All Reviews by Waldo Gemio
The Unbearable Bassington
by Saki
Francesca Bassington hopes that her charming but recalcitrant son, Cosmo, will endear himself enough to the wealthy Elaine Frey to become engaged to her, thereby solving their financial worries. But 'the unbearable Bassington' has to compete with an up-and-coming and equally selfish politician, Courtenay Youghal. The scene is set for a great deal of sharp humour, elegant writing, and strangely moving insights into the human condition. 'Saki' (H H Munro) pulls off the difficult trick of making the reader ultimately sympathise with an eminently unlikeable anti-hero. Much of the writing is suffused with elegiac poetry, too. If you only know Saki through the short stories, this novel is full of pleasant surprises. Highly recommended.
A Difficult Problem
by Anna Katharine Green
Run-of-the-mill detection in which a murderer is tracked down by the unnamed narrator in record time. No surprises here.
A Bachelor's Dream
by Margaret Wolfe Hungerford
Perfectly readable tale of a middle-aged doctor's nearly disastrous love for a woman he rescues from a stabbing. The doctor and the mysterious beauty are very well characterised, as are all the incidental characters, and a certain amount of tension is reached before the conclusion. All the same, I won't be rushing to read anything else by Hungerford.
1601
by Mark Twain
Well, this one really took me by surprise. I even had to check to see that this was really by Mark Twain and not a piece of sabotage by a frustrated scribe. It turns out that this is, indeed, by Twain, though he didn't own up to its authorship until 26 years after it was written (1880);it's a story in which Shakespeare and Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I, aongst others, are trying to work out who farted so thunderously, while discussing, in graphic detail, various sexual practises, including rams masturbating after copulating one hundred times, and the wearing of phallus-shaped hats. If you're offended by the 'c' word, stick to Tom Sawyer.
It's only twelve pages but it's packed with jokes, and literary criticism: "...Shaxpur did rede a part of his 'King Henry IV', ye which, it seemeth unto me, is not of ye value of an arsefull of ashes..." Poor Shakespeare.
The Altar of the Dead
by Henry James
An off-beat, platonic love affair in which an unfulfilled man sets up a special altar to remember not only his would-be bride but every person dear to him who breathes no more...except one: his former best friend who did him an unspecified wrong. He eventually speaks to a 'faded beauty' who is a frequent visitor to the altar and they strike up a friendship based on their mutual rejection of the living. The main interest in this story lies in the main character's inability to admit to himself the truth of his feelings. The plot, such as it is, is dependent on coincidence, and the ending is rather abrupt, but James weaves a spell here not soon forgotten.
Absalom's Hair
by Bjornstjerne M. Bjornson
This short novel by one of Norway's 'Great Four' (and a Nobel Prize winner) explores a man's relationship with his obsessive mother and the other women in his life. But 'Sons and Lovers' it ain't. Perhaps something was lost in the (apparently unattributed ) translation. The short piece appended to this 'A Painful Memory from Childhood' could be seen as a coda, or as a separate story. It describes, in chilling detail, the trial and execution of a popular young man, seen from the perspective of a child. All the same, it strikes me that there is a little too much sympathy for a man who killed a woman with an axe, the first blow not killing her outright, leaving her begging for mercy; there's also an implication that because she had 'lain with other men' she might have deserved what she got. I won't be reading any more Bjornson in a hurry.
Whose Body?
by Dorothy L. Sayers
It's great to see this title come on the Manybooks site. Having just read the the first of the second series - 'Thrones, Dominations', started by Sayers and finished by Jill Paton Walsh, set in the prelude to WWII - it's interesting to see the younger, funnier Wimsey, still suffering traumas from his WWI experiences in this first book, which introduces us to his future brother-in-law Inspector Parker, Wimsey's manservant/sidekick Bunter, wholly indispensable as always, and Wimsey's redoubtable mother, the Duchess. My only complaint, apart from the obviousness of the killer, is the unlikely execution of the crime itself. Still, every page is a delight. These books are still being published and selling well, so it's a real bonus that the first two are now available for free to new generations.
Gaspar Ruiz
by Joseph Conrad
Curiously uninvolving tale of a gentle giant who deserts and ends up fighting on both sides (republican/royalist) of a Spanish/Chilian (sic) conflict; part war-adventure, part-love story. Told in the third person as a recollection, and decades after the events, Ruiz (for me, at any rate) never comes alive.
A Passionate Pilgrim
by Henry James
Early James tackling a theme familiar in his work: innocent Americans and their more experienced transatlantic cousins. The narrator overhears the conversation of two Americans who are also visiting London and takes an interest in the one whose health is failing. They coincide the following day at Hampton Court where they strike up a friendship. London, Hampton Court and Oxford are visited and admired; the relative merits of Englishness and American-ness are compared; and the sickly American half-heartedly lays claim to an old English estate not factoring in that he will fall in love with the lonely woman of the house. The ending is not quite as expected, and the way the Americans are charmed by certain parts of England is charming in itself, but non-Jamesians need not apply, so to speak.
A Little Dinner at Timmins's
by William Makepeace Thackeray
Entertaining story about the problems besetting the eponymous couple when they decide to give 'a little dinner'. Thackeray provides a feast of unlikely names even for characters mentioned only in passing: '...(the late Prince of Schlippenschloppen)..', and there is a wonderful interlude in which the husband, Fitzroy, develops an infatuation for one of the 'angels' at Fubsby's and visits every day to flirt a little until discovered by the formidable Mrs Gashleigh, his mother-in-law, who henceforth has him in her grasp. Nothing new here, but there's compassion mixed in with the wit,and it's all in the way he tells them.
A Prefect's Uncle
by Pelham Grenville Wodehouse
Very early Wodehouse, a school story that revolves around cricket, stolen money, and an embarrassing uncle (who happens to be younger than his nephew). Entire chapters are given over to descriptions of cricket matches, and aunts hardly get a mention. Still, his inimitable turn of phrase is already present, and true Wodehousians won't want to miss it.
The Big Caper
by Lionel White
White is one of the lesser-known noirists whose books were filmed by Kubrick and Godard ('Pierrot le Fou' was 'based on' 'Obsession') and were an influence on Tarantino. Despite the title, this is more of a character study, with a chilling portrayal of a cold-hearted manipulator called Flood and the men and women, good and bad, who follow his orders, however reluctantly. The attitudes to women are very much of its time (mid-fifties), i.e. three categories: good, bad, and married. There's humour, and violence, and a general sense of unease. Memorable pulp noir, a forgotten classic.
The Shadow Line
by Joseph Conrad
I came to this Conrad through Philip Roth's latest, "Exit Ghost". Nathan Zuckerman, old and incontinent, decides to reread the classic novels that impressed him as a young man and re-reads this one 'all in one go'. The novel is mentioned again, about a hundred pages in, because both protagonists, Zuckerman and the narrator of "Shadow Line" act recklessly at the beginning of their stories, doing something that will entirely change their way of life. But in Conrad's case it's a young man who takes his first command of a ship and feels old by the end of the story; in Roth's case it's an old man acting like a young one, wanting to be young again, but knowing that death is trying to intervene. I'm sure it's a good counterpoint to Roth's novel but in "Shadow" the ship refuses to move for most of its 126 pages and the story also doesn't move. I can see where someone might consider the difficult voyage a metaphor for the changes that occur to the main character's outlook, but it's too laboured. If you haven't read Conrad before, this is not the place to start. Try "Heart of Darkness" (among the short works) or the unforgettable "Lord Jim" (among the longer).
Madame Sara
by L.T. Meade
Perfectly readable but otherwise ordinary inheritance mystery with a Holmesian feel.
A.V. Laider
by Max Beerbohm
The first few pages, before the narrator speaks to the eponymous hero (whose surname is an anagram for 'derail'; this is no accident...) are the most entertaining as the narrator ruminates on abandoned letters, and how important it is not to strike up a friendship with strangers, even if you're staying at the same resort and see each other every day. The ending is a bit of a let-down, though.
Clarimonde
by Théophile Gautier
Beautifully told story of a priest who falls in love with a beautiful woman at the very moment of taking his vows, and proceeds to lead a double life.
But she's dead.
Or is she?
The Devil's Asteroid
by Manly Wade Wellman
Entertaining novella, a sort of 2001 A Space Odyssey in reverse: the apes don't become cleverer, but men turn into apes, as a punishment by Martians, no less. Written in 1941, there's even some satire about clipped-moustache heroes 'with murderous instincts'. The ending is a little pat, but it's never boring.