Customer Reviews

Three Men in a Boat

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was given a copy of this book about 12 years ago. It has turned out to be one the best gifts I've ever received. Jerome's witty ramblings are the funniest I've ever read. Mark Twain, who I also love to read, comes close to Jerome's style but, in my opinion, is a poor second. Jerome finds humor in the commonplace and the every day occurrences which all of us, even a good 100 years later, can identify with. Starting with his self-diagnosis of every ailment, excepting house-maid's knee, to his singular insights into his friends, self, and surroundings; I never tire of rereading this book. It becomes clear quickly that the dog, Montmorency, is the only one with any sense. Three Men and a Boat always cheers me after a cold, bleak winter. It's the best Spring tonic--I highly recommend an annual dose. I shop now for gifts to give to friends so they can share my enjoyment in this wonderfully humorous and offbeat book. Read, enjoy, and laugh often.

This has to be one of the funniest books ever written beginning with the opening chapter where the narrator reads a medical book and decides he has every disease in the book. From there, he and his two best friends decide to get away from it all with a boat trip up the Thames River -- and that's the book. It's full of one hilarious episode after another with little side tidbits on the historical places they pass on the Thames. Those few who have found the book dull need to understand that the story is written at the pace of a boat trip and not a television sitcom. It's any vacation where everything goes hilariously wrong and if for once the tent doesn't fall down in a pouring rain or the boat manages to not run into another boat, the narrator remembers another trip and tells the story of carrying an incredibly smelly cheese home--Warning don't read that chapter in public. People will wonder why you're rolling on the ground laughing hysterically. There's also a dog who's idea of being helpful is bringing a dead rat to add to the stew. The only weakness of the book is that I'd like to have seen much more of the dog. On the serious side, Three Men in a Boat proves that humor based on human nature is timeless. Also on the serious side, if you want a good look at how people lived in 1890, this book actually gives a vivid picture, including the nostalgia that the narrator feels for "the good old days". He finds life in 1890 too fast paced and with too many inventions coming on too fast. It makes you wonder at what point people will look back to 2001 as "the good old days".

Humor is very hard to write. Jerome K. Jerome does a fine job in his "Three Men in a Boat" -- it's a light, frothy sort of humor that brings to mind a 60's comedy movie. The characters are irritable and inept, and the things that tick them off (packing luggage, setting up a tent, dealing with women in nature, cooperative rowing) are still very relevant today. For example, people who hate jet-skis can find parallel rants on the steam-powered launches that annoy Jerome and his sailing buddies.

The occasional dips into seriousness (English history, a single-mother suicide) take up a net 2 pages total, and don't happen to detract from the overall humor. My favorite line is spoken by Jerome to the overzealous cemetary watchman, who can't believe Jerome doesn't want to view some open tombs: "Leave me immediately or I shall climb over the fence and slay you."

The book gets 4 stars only because (like most observational humor) it leaves the mind easily, and doesn't display the unity of meaning, humor and characterization that modern readers expect from a 5 star book. This book is an excellent series of hilarious essays loosely strung together in the form of flashbacks, but it is not a novel per se. One of its greatest achievements is that it is still readable today, quite accessible to a modern audience.

I entered into THREE MEN IN A BOAT with the understanding that it was a laugh riot. At first I thought, yes it is witty in the extreme, but in places it is a tad Victorian cute, the forerunner of today's sitcoms and stand-up comics. The more I got into it, though, the more I appreciated it on many levels. Verdict: It is fresh stuff 115 years later, it is very funny, and it deserves classic, not backlist, status.

THREE MEN IN A BOAT is classified as fiction but not for the usual reasons. Had it been written after 1995, say, it would have probably been called creative nonfiction. What Jerome did was to synthesize many occasions shared with his real life pals into a "travelogue" of a boating trip taken up the Thames, from Kingston into the Reading area. This premise offers up countless occasions for mishaps, which Jerome milks for all they are worth. In those moments in which something is not happening, he tells related stories, or performs a stand-up comic riff. As he and his mates pass landmarks along the river, he offers up historical information, colored of course with his views. Apparently, England lays claim to Elizabeth I being everywhere much as the eastern United States claims Washington slept in every town. It is ironic to read his sighs over modern life: if he only knew that urban sprawl had only begun and weather forecasting has not improved that much in a hundred years. In a positively clairvoyant moment, he presages the Antiques Roadshow mania of "2000 and odd" while speculating if the lowly implements and souvenirs of daily life would become the treasures of the future. The insights into Victorian preoccupations are priceless.

Like other reviewers, I first heard of this book after reading the wonderful novel by Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog. That wonderful book inspired me to read Three Men in a Boat. A simple story set in Victorian England of three young men taking a boat ride down the Thames, and yet I laughed so hard and so often that I actually had to stop reading to catch my breathe. The writing is wonderful, with characters that everybody can identify with. The story of uncle Podger hanging the picture is priceless.

I can't believe that this book was written over one hundred years ago. The story is timeless. But the humor is such that few readers will be able to come away without loving this book. Already, I am trying to get hold of the author's other books. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Whatever you do, READ THIS BOOK! If not, you are truly missing one of life's greatest pleasures!

Three Men in a Boat, first published in 1889, tells the story of George, Harris, and J., who, accompanied by Montmorency (a misbehaving dog), take a boating trip up the Thames. Narrated in the first person by J., the novel is hilarious, touching, and occasionally profound. The humor ranges from dry wit to slapstick as J. recounts the trio's hapless efforts to row their way up the river.

Digression follows digression as the story unfolds. Passing Runnymede reminds J. of King John which reminds him of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, which prompts him to complain of the nuisance that young lovers make of themselves, which leads him to imagine coming upon Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn canoodling in a royal garden. During the course of the novel, J. turns his attention to the pleasures of food and idleness, to fish stories, to music and dogs and friendship and dozens of other topics.

Although Three Men in a Boat is a very funny comedy, the novel also offers a glimpse of British history as J. comments upon the various villages and towns they pass on their journey. J. has his philosophical moments, as well; as they pass a monastery, he observes that the monks, vowed to silence and cloistered in their building so that they can hear the voice of God, are unable to hear that voice in the splashing water and in the wind whispering through the river grass. Indeed, some passages of this short novel are so beautifully written that I didn't want the excursion to come to an end.

Three Men in a Boat inspired the equally funny To Say Nothing of the Dog, a time travel story written by Connie Willis. Readers looking for a more modern version of Three Men in a Boat might want to try Willis' novel. I recommend reading them both for an interesting contrast of perspectives on boating the Thames, and for double the laughter.

This is one of the funniest books I've ever read. So why only 4 stars? Because it's not consistantly funny. The problem seems to be that Jerome started to write a travel story, with some serious thought on history and life, and added a few humorous bits as he went along. His editor got him to tone down the history and emphasize the humor, but we, the readers, are still stuck with some dreary Victorian romantic musings.
But then there are the funny bits. And there are a lot of them. I'd say 80% of this book is funny, and a good 10% is hysterically funny. Well worth the dull patches.
WARNING: Do not read this in a public place. You WILL embarrass yourself by laughing out loud. The pages on cheese are especially deadly. I still giggle uncontrolably each time I re-read them.

Tremendous amount of humor, hilarity, warmth, generosity, travails and triumphs both domestic and while travelling - this book has it all. It will make you weep with laughter. (I've always been partial to the scene with the canned peaches.)Jerome is one of those now-forgotten Victorian British writers whose names should actually be inscribed in gold on library walls.

I would advise this book to anyone above the age of 12 with an even modest sense of humor. It is a tremendous antidote to the curse of modernity, which encourages us to believe that anyone alive in any period before this one must be hopelessly dull, boring, and have nothing to teach or share with us.

I was extremely surprised to see the low sales rank of this book, not to mention the fact that there are only two reviews for it! In my opinion, it is one of the most hilarious book ever. It is also one of the most profound books I have read. Written at the fag end of the 19th century, Three Men In a Boat is the tale of 3 friends(and a dog) who take a boating trip down the Thames river. When they're not busy falling into the river, they visit historic places, enjoy the beauties of the river and outdo each other in telling amusing anecdotes. The narrator (it is written in the first person) describes their adventures, the beautiful scenery, the history of many places they visit and his philosophic observations of life - all with a superb, elegant style and a deep understanding of humanity. Never have I seen such hilarious situations described in such witty language, right alongside such deep contemplations of life described in such poetic and sincere language.

In short, if you've ever enjoyed a Wodehouse, this book is a must read. And once you have read it, you'll be compelled to read it again and again - when you know the humourous pieces by heart, the serious ones will keep you coming back.

What a gem of a book... and no wonder these two volumes are still around more than 110 years after originally being published. The humor holds up surprisingly well. It was a rare page in which I didn't laugh out loud. I have no doubt that P.G Wodehouse was greatly influenced by Jerome's style. There is action within the two volumes, but the thrust of the action provides little more than an opportunity to move on to the next humorous incident or related story. J. and his two friends, George and Harris, are three bumbling stooges who do everything possible to avoid having to earn an honest living, so they travel. In the first book, Three Men in a Boat, they are single and care-free, but by the time the second book, Three Men on a Bummel, was published, two of the three characters, J. and Harris, are family men. Although the second book is funny, I would agree with earlier reviewers that it's not quite the laugh-out-loud humor of the previous volume, but that's understandable, since our heroes are older and slightly more respectable. Still in all, following their adventures is great fun and makes for a wonderful summer read. I can't help but wonder if today's favorite travel humorist (humor travelist?), Bill Bryson, wasn't also influenced by the wonderful musings of Jerome.