Book Review: Diary of a Nobody by G and W Grossmith
March 16, 2009 9:00 am Review, What to Read
Why I chose it
This book is listed on the 1001 books you must read before you die. I have a strange obsession with the list, and can’t pass up a bookring (Q57) when it comes my way.
The Buzz
On of the great English comic novels, Diary of a Nobody bridges the world of Dickens to that of Waugh and Wodehouse… The masterstroke of the novel is the ironic distance between Pooter’s sense of himself and the world, and his dim recognition that matters might be otherwise.
1001 Books:
What I reckon
This is a curious fictitious diary of a bumbling man in England in the 1890s. He works hard at fitting into his place in society, and is perpetually embarrassed by his son and friends, who are , basically, bounders. The only “normal” person in his life is is wife, who he perpetually undervalues. I got the impression she spends a bit of time laughing at him.
This book was enjoyable, but it was odd to relate to such an overlooked man, in a strange cultural context. I imagine a modern version of this might appear as a literary version of Kath and Kim. If I understood the culture well, it might have been hilarious.
The fact that this book is on the 1001 list makes me think it was probably one to the first novels in this style - where the protagonist is the butt of the jokes, not least his ridiculous puns. Very readable, but not a book that I would press on anyone else.
The copy I read is registered with bookcrossing. It was part of a bookray, and has travelled on to visit another reader.
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November 16th, 2008 at 12:49 am
It does sound interesting. Similar to Lord of the Flies at all?
And I have tagged you for a book meme (if you have time or inclination).
November 18th, 2008 at 10:07 am
@dragonfly: I haven’t read the Lord of the Flies in ages, if I ever have. But I think it is different, based on my memory of the film. This is not a book about how people regress to their base instincts, unless you count the perspective that hippies sometimes “use” the priniciples of free love to get sex. Different scale, and a slightly different perspective.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Cool. Less horribleness is good! (Lord of the Flies is a great book, as is We Need to Talk About Kevin, but not exactly books you would read choose to read when feeling down….)