Customer Reviews

The Throwback

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The base premise is really simple. Guy inherits a street of houses, but they are on long leases at low rent. The only way he can earn a living is to get the residents to leave.

So he engages on a meticulously planned campaign of side-splitting terror. The methods employed to rid himself of his reluctant residents are gruesome, medieval but oh so funny.

This is Tom Sharpe at his riproaring best.

I have been reading Sharpe for twenty five years and this is, if not the absolute best of his books, certainly the funniest and most completely anarchic. One can not help admire the protagonist who through no fault of his own has no outlet in the modern world for his undoubted abilities. All of us have at some time aspired to unfettered control of our destinies but are content to allow society to dictate the standards by which we operate. No such petty concerns trouble the throwback - he will by fair means or foul, secure his home and his family. I can only admire him, and hope that he truly exists, in his Northumbrian fastness, daring the revenue man to cross his threshold. There's a lesson here, couched in some of the most hilarious writing since Mein Kampf.

You have not experienced true laughter until you read this one! I could not believe the things Sharpe put into this book! I tried explaining to people what the book was about, but it's just not possible. If you have a "questionable" sense of humor and enjoy comedy and even a little perversion...this is the ONE you MUST read!

This book is probably the funniest piece of writing I've ever encountered. I literally laughed so hard I cried the first time I read it. Sharpe is a terrific writer of black comedy, and in my opinion (having read all his books) this is his best work. You will NOT be sorry with this purchase!

This is the hilariously funny saga of a young man who has no official existence, and who is totally naive concerning the facts of life. About other things he has a good grasp of the way they work, and when he settles down with his new bride, and his new bride's mother settles down with her new husband, things start to pop. It is difficult to say more without spoiling the plot, but suffice it to say that the plot, like the contents of the Dutch Cap, will keep, and you will be in stitches, unlike the Colonel's
Scarlet Lady.

This is not a book to take to read on an airplane. It is so uproarously funny that you might well find the flight diverted and escorted to the ground by fighters, and you packed off for observation. You have been warned.

Quite simply the funniest book I have ever read. At points I could not continue reading for laughing so hard. If you like Monty Python, League of Gentlemen, Little Britain, and humour in that vein, PLEASE read this book!

The Throwback is my second Tom Sharpe novel (..the first being Wilt). So I was expected a non-stop barrage of comic (and absurd) scenes. Or rather, pure comedy thinly wrapped into what can loosely be called a novel. I was not disappointed.

The story, such as it is, concerns the travails of backwater yokels living in an obscure corner of northern England. The patriarch of a large estate is nearing death, and must decide on what to do about his will. His only surviving relative is a bastard grandson with unknown parentage. So he his will mandates his grandson needs to discover who his father is before inheriting money.

Ah, but there are complications. His grandson is a backward, bizarre young man who marries an extremely naive young woman from Surrey. Her mother has eyes on marrying the old patriach to get her hands on the loot. And so on. The story then spins into endless comic, sometimes very darkly comic, scenes.

My only complaint with The Throwback is, I suppose, its overall theme. In Wilt the leading character was a hapless middle-aged man who somehow gets into a world of (humorous) trouble. Much of the humour was also satiric. But in The Throwback it is the innocent people associated with the patriarch's grandson (and wife) who are cruelly victimised. Yes, it is very funny. But I couldn't help but feeling guilty about it all.

Bottom line: black, slapstick comedy in superior form. Not quite as enjoyable as Wilt, but Tom Sharpe certainly knows how to entertain his readers.

First, I didn't have a problem with the narration,

so that wasn't a contributing factor in my review here.

I admit that I'm not an avid reader (or listener

of audiobooks) as I don't have the time for it.

I much prefer stories that stay focused on laying

the ground work for the main story. Too many things

going on that in no way support the main story are

just boring to me, and wastes my time. Because of

my busy life, I guess I prefer the TV version of

these things, or in other words, short stories.

If there is too much fluff, wordiness, or filler in

a story, I quickly lose interest. This author must

have fancied himself to be quite an accomplished

poet with his much overdone sprinkling of verse.

But to me, it just felt like more boring filler

and left my thinking to myself, "How much more

of this boring crap do I have to listen to?".

I found many of the scenarios in the book just

too ridiculous to be believable, and although

they sometimes were quick to grab my attention,

my interest all too often quickly faded.

That said, this audiobook just didn't hold my interest

all that much, and it was a struggle to get through.

Tom Sharpe was born in London in 1928. He is perhaps best known for "Porterhouse Blue" and his Wilt series, both of which have been adapted for television. "The Throwback" is one of his standalone novels.

Lockhart Flawse has had a rather unusual upbringing. He was born in September 1956, in the shadow of a stone wall after his mother was thrown from her horse. Although he came through the labour alive - though, thanks to a patch of nettles, not entirely unscathed - his mother unfortunately didn't. This upset his grandfather, Edwin, somewhat - more so that she wasn't married and had steadfastly refused to name the boy's father. Lockhart was raised and educated entirely on his grandfather's estate. However, the lack of a birth certificate meant he didn't officially exist - his grandfather says he'll only register him when he knows who the father is. The education he received ensured he was an expert shot with excellent mental arithmetic and a high degree of fluency in Urdu, he knows somewhat less about human reproduction than his mother did.

Flawse the Elder is not an admirable character - it's entirely possible he was a close relation of Monty Burns. (He suffers from a nagging suspicion that he might be the Lockhart's father, as well as his grandfather - he's not entirely certain than a drunken encounter with the housekeeper wasn't a drunken encounter with someone else entirely). Unsurprisingly, he suffers from an acute superiority complex, enjoys hunting, fishing and shooting and - although he acknowledges that sex necessary for procreation - also takes the view that it's generally disgusting. However, when it comes to sex, he'll grasp every available opportunity to be disgusted.

Although Lockhart has had a very sheltered life, things change dramatically when he and his grandfather take a cruise. On-board, they meet the stunningly beautiful Jessica Sandicott and her widowed mother - naturally, the young couple fall head over heels in love and are swiftly married by the ship's captain. (This happens not only with the approval of their aged relatives, but practically at the insistence - they're both desperate to get rid of their dependents). However, as part of the negotiations, Edwin and Jessica's mother also wind up married. Mrs Sandicott is delighted, believing her new husband to be not only exceptionally rich, but also close to death. Unfortunately, it hasn't crossed her mind that she might be marrying someone at least as devious as she is : Edwin knows exactly what she is up to, and views her only as a housekeeper who will never need paying. On their return to England, the games the older pair play have all sorts of implications for the younger pair...and things turn a little dangerous when Edwin draws up his will. Luckily for the young couple, Lockhart proves to be every bit as devious as his grandfather. He can also rely on the help of Dodds, the gamekeeper at Flawse Hall, and two of his grandfather's old acquaintances: Dr Magrew and Mr Bullstrode, his solicitor.

A fast moving and occasionally daft book, though certainly funny and a very enjoyable read.

There's funny. There's hysterical, like Blott and his capers & then there's "The Throwback".Twenty years on and there are still very few books to rival this witty, saucy tale of societal & bureaucratic bedevelment, stitching family, needling neighbours and machining the powers that be, alike. I only wish I had the ability to tinker (tailored of course) with multi-nationals in the same game. Like others before me, all my copies of this book have mysteriously never returned. I have never seen a 2nd-hand copy for sale; New is now a myth; and so I have found solace in Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat traps. Best of luck keeping your copy.