book right away!

Somerville and Ross were a pair of ladies from the West Cork Gentry who lived in the pretty village of Castletownsend on the south coast of Ireland. They were ideally positioned to write this collection of stories which contrasts the positions of the Anglo-Irish Gentry with the Native Irish Commoners. The interactions are always exciting, frequently devious and guaranteed to give you a good laugh.

I challenge anyone to read only the first two free pages displayed on the Amazon site and keep a straight face. The stiff upper lip of the English Major serving as the local magistrate (judge) is a perfect counterfoil to the thieving, poaching, lying, brawling and drinking of the local populace, which is paraded before the judge in the course of his daily work.

A beautiful snapshot of life in the Ireland of the late 19th century, lovingly, honestly and humorously portrayed. A really good read.

When Major Sinclair Yeates leaves the British army, and opts to become a Resident Magistrate in late-Nineteenth century Ireland, he has no idea what adventures await him. As he plods on, trying to do his job, he finds himself outthought and outmaneuvered at every step.

These wonderful stories, first published in the 1920s, were the basis for the hit British Television show, The Irish R.M., staring Peter Bowles. For those of you familiar with that show, the stories contained here cover the first six episodes, plus some. I must say that they did a wonderful job of capturing the story!

For those who have not seen the show, have no fear. This book is charming and terribly witty, and makes a cracking good read. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Ireland, and to anyone who likes a good book!

I have an old copy of the complete Irish RM stories issued about the time Masterpiece Theatre ran the TV series almost 20 years ago. I've read it so many times the thing is literally falling to pieces. Since that time, I've tried to buy a new copy, but it has been out of print. Here - What a chance to get a new edition of at least the first seven or eight stories in the series!

These are some of the best-told short stories in literature, combining a phlegmatic English narrative with absurdly funny Irish characters, dialogue and situations. (The TV series tried very hard, but simply could not duplicate the narrative delights of the short stories, much the way Bertie Wooster stories don't translate well to the screen.) The juxtaposition of the Anglo-Irish gentry and the natives produces endless mirth, and Somerville and Ross knew enough about the Irish to bring out all that is best and the worst about these people.

These stories never grow old, no matter how many times you read them. Supposedly, they were among Queen Victoria's favorite light reading for train travel. Having read them all at least twenty times myself, I can readily attest that the Old Girl knew a thing or two! Buy the book!

Has the world of sensitivity soured you a bit. Me too. These stories are fun to read. Especially fun in an age of political correctness and/or professional nationalism. These ascendancy authors see their way of life fading and reconcile themselves to it with all the grace of good losers who are still happy to have played the game. With that attitude in mind they approach the schemes of Flurry Knox to best either Major Yeates or Lady Knox as certainly humorous if not always completely justifiable. The conflict of the perfectly rational approach to living of the Irish encountering the multitude of rules and regulations of an empire( in one story a group of moonshiners has set up in the unused portion of a vast barn attached to Yeates' house)reminds any reader of the inexorable sense of justice which a child deploys when confronted with a different bedtime from parents."Well since Dad has to work harder at his job than I do at school, he should go to bed earlier."

Making their own class the (...) of the jokes (eccentric Lady Knox might well find a role in "Kind Hearts and Coronets") takes a good deal from the sting of charges of creation of stage "Irishmen." The fact that each story is complete but part of a continuing series makes for put down, pick up reading. This is a grand book for a rainy afternoon's read, commute reading, or sitting in a lobby or airport. The only problem is when you start laughing outloud, folks will start to stare.

so be careful where you read it, don't try to sneak in a few pages on the sly anywhere.

Sinclair Yeates has a problem, he has met and fallen in love but that's not the problem, she loves him in return and has agreed to marry him. Therein lies the problem, Yeates is an army major and simply could not afford to marry. The solution came in using every contact he and his fiancee, Philippa, had in order to secure a post of Resident Magistrate (circuit court judge) in western Ireland. The volume contains a dozen short stories describing his adventures there. Major Yeates tries to maintain order in his little corner of the world but is hard pressed to even keep up with his devious landlord (and fellow magistrate) Florence 'Flurry' Knox, other members of the Knox clan, servants and other residents of the district.

These stories were written about a hundred years ago but are still just as funny and fresh as if they had been written yesterday. This volume contains about a third of the 'Major Sinclair Yeates' stories and seems to be the only one currently in print, which is a pity as all the stories a hilarious. In addition this series was presented on PBS many years ago, starring Peter Bowles and is well worth viewing.

I highly recommend first getting this book, then tracking down the other stories and watching the TV series.

very funny!

Reviewer Ellie Reasoner must not have read this book, only a synopsis, because she is SOOOOOO wrong!

Oh, wow, lovely tales about an upright English judge overseeing those amusing simpleton Irish, a people just too darn backward and wee slow-minded to oversee their own affairs... As an Irish citizen, I find this book offensive in the same way such one-time ethnic classics as Song of the South are now seen as offensive.