Customer Reviews

The Wilt Alternative

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

 

 

I really like Tom Sharpe. But after reading the South African novels and then jumping ahead to Blott on the Landscape (a classic), I was disappointed in this one. I have a difficult time with novels wherein the protagonist an unlikeable jerk. I had no empathy for him whatsoever. The book had a contrived setup for the main plot device (the hostage situation), which took up half the book. The foreign student was poorly developed and her mid-narrative personality shift was quite hard to swallow. The only saving grace in the book was Wilt's wife, who has a force of character that stole the show. She should have been the protagonist. For your own sake, read this only if you're a Sharpe fanatic.

Tom Sharpe, the contemporary Swift of satire, continues the romping escapades of his inauspicious Wilt, along with Wilt's terrif(ic)ying progeny and blundering spouse. To read Sharpe in any tome is to become entombed in the outrageously funny consequences of trying to simply be. Life can be funny when you're not trying. * Any book by this author is worth the read... too bad there aren't enough available. The South African novels are a must! - Indecent Exposure and Riotous Assembly plus the Porterhouse Blue

I "borrowed" this book from my dad, without knowing anything about Tom Sharpe or his style. Mr. Sharpe is a master of farce! I often found myself laughing uncontrollably at the antics of Wilt, his family and his colleagues. A great light read!