27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book, horrible edition...make sure you sample first, July 22, 2008
This review is from: Three Men in a Boat - To Say Nothing of the Dog (Kindle Edition)
I want to be clear; this is specifically for the Kindle edition of this book. The actual content, the book itself, would get five stars. It's a great book, huge fun to read, shockingly undated given its age, and I could not have asked for more entertainment once I read it.
I did not, however, manage to finish the book in this Kindle edition. This is perhaps the 25th book or so I have read in this format, and I have grown sadly used to the number of typographical errors and layout problems that lace the majority of the works, but this one I couldn't get through. There are hard returns throughout the book that presumably mark the end of the original line in the text. Unfortunately, they do not correspond to the end of the lines on the Kindle's screen, regardless of the text size, so literally every other line on the screen is one two three words long. It was too disconcerting to get used to, and finally I went through the trouble of downloading a public domain copy from Gutenberg and transferring that over to my Kindle.
Maybe I am oversensitive to this problem, but do yourself a favor and look at the sample of the book before you purchase it. If I had done so I never would have bought it, regardless of the price. 5 stars for the content; 1 star for the edition.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely hilarious, January 8, 2010
This review is from: Three Men in a Boat - To Say Nothing of the Dog (Kindle Edition)
You'll never read a book this funny written before the 20th century. The world needs more books like this. To the person who said it doesn't have much character or excitement, the book is meant to be funny, not exciting. Apparently you didn't get the jokes. For instance, the main character talks to the dog, and the reader is not given any knowledge that that person he is talking to is the dog until you realize he doesn't act like a human. Hilarious if you have a sense of humor.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Comedy, history, philosophy, and beautiful prose, April 18, 2011
This review is from: Three Men in a Boat - To Say Nothing of the Dog (Kindle Edition)
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.
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