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Gang Des Megeres Inapprivoisee (2011)

by Tom Sharpe(Favorite Author)

3.06 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

2264052589 (ISBN13: 9782264052582)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

10 * 18

review 1: I keep thinking about this book, so I felt compelled to write a review (by the way, continuing to think about a book after you've read it is not necessarily the sign of a good book). I think it's already pretty evident that I did not enjoy this book. As I'm at work, here are a few bullet points why.1) The characters were completely unlikeable. They were not humourous, and I could only sympathise with one of them. I think his name was Horace - I actually can't remember. So while I could sort of sympathise with him, he did not leave much of an impression. (I'm generally pretty good at remembering names). Oh I did also like that gardener bloke, mainly I think because he seemed to have a brain that worked. But not enough to leave the house of mental crazy.2) The plot was utter... morely and completely ridiculous. I am quite happy to suspend my disbelief, but there are limits. I understand that it was supposed to be a farce and satirical, but there are farces and there are farces. This was the latter.3) It was supposed to be funny and satirical. It was not funny and satirical. I did not laugh once. I had high hopes, we have quite a few Tom Sharpe books at home, and while I sort of expected it to be of its time (i.e. slightly 80s - though a lot of 80s humour is brilliant. And yes, I know the book was published in 2009) I thought I would still be able to laugh. I wasn't. 4) The kidnapped male in the story was 17. SEVENTEEN! Yes, he's legal to do a lot of things, but in many others way (like marrying without requiring parents permission) he's not. Yes, I know the marriage is null and void anyway as she was already married, but that is beside the point. He was abducted and then brainwashed into believing that this was ok. That's a little too Stockholm Syndrome for my liking.5) Is it not a little outdated to portray all the police as incompetent, with no emotional intelligence? The police make mistakes, they're not perfect, I would never say that they are, but the police are overworked, overstretched, poorly funded organisations, who are not the police of the 1970s and 1980s. They have progressed. 6) I like the idea that this was a book about women. (I'm sorry, I'm about to go English Literature at you, and very uncharacteristically so). Strong women in books is a good thing. I like the idea that women can control their own destiny, that they can decide who to marry, if indeed they want to marry. These women of this family, yes they were strong - but were they really? Every man that they married was one or more of the following:a) had no brain and too weak to stand up for his own rights and opinionsb) was essentially raped to produce the children requiredc) was discarded like rubbish when he didn't help produce the 'correct' childNow, none of these things sound like a progression of womens rights to me. a) If you have to marry a weak man who has no self respect, or brain, or ability to express his opinions that does not make you a strong woman. That makes you someone who is callous enough to only take advantage of those weaker than you. Yes, you can argue that men have been doing that to women throughout history, but it is not a sign of progression to reverse the roles like that. It's a sign of an inability to move on and become equal.b) Sexual assault is not acceptable at any time against any one, regardless of gender. Your desperate need to have a daughter is no excuse to justify sleeping with a man who has been drugged. That is date rape.c) Some men do discard their wives when a younger model comes along. Some men are misogynistic. Some men are complete bastards who have no respect for their wives/girlfriends/partners. Some men (Henry VIII I'm looking at you) did discard their wives if they couldn't produce the 'correctly' gendered child. However, just because history predominantly shows us that men did this (and I imagine there were a fair few women too), this does not mean that it is funny when reversed, or indeed something that should be celebrated in any way. See point a) for views on progression and how this is not it.I'm sure that Tom Sharpe meant the reversal of historical gender roles as a satirical look - an alternative to the themes running throughout history. Then again, he may not have, and just thought it was entertaining. I think if the characters and the plot hadn't been so preposterous it might have worked better. I understand the satire, I hope the satire was the point of the book otherwise this is terrible, I just didn't find it funny, and I think a little outdated.The feeling I felt after finishing? That was one of the most pointless books I've ever read. Yes, it's not really my type of book - they include death and policemen and possibly a kidnapping too. Yes, this book had all those things, but not in the way that I like them.The more I think about this book the more and more I dislike it. If I could bring myself to I would give it 2 stars for the understanding what it's trying to do. But I thought it was pants, and there are too many negatives to do that, so I'm afraid it only gets one.
review 2: I began reading Tom Sharpe's The Gropes thinking it might be good to have a laugh from time to time. And laugh I did. But maybe not the kind of laughter I expected or possibly not the kind I needed. If I said 'restrained hilarity' would that seem too much of a contradiction? I found the book extremely British: stiff upper lip combined with delirious humour that reminded me of Monty Python or the Goon Show. Under the cover of enforced normality the most absurd and catastrophic things happen. What interested me most - probably because I am exploring the question myself in my own writing - is the way Sharpe portrays how people continually tell themselves the wildest of stories about what happens around them and take those stories for reality and then act on them producing the most absurd, if not tragic results. less

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