Product Description
Offering all the qualities of his general bestselling fiction, this is Tom Sharpe's blazing satire of South African apartheid, companion to Riotous Assembly. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Indecent exposure
Tom Sharpe is possibly the funniest author I have ever read.I've bought many of his books to give away as gifts.There's no point in laughing alone.

Excellent
I split my sides with laughter from page one to the end. Tom Sharpe deserves a Nobel prize

I hadn't laughed so loudly since "Confederacy of Dunces"
Today I'm back--rebuying this book in hopes of reliving some of the experience it produced 20+ years ago when I read it on a transatlantic flight.Everyone around me was solemnly absorbed in tearjerker movie while I was convulsed to tears of laughter in their midst.

When I realized Indecent Exposure was a sequel to Riotous Assembly I raced from the airport to the bookstore and ordered that one too.It was no disappointment.That came when I voraciously bought nearly every other novel Tom Sharpe wrote and found none of his other works even came close to his 2 South Africa novels.

Small wonder that oppressive regime expelled him.I ought to mention that however slapstick funny this has been described to you (and it is!) it is not an appropriate gift for your 12-year-old niece.The uproarious misanthropy is midnight black and as politically incorrect for many Americans as it was subversive for South African censors.

The best of Sharpe
Hilarious, extremely funny. This is one of the fiction works that have made me laugh more in my life, including films, comics, or whatever.
I read this book after discovering Sharpe trough Wilt' s saga. One tip: read the african novels first! I have read almost all the books from Sharpe, and I think the two south-african satiras are the best, specially Indecent Exposure.

a hilarious spin of South Africa of days gone by...
Tom Sharpe's novels, always popular in Britain, are known for being rude spoofs on the political establishment and of the upper echelons of British society.However his earliest works, as in 'Indecent Exposure', the setting is apartheid-era South Africa.His humour is still very baudy, perhaps repetitively so, and his target are the hypocritical, racist white establishment.Some of the language is a bit vulgar, and I imagine some folks might be offended.But Sharpe hits the bulls-eye on his target: the squabbling, pretentious and myoptic white (English/Afrikaan) establishment.

As for the story?Well, it somewhat doesn't matter.Some nonsense about a rural town's police force trying to fight (imagined) communist insurgents using some rather ridiculous means.It's all very slapstick, farcical.Enjoy the book for its now dated (historical) view of South Africa, not for its paper thin story.

Bottom line: a very curious and funny piece of Sharpe's earlier works.Certainly not his best, but he delivers the laughs. ... Read more

Product Description
Henry Wilt, Tom Sharpe's beleaguered hero, returns again for another hilarious dose of quickfire farce.

Stuck in a job he doesn't want -- but can't afford to lose -- as nominal Head of the Communications Department at Fenland University, Wilt is still subject to the whims of The Powers That Be, both in and outside of work. The demands of his snobbish wife Eva, and the stupendous school fees of his despicable quadruplet daughters, cause him the biggest headaches... apart from the hangovers, that is. When Eva signs him up for a summer job, teaching the gun-toting idiot son of a lusty local aristocrat, Wilt is not amused. But, as circumstances unravel and the summer goes on, Wilt sees that the situation could be put to his financial advantage, as well as giving Eva some headaches of her own.

With Tom Sharpe's famous dark humour in full evidence, and an explosive plot which takes its readers to places they never realised they wanted to visit, The Wilt Inheritance is another instant classic from the British master of farce.


From the Trade Paperback edition. ... Read more

Product Description
Never before published in America, and now a six-hour PBS presentation, Porterhouse Blue is the story of one college campus with more problems than students. A revolution at Porterhouse College sends a lot of things out in the open--namely one gross of condoms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Deliciously Ludicrous
A wonderful and cleverly written academic send-up. Although I'm sure it helps to know the British educational system to appreciate the humor, it really isn't necessary. Pomposity is easily recognizable in all its various garbs, as this novel shows by cracking the whip of its prose at all the various types that populate the Cambridge college "Porterhouse" -- from Skullion, "the porter of Porterhouse," to the foxy spiteful Dean, to the reformist Master of Porterhouse, "Sir Godber," and his strenuously philanthropic wife, "Lady Mary." The ludicrous is raised to high art here. The subplot of the research fellow, young Zipser, and his comely capcacious bedder "Mrs. Biggs," is particularly beguiling. Beginning and ending with feasts of quite different sorts, it is also a cunningly constructed masterpiece.

Acadamics have a fit - literally
In the stuffy world of British academia, nothing changes -- that is, until Tom Sharpe decides to liven things up a bit with his tale of a crusading college Master who horrifies all his colleagues with his trendy left-leaning ideas.

Porterhouse College, Cambridge has been a bastion of privilege since time immemorial, turning out the kind of bluff nincompoops who have been running Britian for centuries and who do themselves so well at table that thee is a local version of an apoplectic fit, known as a Porterhouse Blue. The beneficiaries of this stultified atmosphere do not plan to give up their pampered lives easily, and oppose the Master with every devious scheme their dulled brains can come up with. Their machinations make for a typically enjoyable Sharpe romp, though without the savage anger which made his South African novels such page-turners

The Hilarious world at the top of British academia
A hilarious tale of the strange world that one finds at a place like Cambridge. While one is almost tempted to say, 'yes, but it's actually fiction,' the truth is not far from Sharpe's tale of disaster and woe at this fictional Cambridge college.

The humour is academic.
A satirical leg-pull on one of Britains most august institutions, the Oxbridge College.All the pomp is there, the swan stuffed with widgeon, ageing dons clinging to their chairs with dead cold hands, gate porters who have more in common with east european secret police than with door men.

Within this stuffy and pompous world Sharpe sets a hilarious story.Gas filled condoms bobbing on the lawn, exploding chimneys, numerous haircuts on the one day. All the elements of a good farce are brought together to give a really good funny read.Not the funniest Sharpe novel, but definitely on form.

Rip Roaring Fun...Hilarious Academic Farce
There's an out loud laugh a minute in this university life farce. The old verses the new, tradition and progress, black humor and farce abound..Some eccentric characters even by Brit standards, and written so well you'll breeze right through it! Also great descriptions, and you'll feel you're a casual witness to the academic shenanigans all the way through. My only criticism is some very serious situations (like a murderous fire) may be taken a bit too casually..Still, with a touch of class and bawdiness, this one is a real winner! ... Read more

Product Description
Offering all the qualities of his general bestselling fiction, this is Tom Sharpe's blazing satire of South African apartheid, companion to Indecent Exposure. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Rx: Read and Re-read as needed
Every now and then my life gets so jumbled, or my hormones rise or fall and depression sets in, and I just need a rousing good laugh. That's when I pick up this book. It has never failed to at least amuse or, more often, to induce a tears-in-my-eyes unrestrained laughing fit. While this can be disconcerting to co-workers in nearby cubicles, it nevertheless works wonders for my sour moods.

Totally loony in a restrained British (or in this case, South African) manner, this tale of apartheid, fetishism, gender role swapping, gigantic firearms and novocaine in the mythical South African town of Piemburg is quite simply a hoot.

That it works better than Prozac as a mood leveler (Fair warning-- I'm not a psychiatrist, I just play one on Amazon!) is a wonderful bonus.

Over the top political farce--funny but crude

This is political farce with a vengeance. The back jacket on the paperback says this book is not a political book in any imagined sense of that term and that's essentially true.The author's position on the old South African regime is pretty clear from the word "go" but it never dampens the fun.

The book is so over the top that its characters come off as cardboard cutouts of a caricature--yet, somehow, Sharpe still finds a way to imbue them with enough connective personality that we are drawn into the farce willingly.The book is extremely funny--I laughed out loud at least twenty times.It is a rather crude undertaking--but then again, so was the old South Africa, and this books achieves the unique aspect of being extremely sexually explicit while never actually rendering an actual sex scene--not for want of trying on the "heroines" part.

All in all a lot of fun is the crudity and explicitness don't put you off.If that's the case, seek humor elsewhere.

I enjoyed it enough that I have ordered another couple of Sharpe's books to see if they are as good.I have high hopes on that score.

To Be Read Not For Plot
This decidedly intemperate dark jewel has been criticized for, among other things, being short on a coherent logical plot.Fair enough.And saturated with unsympathetic characters.Point taken.So what?If you can find a better written rant of absurd, politically incorrect, howlingly hilarious black (as in motif, not ethnic) humor by all means set Riotous Assembly aside and go with your more entertaining discovery, and be so kind as to post its name here so that we may all partake.

Compared to Riotous Assembly, Mel Brooks' best sounds like a grim Savonarola tract.

Keystone Kops Kapers in the RSA
If you're ever in the mood for a hugely over-the-top farce about apartheid-era South Africa, well, this is the book for you. Sharpe spent a decade there before being deported as a subversive, and after reading this unrestrained comic pummeling of the RSA, one can only wonder why it took the authorities so long to give him the boot. Indeed authority is target number one in this fast-paced story set in the small city of Piemburg. It all starts when an elderly semi-aristocratic Englishwoman calls the police to report that she's shot her Zulu cook. Refusing police Kommandant van Heerden's best attempts to cover up the matter, she reveals that the cook was also her lover, which so appalls him that he immediately declares a state of emergency and mobilizes the entire police force. And so begins a massive comedy of errors, in which a "Kaffir-Killer" Konstabel Els plays a large role, as does the slimy Luitenant Veerkamp, and matters take a turn for the utterly bizarre, as rubber fetishes, bondage, a drunken bishop, porno films, cross dressing, and penile novocain injections are all introduced to the plot. As one might surmise from such a litany, the plot spins ever more wildly out of control until events come to a head at--appropriately enough--the insane asylum. All the antics are intermittently funny, and it's somewhat refreshing to see the horrors of apartheid treated with rather less than the usual gravitas. Worth a read if you've got a special interest in South Africa or a soft spot for broad farce, otherwise not all that noteworthy

Funny but unexceptional
In many respects, apartheid South Africa provides a great setting for farces and satirical novels. Tom Sharpe ably exploits the possibilities in this tale involving an interracial affair, a bishop who ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a murder investigation by irredeemably dumb and racist Afrikaner policemen.
Parts of Riotous assembly are very funny and Sharpe maintains the hectic pace of the narrative throughout. But in the end, I was disappointed with this book. My dissatisfaction had nothing to do with being an Afrikaner or with an aversion to dark humour. Carl Hiaasen is one of my favourite authors, and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie version of Sharpe's Wilt. My problem was with the characters, who seemed to have no personalities whatsoever beyond the stereotypes they represent. To truly enjoy a book (even a farce), I have to develop an interest in or establish some kind of rapport with the characters, and in the case of Riotous assembly this never happened. ... Read more

Product Description
Henry Wilt has spent an unrewarding ten years teaching English to bored and hostile youths. At night he fantasises about murdering his obese scatter-brained wife. The plot thickens when his wife goes missing and he is seen dumping a "body". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Wilt
This was a wacky, charming Brit farce about a man who dreamed of murdering his wife.Hilarity ensued, of course.

Uproarious
Very rarely do I find a book so clever and witty that I actually laugh out loud as I turn the pages.(Unfortunately, I've come across many a book that had me laughing out loud because the writing was just bloody awful, but that's a topic for another day.)Until recently I had never heard of Tom Sharpe, nor of his books--in particular, his outrageously wonderful novel, WILT (published decades ago), until I was given a copy as a gift by a delightfully ornery friend.What a gem!(On both counts.)

Henry Wilt is in a rut.For the past ten years he's been attempting to teach literature to blue collar apprentices (who are far more interested in discussing the intricacies of shagging) at the local technical institute; he's also been enduring the antics of Eva, his most eccentric wife, who throws herself (with herculean vigor) into one phase after another (judo, horticulture, et al) in an effort to "find herself". So mundane and drab is his life that Henry is actually euphoric to be the subject of a murder investigation once Eva goes missing--and after he's been seen stuffing a life-size inflatable doll down a piling hole at a construction site.The misunderstandings are compounded, Henry enjoys more and more his manipulations of the authorities, until madness and mayhem rule the day.

Sharpe's prose is exceedingly clever, articulate, witty--biting.The dialogue among his colleagues at the technical institute--especially as they witness the doll being "pulled" from the hole--had me laughing so hard I had to get up from my chair.WILT is a remarkably fun read, and enthusiastically recommended.If you run across a copy, either online or at your favorite used bookstore, by all means grab!
--D. Mikels, Author, Walk-On

Tom Sharpe does it again.
Henry Wilt is just a regular guy with 'semi' normal thoughts and ambitions, trying to get somewhere in life, except that those around him pay little or no attention to him at all. This drives him to conconct some wayward plan to remove the main thing that's kept him where he is: his wife, Eva. All things are going swimmingly until a chance-meeting with their new neighbours shifts his whole world to one where anything ridiculous and downright unbelievable ends up making a lot of sense.

It's the effortless way that Tom Sharpe interlocks the characters and circumstances in his books that makes them so addictive. I've never read a book where I literally burst out laughing, only to have to sink deeper into my seat to avoid the quizzical looks from those around me. I loved Blott On The Landscape and Porterhouse Blue (and I didn't think he could top them!), but Wilt is by far the best one I've read...and judging by the reviews that Amazon readers have been giving his other books, it seems the journey for me has just begun.

The Master of the Absurd
Wilt began Tom Sharpe's peculiar and irreverant view of life that is expanded throughout all his books since.One step outside the normal leads to two steps and before we know it we are in a parallel universe of the absurd that is very, very funny, outrageous, and essentially human, warts and all.Tom Sharpe has inspired some of the best new humour writer's of today.I think particularly of Robert Fox, who in Red Fox Goose Green takes the everyday in English village life -- the fox hunt, the church service, the pub -- and breathes Tom Sharpe style farce into the institutions that made Britain what it is.

Out Loud Funny
This is Sharp's best novel yet, the second detailing the life of Wilt a college lecturer and his severely disfunctional family. In what is basically a farce Sharpe's satire bites deep into every subject he touches, as Wilt comes under investigation by the police for drug dealing, infiltrates a US nuclear air base and has to use face cream to cool his burning uncontrolable penis.If my description of this novel sounds manic, the reason is simple, the book is manic.As an Englishman living in the US I am not sure if the humor travels well, but I hope my American friends can appreciate it, because this book is one of only three (all written by Tom) capable of making me laugh out loud wherever I am reading it (which can be most embarrasing). Try it and enjoy a different view of life and then be thankful you don't have to live Wilt's life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I don't know how he does it!
In short: a strait-laced Professor is asked to write a tell-all book about the less-than-perfect Petrefacts.

To the average writer, this scenario could probably get a little tee-hee from the readers, but leave it to Sharpe to throw into the mixture the riotous "Ablution Bath", some midgets (or PORG - Persons of Unrestricted Growth), a sex toy factory, an outrageous interrogation / Silence Of The Lambs-themed chapter, and a crazy carwash incident and you get Tom Sharpe at his best yet again. Even the scene where Lord Petrefact explains to Croxley what he'd like served for dinner is a gem on its own.

Now, I'm the type who throws a book to the nearest bin when the ending is less than ideal but somehow, whenever I read Tom Sharpe's books, as far off as they are to having conventional happy endings, I always manage to put them back on my shelf with a huge smile on my face. So do yourself a favour and grab this book - I'm sure you owe yourself a good long laugh!

<still giggling>
Tom Sharpe writes some very wicked satire.His victims are typically the upper class, snobby English or, in his earlier works, the hypocritically rascist South Africans.Although very popular in the UK, his books are almost unknown in America ... too bad!

In 'Ancestral Vices' we have a loosely stiched story about a crusty and warped aristocratic family, a befuddled biographer, victimized dwarves, and a murder.It's a total farce.However the author's wit and humor are lethal, and the story somehow holds together until the very end (or near so).


Bottom line: perhaps not a classic but 'Ancestral Vices' does Tom Sharpe some justice.Recommended.

Hysterically Funny!
Introduced to Tom Sharpe's work by a Brit friend, I can't get enough of this amazing author!"Ancestral Vices" literally made my cry with laughter.Yapp's horrifying experience with the "Ablution Bath" sent me into gales of giggles, as did the run amok motorized wheelchair scenario.Lord Petrefact, Willie Coppett, the sex toy factory...all of it was enough to make a cat laugh.Sharpe is warped, twisted, and totally delightful!Simply, hysterically funny!

Another Sharpe one
Tom Sharpe is the most hilarious writer. Ancestral vices is another piece of mad cap mayhem from the master.Fast paced laugh out loud parts. Its always one thing after another with Tom sharpe. Left-wing academics(Yapp)put up against,right-wing capitalists(the Petrefacts),throw in a sex toy factory a bunch of country bumpkins,and dwarves and this is what you get. Like I said total hilarious mayhem.

Funny without doubt
This book is funny - if you can stand grown-up humor and aren't one of those sexophobic weirdos. And besides being hillariously funny (had to laugh out loud just thinking about it), it is very highly intelligent,massively satiric, thrilling and thoroughly British. Not too intellectual,but not for dimwits either. If you don't like this book you are probablydead. ... Read more

Product Description
First meet young Lockhart Flawse from Flawse Hall on Flawse Fell. Then hear his story of gassing, whipping, blowing up, killing and stuffing - in fact, the everyday tale of a wild child of nature plunged into the genteel mock-Tudor world of surburban Surrey. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

One Third Extra Hound per Pound
Tom Sharpe was born in London in 1928. He is perhaps best known for "Porterhouse Blue" and his Wilt series, both of which have been adapted for television. "The Throwback" is one of his standalone novels.

Lockhart Flawse has had a rather unusual upbringing. He was born in September 1956, in the shadow of a stone wall after his mother was thrown from her horse. Although he came through the labour alive - though, thanks to a patch of nettles, not entirely unscathed - his mother unfortunately didn't. This upset his grandfather, Edwin, somewhat - more so that she wasn't married and had steadfastly refused to name the boy's father. Lockhart was raised and educated entirely on his grandfather's estate. However, the lack of a birth certificate meant he didn't officially exist - his grandfather says he'll only register him when he knows who the father is. The education he received ensured he was an expert shot with excellent mental arithmetic and a high degree of fluency in Urdu, he knows somewhat less about human reproduction than his mother did.

Flawse the Elder is not an admirable character - it's entirely possible he was a close relation of Monty Burns. (He suffers from a nagging suspicion that he might be the Lockhart's father, as well as his grandfather - he's not entirely certain than a drunken encounter with the housekeeper wasn't a drunken encounter with someone else entirely). Unsurprisingly, he suffers from an acute superiority complex, enjoys hunting, fishing and shooting and - although he acknowledges that sex necessary for procreation - also takes the view that it's generally disgusting. However, when it comes to sex, he'll grasp every available opportunity to be disgusted.

Although Lockhart has had a very sheltered life, things change dramatically when he and his grandfather take a cruise. On-board, they meet the stunningly beautiful Jessica Sandicott and her widowed mother - naturally, the young couple fall head over heels in love and are swiftly married by the ship's captain. (This happens not only with the approval of their aged relatives, but practically at the insistence - they're both desperate to get rid of their dependents). However, as part of the negotiations, Edwin and Jessica's mother also wind up married. Mrs Sandicott is delighted, believing her new husband to be not only exceptionally rich, but also close to death. Unfortunately, it hasn't crossed her mind that she might be marrying someone at least as devious as she is : Edwin knows exactly what she is up to, and views her only as a housekeeper who will never need paying. On their return to England, the games the older pair play have all sorts of implications for the younger pair...and things turn a little dangerous when Edwin draws up his will. Luckily for the young couple, Lockhart proves to be every bit as devious as his grandfather. He can also rely on the help of Dodds, the gamekeeper at Flawse Hall, and two of his grandfather's old acquaintances:Dr Magrew and Mr Bullstrode, his solicitor.

A fast moving and occasionally daft book, though certainly funny and a very enjoyable read.

The funniest book ever
This book is probably the funniest piece of writing I've ever encountered.I literally laughed so hard I cried the first time I read it.Sharpe is a terrific writer of black comedy, and in my opinion (having read all his books) this is his best work.You will NOT be sorry with this purchase!

Perhaps the funniest book I have ever read.
The base premise is really simple.Guy inherits a street of houses, but they are on long leases at low rent.The only way he can earn a living is to get the residents to leave.

So he engages on a meticulously planned campaign of side-splitting terror.The methods employed to rid himself of his reluctant residents are gruesome, medieval but oh so funny.

This is Tom Sharpe at his riproaring best.

The Throwback by Tom Sharpe
This is the hilariously funny saga of a young man who has no official existence, and who is totally naive concerning the facts of life.About other things he has a good grasp of the way they work, and when he settles down with his new bride, and his new bride's mother settles down with her new husband, things start to pop.It is difficult to say more without spoiling the plot, but suffice it to say that the plot, like the contents of the Dutch Cap, will keep, and you will be in stitches, unlike the Colonel's
Scarlet Lady.

This is not a book to take to read on an airplane.It is so uproarously funny that you might well find the flight diverted and escorted to the ground by fighters, and you packed off for observation.You have been warned.

slapstick yet morbid comedy; not for the squeamish
The Throwback is my second Tom Sharpe novel (..the first being Wilt).So I was expected a non-stop barrage of comic (and absurd) scenes.Or rather, pure comedy thinly wrapped into what can loosely be called a novel.I was not disappointed.

The story, such as it is, concerns the travails of backwater yokels living in an obscure corner of northern England.The patriarch of a large estate is nearing death, and must decide on what to do about his will.His only surviving relative is a bastard grandson with unknown parentage.So he his will mandates his grandson needs to discover who his father is before inheriting money.

Ah, but there are complications.His grandson is a backward, bizarre young man who marries an extremely naive young woman from Surrey.Her mother has eyes on marrying the old patriach to get her hands on the loot.And so on.The story then spins into endless comic, sometimes very darkly comic, scenes.

My only complaint with The Throwback is, I suppose, its overall theme.In Wilt the leading character was a hapless middle-aged man who somehow gets into a world of (humorous) trouble.Much of the humour was also satiric.But in The Throwback it is the innocent people associated with the patriarch's grandson (and wife) who are cruelly victimised.Yes, it is very funny.But I couldn't help but feeling guilty about it all.

Bottom line: black, slapstick comedy in superior form.Not quite as enjoyable as Wilt, but Tom Sharpe certainly knows how to entertain his readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A perl of English comedy
Another great example of Tom Sharpe's mockery of the Old Albion's old ways.As long as there are senile boarding school teachers and overzealous moron students getting paired up - a great comedic adventure is guaranteed.

Below par slapstick. Pointless.
I hadn't read a Tom Sharpe book in maybe ten years, but what I remember were absurd but still gruesomely funny, bawdy adventures in the world of slapstick (the episode in The Throwback with the prophylactic, the oven cleaner and the cheese grater remains one of the funniest things I've ever read).

Well, I stumbled upon Vintage Stuff in an charity shop the other day and thought I'd give it a go for old times' sake.

I wish I hadn't bothered. Tom Sharpe's literary star has waned of late (having reached its zenith in the early Eighties), and reading this book it isn't hard to see why.

The thing about slapstick - and Sharpe should know this, as he's a (past) master at it - is to exaggerate and caricature; extrapolate and inflate, but never so as to totally break the bounds of credibility. There need to be scenes and situations which any of us might find ourselves in, and only the unusual confluence of all of them at once suggests this could never really happen in real life.

In Vintage Stuff, this simply isn't the case. Even the premise is ridiculous, and the decisions, behaviour and reactions of all the characters are plainly silly, without ever hinting at being funny. Sharpe's writing style, usually so light, is leaden; the dialogue isn't credible and the denouement is both unpleasant and anticlimactic. You may spy also a rather spiteful, laboured, resentment of the public school system.

This has all the hallmarks of an empty barrel being scraped. Avoid.

Another great book by Tom Sharpe
This book was almost as good as Wilt, Blott and The Great Pursuit.It was a bit slow in the beginning and the ending was a bit premature. Otherwise it was very funny.Definitely recommended.

Excellent example of the author's work
I have read all of Tom Sharpe's books and Vintage Stuff is one of hisbest. The comic style in which he normally handles language, plot andcharacters is probably at its best in this book. The book lends heavily onthe English public school system (as do some of his other books). The plotconcerns the adventures of a school master and one of his students as theyare induced on a crazy journey through England and France - all due to theschemes of another school master seeking revenge. Like all Sharpe's books,the journey is the reward as most endings tend to be a littleanti-climactic. This is mainly due to the fast pace of the work, both inplot and language. If you like a well-written comic adventure, you can't gowrong with this book.

Extremely Funny
Would make a good motion picture. American readers will lose a littlebecause of occasional use of British expressions. ... Read more

Product Description
The hilarious new novel from bestselling author Tom Sharpe.

It is one of the more surprising facts about old England that one can still find families living in the same houses their ancestors built centuries before and on land that has belonged to them since before the Norman Conquest. The Gropes of Grope Hall are one such family.

A brilliantly funny novel about what happens when the women take charge. The Gropes are an old English family based in Northumberland, separated from the rest of society and as eccentric as they come. It is a line dominated by strong-willed and oversexed women, determined to produce more female heirs regardless of whether their desired partners are willing or not.

At the dawn of the new millennium, tired and gormless teenager Esmond is abducted and lured to Grope Hall by a descendant of the Gropes. Young Esmond is powerless to escape, and his kidnap sets in motion a stream of farcical events that will have readers laughing out loud.

Tom Sharpe’s trademark humour abounds in this new novel, marking him out once again as an outstanding storyteller.


From the Trade Paperback edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Tom Sharpe - The Gropes
Far from his best work, Tom Sharpe's original style still shines through in his latest effort.The author is still strongly capable of carrying his intricately developed characters through a series of incredibly unpredictable events which present an entertaining and humorous story to the reader.As in his other recent works of the past decade, Sharpe commits the error of allowing his own political views to enter the published pages through short quips and cracks directed at real life events and government leaders.In each case, these unnecessary lines add absolutely nothing of value to the tale and ultimately serve only to weaken the story and wound those fans who have faithfully followed Tom Sharpe's incredible career for decades.

The last ha-ha?
Reviewer Neil Lucock in the UK hit the nail on the head in his accurate review. Sadly, in a single word, The Gropes is 'amateurish.' It reads like a sixteen-year old's version of Sharpe and, indeed, it may well be that the admirable Mr Sharpe - who is now 82 years young and not in the best of health if the dedication is any clue - has entered his second childhood. I would write more specifically on the novel but it's all been well said on the amazon.co.uk site. Check it out.

So why did I part with nine quid, even after reading the negative reviews on the Amazon UK site? Partly because the hardcover was on sale for a 50% discount, but mostly out of a sense of nostalgia or respect for a man whose books once had the ability to make me hurt with laughter - often in public. So it appears that I am just a sentimental old fool. I can think of worse fates. The Gropes left me with a profound melancholy which is a first for a Tom Sharpe novel! But it made me reflect on the life of a man who has entertained millions, and influenced more than a few of us wannabes. For that, I'd have spent the whole eighteen quid had it been necessary.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Riotous Assembly - in German
Most regretfully, it's not the new book by Tom Sharpe. It's "Riotous Assembly" in German. "Grantchester Grind" in German translation became "Bloody Mary"- don't get confusedBloody Mary.. And Tom Sharpe doesn't need any introduction. Great writer ... Read more

Product Description
The second novel about Henry Wilt chronicling the problems he encounters as head of the Fenland Technical College. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Hysterical!
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!

Not up to his usual par
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 theprotagonist an unlikeable jerk.I had no empathy for him whatsoever.Thebook had a contrived setup for the main plot device (the hostagesituation), which took up half the book.The foreign student was poorlydeveloped and her mid-narrative personality shift was quite hard toswallow.The only saving grace in the book was Wilt's wife, who has aforce of character that stole the show.She should have been theprotagonist.For your own sake, read this only if you're a Sharpe fanatic.

Swiftian outrageous satire of English College Prof; A+!
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 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Great book made into a great mini-series
Sir Giles Lynchwood, Conservative MP, schemes to have a motorway extend over his houses. He never liked the house and is in a position to earn quite a bit from the transaction. His wife who married him with the promise of children to keep the house and the estate going. The handyman, Lott an East German refugee, fortifies the gatehouse to repel the construction crew. It is much more complex with subplots. Everyone has their own agenda and watch out for the lions.

Be sure to watch the mini-series also.
Many videos do not live up to the expectations of the book. This one may even surpass the book. All of the characters fit and all the irony hits you in the face. This was my first encounter with David Suchet (Blott). And you will recognize all the other major players including Geraldine James (Lady Maud Lynchwood).

Aside from his excellent performance on the audiotape version of the book; David Suchet is Blott in the mini-series. This tape is easy enough to follow that you can use it in the car. When following the book you can get a different perspective than the TV series offers. The TV series is now on DVD. I know Tom Sharpe's comedy is similar to other British comedies; however I really identify with the people that he describes. The people are similar in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy". Come to think of it the plot is similar in a domestic sort of way.

Blott on the Landscape Starring: David Suchet, Geraldine James

Great book made into a great mini-series
Sir Giles Lynchwood, Conservative MP, schemes to have a motorway extend over his houses. He never liked the house and is in a position to earn quite a bit from the transaction. His wife who married him with the promise of children to keep the house and the estate going. The handyman, Lott an East German refugee, fortifies the gatehouse to repel the construction crew. It is much more complex with subplots. Everyone has their own agenda and watch out for the lions.

Be sure to watch the mini-series also.
Many videos do not live up to the expectations of the book. This one may even surpass the book. All of the characters fit and all the irony hits you in the face. This was my first encounter with David Suchet (Blott). And you will recognize all the other major players including Geraldine James (Lady Maud Lynchwood).

Aside from his excellent performance on the audiotape version of the book; David Suchet is Blott in the mini-series. This tape is easy enough to follow that you can use it in the car. When following the book you can get a different perspective than the TV series offers. The TV series is now on DVD. I know Tom Sharpe's comedy is similar to other British comedies; however I really identify with the people that he describes. The people are similar in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy". Come to think of it, the plot is similar in a domestic sort of way.

Blott on the Landscape 2-DVD Set [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2&4 Import - Great Britain ]

Great book made into a great mini-series
Sir Giles Lynchwood, Conservative MP, schemes to have a motorway extend over his houses. He never liked the house and is in a position to earn quite a bit from the transaction. His wife who married him with the promise of children to keep the house and the estate going. The handyman, Lott an East German refugee, fortifies the gatehouse to repel the construction crew. It is much more complex with subplots. Everyone has their own agenda and watch out for the lions.

Be sure to watch the mini-series also.
Many videos do not live up to the expectations of the book. This one may even surpass the book. All of the characters fit and all the irony hits you in the face. This was my first encounter with David Suchet (Blott). And you will recognize all the other major players including Geraldine James (Lady Maud Lynchwood).

Aside from his excellent performance on the audiotape version of the book; David Suchet is Blott in the mini-series. This tape is easy enough to follow that you can use it in the car. When following the book you can get a different perspective than the TV series offers. The TV series is now on DVD. I know Tom Sharpe's comedy is similar to other British comedies; however I really identify with the people that he describes. The people are similar in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy". Come to think of it, the plot is similar in a domestic sort of way.

Blott on the Landscape 2-DVD Set [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2&4 Import - Great Britain ]

Simply Hilarious
No, no.
Yes, yes.
This sheds new light on the meaning of Whip. It's so degrading.

Great book made into a great mini-series
Sir Giles Lynchwood, Conservative MP, schemes to have a motorway extend over his houses. He never liked the house and is in a position to earn quite a bit from the transaction. His wife who married him with the promise of children to keep the house and the estate going. The handyman, Lott an East German refugee, fortifies the gatehouse to repel the construction crew. It is much more complex with subplots. Everyone has their own agenda and watch out for the lions.

Be sure to watch the mini-series also.
Many videos do not live up to the expectations of the book. This one may even surpass the book. All of the characters fit and all the irony hits you in the face. This was my first encounter with David Suchet (Blott). And you will recognize all the other major players including Geraldine James (Lady Maud Lynchwood).

Aside from his excellent performance on the audiotape version of the book; David Suchet is Blott in the mini-series. This tape is easy enough to follow that you can use it in the car. When following the book you can get a different perspective than the TV series offers. The TV series is now on DVD. I know Tom Sharpe's comedy is similar to other British comedies; however I really identify with the people that he describes. The people are similar in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy". Come to think of it, the plot is similar in a domestic sort of way.

Blott on the Landscape 2-DVD Set [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2&4 Import - Great Britain ]
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Bloody Mary
Why is this book published in German only ?

It is not clear when you purchase online that it is not in English. No use to me bucko ... Read more

Product Description
When Timothy Bright's stockbroking career goes wrong he turns to gambling to regain his financial losses. Gaining more debts, Timothy is persuaded into a touch of villainy where an encounter with an Australian substance known as Toad precipitates Timothy into the bed of a Chief Constable's wife. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

grasping at straws
As an ex brit who was raised in a british boarding school in the 50's and who is painfully familiar with the foibles, follies and general demented attitudes of the british upper classes,i found this novel to be extraordinarily dull. There are traces of Sharpe in it,but i feel Sharpe has succumbed to what i gratutiously call the "Hollywood" syndrome. Find something which appeals to the masses, then flog it to death. This book is really nothing more than nastiness without a real purpose to it; money and sales seem to be the motive behind it. The constant emphasis on lesbianism and sexual escapism (and i am not a prude) are simply crude and unamusing. Shame on you Mr Sharpe for descending from brilliance into mediocrity.

Save your money
I've long been a Tom Sharpe fan, but "The Midden" just doesn't live up to his previous books. Three specific criticisms:

(1) it's just not very funny. Sure, there are occasional amusing passages, but nothing that gives rise to the uncontrollable laughter we've come to expect from Sharpe.

(2) a lot of the writing is gratitously nasty. Sharpe's writing has always been 'edgy', and that's okay ... but here he includes long irrelevant passages, filled with unnecessarily coarse language. The personal attacks on Margaret Thatcher and John Major strike an unpleasant note, too.

(3) much of the book reads like a badly done pastiche of "Blott on the Landscape" and "Riotous Assembly".

Not his best,but still hilarious.
Tom Sharpe is an absolute madman. The Midden is another example of that. Timothy Bright is in his late twenties. Finicial advisor with nothing but a bright future. Then it all goes into disarray when his advice just fails. Totally in debt,Timothyhooks up with the mob,robs his Aunt,and has to frame one of the top judges or else the mob turns him into "piggy chops".

Timothy sets out on his mission,shacks up with his Uncle for a bit before moving on. Tired of Timothy leaching and stealing his tobacco,the Uncle decides to slip some "toad" into the tobacco which Tim has been smoking. Toad is some kind of hallucinogeticthat sends Timothy off on his scooter naked at 140 mph. Timothy finds a houseboat,finds a way in and hops into the bed. Unknowingly the house boat belongs to the Chief Constable and the bed is also occupied by the chiefs wife. The chief beats the heck out of Tim and chucks him in the basement. Trying to figure away to dispose of the intruder without causing any seen of finding a naked man in bed with his wife he decides to dump him off at the hated Middens mansion.

It was insane up to this point,then it just gets off the hook. The chief in his worries of getting pinned in dumping the the naked boy,decides he will frame the Middens with acts of child abuse. From here we get bumbling policemen acting like sheep to get closer to the mansion,an old geezer remembering his buffalo hunting days trying to shoot the cops. A church group on a retreat and on and on,and when it all comes down all heck breaks loose.Absolute chaos and hilarity. A must read for Sharpe fans.

Such a plot !
An amazing history, just like Sharpe is able to make them. As a respectable English humour writer, he throws his characters in incredible situations, and mostly what can happen worse... just happens, with an almost mathematical regularity. I just like such "complicated", incredible stories.

Disapponting, not in the same league as"Indecent Exposure"
I was thrilled to find a new Tom Sharpe when looking through the shelves at the airport. Just what I needed for a week on the beach in Fiji. Sadly though it stuttered and fired here and there but never really lived up tohis earlier classics. Characters of interest were developed and thendisappeared leaving many questions unanswered. It was a shame that Ifinished this book so quickly then left Captain Carelli's Mandolin on theplane unfinished. I will just have to buy it again. ... Read more

Product Description
A humourous novel in which a further series of mishaps await Henry Wilt at Fenland Technical College. Things soon get out of hand when he is suspected of drug dealing and his wife decides to perk up his home brew with herbal stimulants. From the author of GRANTCHESTER GRIND and WILT. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Clear mind in the swinish world
Tom Sharpe is one of the very few writers who can write and have something to say - apart from desperate attempts to entertain bored readers. This is an acerbic, vitriolic and cynical portrait of our rotten world written without any limits, restrictions etc. The best satire I've ever read in my life, and a universal one - it applies to any society or any country. As scary as Orwell. But hilarious. A true writer of rare and great talent.

This is the funniest book that's ever been written in the English language
Didn't you hear me the first time?

This is the funniest book that's ever been written in the English language.

It helps to know that the "Quads" are the perpetrator's quadruplets, but other than that single pause, I laughed my head off.I read the thing on a flight from London the New York, and twice the flight attendant thought I was having an epileptic fit.I could not speak the second time, and I just held up the book, and she seemed to immediately understand.

This is the book they killed the Germans with in Month Python.

You've been warned.

Ears Better Than Eyes
Alas, too few of Sharpe's novels are available in an audio version.This one is, in full-length, and is capable of sending you off the road many times, if listening, as I did, on a long car trip.I have all of Sharpe's novels, and have concluded that he is an acquired taste. Too bad the BBC TV hasn't seen fit to do more of them.

Not Sharpe's best, but very good
It might be (and has been) said, with some justice, that this novel is one of Sharpe's crueler and more mean-spirited efforts.Well, at least Wilt is not plotting to murder his wife in this one!I'll grant that there's a hard, bitter edge to the book (especially in the treatment of the Satanic quadruplets), but nevertheless I thought it was very funny, and Sharpe's sense for the absurd is on target as usual.I burst out laughing at least half a dozen times while reading it.It's a rare book that can get any outburst from me other than, "What a pile of *!%@", so clearly I enjoyed it.I haven't read any of the other Wilt novels, and now I plan to get them all.

I've read "Porterhouse Blue", "Riotous Assembly", and "Blott on the Landscape" by Sharpe, and I give them all the thumbs up.

If you like wickedly black satire that isn't afraid to plunge into the gutter in its efforts to mock our gutter society, then you'll like this book.

Brian Evans - Abu Dhabi
This book suprised me because I did not find it at all funny and this is a first for this author. The usual dark humor and madness was mostly of a cruel bland content. The quadruplet daughters lacked depth of character to be believed in their antics. The humour is just not up to the previous standard which make me wounder who is acutally writing this book. The first book 'Wilt' was really 'Funny' but sadly this sequel falls a long way short.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Good for a chuckle
I enjoyed this book. The concept is reasonably understandable, a uk publicist has a sure fire winning manuscript, who's author who wants anonimity, so installs in the authors place a writer who's willing to pretend to be the original writer so as to premote the book for the sales pitch to the USA. Sounds simple? No chance!

Having already agreed, the surrogate author finds the book is not at all to his taste, and throws a wobbly!! The ensuing chaos is all you'd expect of a Tom Sharpe book, ranging from vast amounts of expletives, through to dialogue thats sharp, witty, and occasionally leaves you grasping for the dictionary. Its not Porterhouse Blue standards... but its still well worth a read.

Really good, but not his best
Tom Sharpe's one of the great British comic novelists of the last fifty years, if not the best.I've read his books, seen TV versions, and always with the same result.Raucous, bawdy, and,at times, bitingly satirical tales.This is another of the same.

I'm reviewing the UK 1977 Pan Books edition.

The novel falls short in the hastily fabricated ending, and I see I'm not alone to think so.Was Sharpe's own Great Pursuit to finish in a predetermined number of words?The story rushes to an end through the last couple of chapters.

I think Brits would appreciate the humor more than anyone else, because it fits a comic tradition that's British more than it is American.Nobody I know hereabouts has read any of his novels.Their loss.

It was a minor niggle, and odd, that Sharpe's research for the US scenes was lacking, with things such as misspelled place names (e.g. Ashville, NC) and huge errors in distance between Bangor and Tuscaloosa (2000 miles?). Maybe I'm being picky, but for me the little mistakes take away from the enjoyment. I haven't noticed those kinds of things in the other novels I've read, such as Porterhouse Blue, the Wilts, Blott, etc.

But it's still a damn good read. I've re-read it a few times, and will do again.I'd recommend it, but not for a first Sharpe experience.Try Blott or Wilt first.

Four stars instead of five, due only to the rushed ending and the niggles.

Sharpeomaniac
All I have to say is that while reading a Tom Sharpe book in the subway you'll probably end up missing your stop.Accidentally because you are so engrossed, or purposely because you don't want to put the book down. Watch out, you might end up in an area you don't want to visit!!

Just as good as his other books
This was the first Tom Sharpe's book I read.It was so funny!I loved it so much - I had to buy his other books.This one is definitely one of my favorites.

Restrained, for sharpe
The story of a publisher, Frensic, who convinces an unimaginative would-be author, Peter Piper, to pretend authorship of a wildly successful, pornographic novel.It's a funny book, though not riotously so: more wittyand arch, or getting its humor by deflating stereotypes.Its plot isdevious and twisted, but though there's sex and a riot and some explosions,it seems restrained compared to other Sharpe books.I must say I don'tcare much for the abrupt, highly unsatisfying ending.Start reading Sharpewith Wilt or Blott. ... Read more