Customer Reviews

Two Gentlemen Sharing

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

 

 

A farcical and hilarious examination of what happens when two men sharing decide to spend some time together in the country side! The story never ceases to engross the reader ,and reviews the lighter side of the diffilculties of human sexuality.

Corlett the greatest writer of the 90's , (though only attracting a cult following),has achieved greatness yet again!

A rich theatrical producer and his middle-aged lover buy the grandest house in what has to be the wackiest little village in Britain. They hope to get along with the locals, but as "two gentlemen sharing" they fear their little burg may not be ready for gay acceptance.

Corlett sets out his own take on the British postcolonial farce, which is trying to satirize a satire. As such he doesn't use a great deal of plot but keeps introducing characters, one more outrageous than the next. There's Doris Day the cleaning lady, who remembers her namesake's tunes but mangles the lyrics beyond recognition. There's the extortionist who runs the grocery store, the corporate wives, the timid wife-next-door and her martinet husband, an ex-RAF type. There's even a drop-dead-gorgeous Italian dropped into the stew to keep things going. We have to be forcibly reminded that Rich, the theatrical producer, is in the States during most of these goings-on. The action culminates in a concert to which the whole town has been invited, and for which there are unforeseen and irreversible consequences.

"Two Gentlemen Sharing" isn't subtle. It isn't interior. But it's good fun and if you don't ask too much of it, it's enjoyable.

This is a light and breezy small village comedy of manners, a la P.G. Wodehouse, albeit with a gay theme. When a rich London theatrical producer buys the "Hall House" in a small village an hour outside London, and installs his young boyfriend there, wacky antics ensue. The books is chock-a-block with misunderstandings, mistaken identities, secret longings, and over-the-top characters. Per the genre, the book ends with all the characters gathered for a party which quickly degenerates into a wild fiasco in which all is revealed and resolved. It's all fairly diverting stuff, although I never found it laugh-out-loud funny, nor particularly insightful on gay issues.

It's a delight to re-discover an author one adored in childhood.

This tale picks up its pace almost from the beginning, with a cast of kooky stock English village pussies and curmudgeons enacting a somewhat confused and rather amusing scene in a shop run by an imperious, crafty and avaricious shopkeepress.

The story proceeds to spin out a million twists and inane spins, binding itself in the complex tentacles of the ever-more-convoluted descriptions of unfortunate, inopportune and ultimately hilarious events, culminating in a frenetic meltdown featuring a ragged prima donna and an ethnic drag, amongst others.

Though filled with characters scarcely fleshier than the paper itself, the story is gently amusing and never mean, the camp tempered with a touch of genuine warmth and just a wisp of sensitivity.

I bought this book after reading "Now and Then". At first I was a little disappointed, "this is not the Corlett I know" I thought. Then I started laughing. This comedy which goes from humor to farce, is irresistible. It reminds me of the Italian "commedia dell'arte" or the British "comedy of manners". Funny characterization, farcical situation make of this novel one of the funniest thing I ever read.

... and a bear ate all your good books, you could turn to this piece of gossamer fluff in order to while away the empty hours. But be sure to weigh it down with a rock when you're not holding in your hands or it'll float away. This is farce-and-nonsense; it's Benny Hill-meets AbFab-meets-an-East End drag show. All of which is flawless if you're into in, depressing if you're not (as they say in _Boys in the Band_). It's mostly just silly. I admit it: sometimes we're in the mood for silly. Just don't go looking for anything here that you'll remember the morning after (and, for god's sake, please don't compare it to Wodehouse). It's a collection of broad stereotypes (and stereotyped broads), including tippling servants, sexually repressed ex-soldiers, Italians who can't stop ****ing, and mad English "ladies" whose station has been reduced by a reversal of fortune. It's about as original as the spit-take and as amusing as Le Pétomane. Characters fly in and out by the dozens and the dialogue often becomes a delirium of double-entendres (sometimes so forced they seemed to have been tortured into submission). Indeed, when Corlett really gets going on the repartee, he forgets that he has a plot to deal with. All in all, it's more fun than a teethcleaning.

Interesting idea with considerable comedic potential--two very openly gay Londoners decide to become country squires and buy a historic home in a picturesque English village. Hilarious bigotry, misunderstandings and eventually reconciliation to follow. Not quite.

Very skilled author William Corlett ("Now and Then") somehow takes a big part of this train off the tracks early in the story when he has real difficulty explaining convincingly why the two protagonists are together in the first place, let alone why they would decide to decamp (no pun there) to the English countryside to strengthen their relationship. A torrent of eccentric characters joins them shortly, making the book a kind of self-parody of burlesque or of old British sitcoms and films of the 1950s--but written more as screenplay than novel.

I have to say that the story did start to pull together a bit better by the middle of the book and there were some funny moments a la P.G. Woodhouse and Mapp & Lucia. But the question of the central relationship remained unresolved to the last. Not sure why this misfired so much as Corlett really is an excellent writer.

While I enjoyed the book to a certain extent it didn't win me over. I read William Corlett's other book (NOW AND THEN) which is a much better book (5 Stars). This is just 'ok'. I wouldn't run out & recommend it very strongly. There were a bit too many characters for my liking. It was a cute concept of a gossip-ridden little village somewhere in England--which seems rather realistic (in parts). Enjoy...if you need to.

The premise of this book is funny enough...a slightly
mismatched gay couple buys a mansion in a small English
country village next door to a homophobic retired
brigadier general. Unfortunately, this cute premise is diluted by the
author's introduction of far too many characters and
subplots that go nowhere and a writing style that feels
as if the author was being paid by the page. There are
entire chapters that have no laughs, no insight, and
no significance to the main plot. Boil this book down
to half of its length, and it would be a winner.

A total HOOT! I laughed out loud numerous times, could not put it down, and even woke up the dog in the middle of the night laughing!