Three Men in a Boat

This classic by Jerome K Jerome reads like nineteenth century stand up comedy. It’s very funny. It really does remind you of those books you pick up by comedians which are filled with little sketches. I’m sure Mr Jerome was very popular at parties, and down at his local.

Three men decide to go for a short trip up the Thames. Detailed (spurious) historical and geographical information is provided for each place they visit, but that’s not why you read it. You read it for the mishaps that happen and the nonsense that occurs to them. They gabble on about murdering landowners and singing comic songs on their grave (especially after being cheated out of a shilling by a man belonging to a society repudiating bread and jam), then go visiting a tavern with a big trout caught by every member of the village. I particularly like the flashbacks, such as the visit to the doctor in order to announce the presence of every illness apart from housemaid’s knee, or the little trip with the girlfriend (sorry, cousin) where they met up with some boatmen and all sang the chorus from Faust.

It is definitely reminiscent of P. G. Wodehouse, although not quite as funny. It’s also a little older, I think. (Actually one funny part has him musing over whether one day in 2000 someone will treasure Victorian china the way they treasure other old bits and pieces – and of course we do.) It’s the kind of British comedy that you imagine propped up the nation during national crises from Crimea to the Blitz. Funny, simple, slightly odd. A good read.