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Summary
“Three Men in a Boat, published in 1889, became an instant success and has never been out of print. In its first twenty years alone, the book sold over a million copies worldwide. It has been adapted to films, TV, and radio shows, stage plays, and a musical, and influenced subsequent writers such as P. G. Wodehouse, James Thurber, and Nick Hornby. It ranks among The Guardian’s top one hundred best English novels of all time.
Jerome’s light comic prose overtook what was intended as a series of magazine articles about the scenery and history of the Thames and became instead a humorous travelogue of a two-week boating holiday amongst three friends and the narrator’s dog, Montmorency. The narrator muses on the significance of passing landmarks and villages such as Hampton Court Palace, Hampton Church, Magna Carta Island, and Monkey Island, while relating the hilarious mishaps of their adventure along with observations on everything from the unreliability of weather forecasts to the difficulties of learning to play the Scottish bagpipes.”
From Amazon.com
Review
Heading into the end of 2024, I was looking for a light book from all the books I inherited last year. I wanted something I could get through, maybe was a little light, and I wouldn’t find the story too heavy. So I came across this one and the name immediately had me curious. It was a funny title, weirdly put, and I so I had to give it a go.
What a fantastic read!
This was incredibly light hearted – a story about 3 men who decided to go on a two-week boating holiday. It was a mundane story, just telling of what was going on and no massive adventures. But it was just so realistic with there being side stories of their lives, seeing the realities of boating up a river, and a bunch of laughs.
It was published in 1889, so the writing style sometimes did have moments of being a little confusing to follow. But that could also have been me in my headspace at the time while reading it – between the holiday season, cooking and craziness.
But the chapters were so manageable! They weren’t too long at the copy that I had (and I think that the book comes with) had illustrations too! You can guess my excitement when I came across them because adult books don’t get illustrations very often. So they were nice little things to break up some of the pages and chapters. But also highlighted a few of the things talked about.
And there were certainly memorable moments – if you read it and get to the bit about cheese you should have such a good laugh. Only a British writer could write pages about cheese and keep the reader entertained! I was audibly laughing out loud.
A few of the quotes that stuck with me, to show some of the laughs were as follows:
“I remember a friend of mine buying a couple of cheeses at Liverpool. Splendid cheese they were, ripe and mellow, and with a two hundred horsepower scent about them that might have been warranted to carry three miles, and knock over a man at two hundred yards.”
[TW; death & suicide] “She had wandered about the woods by the river’s brink all day, and then, when evening fell and the grey twilight spread its dusky robe upon the waters, she stretched her arms out to the silent river that had known her sorrow and her joy And the old river had taken her into its gentle arms, and had laid her weary head upon its bosom, and had hushed away the pain.”
“The washerwoman at Streatley said she felt she owed it to herself to charge us just three times the usual price for the wash. She said it had not been like washing, it had been more in the nature of excavating.”
Honestly this was such a fun little read, and apparently there is a second book that I will have to check out when I can.
I’d give this a solid 4/5 stars. Don’t expect any romance, or serious character development or anything of that sort. It’s just about 3 lads, and a dog, going up a river and their experiences. It’s a nice little palette cleanser book if you’re looking for a fun little story!
Happy Reading!
