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    Three Men in a Boat: (To Say Nothing of the Dog)
    Three Men in a Boat: (To Say Nothing of the Dog)
    Three Men in a Boat: (To Say Nothing of the Dog)
    Ebook257 pages4 hours

    Three Men in a Boat: (To Say Nothing of the Dog)

    By Jerome K Jerome

    4/5

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    George, William, and J. agree on one thing. They're overworked and need a rest. A week on "the rolling deep" — they decide — may be just the thing! So off they go with Montmorency, the dog, anticipating the joys of long, lazy days during a glorious Victorian summer. What happens to these bungling bachelors on a two-week rowing excursion up the Thames provides fodder for one of the best-known classics of English humor.
    Jerome's timeless comedy follows the trio's misadventures as they struggle with camping equipment and meal preparation, confront rampant hypochondria and unreliable weather, and contend with other disasters — all of which trumpet simple truths that still resonate today.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateMar 5, 2012
    ISBN9780486115283
    Author

    Jerome K Jerome

    Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) was an English writer who grew up in a poverty-stricken family. After multiple bad investments and the untimely deaths of both parents, the clan struggled to make ends meet. The young Jerome was forced to drop out of school and work to support himself. During his downtime, he enjoyed the theatre and joined a local repertory troupe. He branched out and began writing essays, satires and many short stories. One of his earliest successes was Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886) but his most famous work is Three Men in a Boat (1889).

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    Reviews for Three Men in a Boat

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    • 5/5
      Timeless humor. Very easy to read.
    • 4/5
      This is a gentle, fitfully humorous book about three men and a dog taking a boat trip up the Thames from London (and back). It is full of humorous digressions, a couple of which will make you chuckle a bit. Mostly, however, these episodes just serve to show that human nature hasn't changed since 1889 when this was written. There are also poetic passages extolling the landscape as well as factual passages about particular places. I found myself turning to the Internet again and again to look things up--and it doesn't appear much has changed. You could, in fact, still use this as a travel guide for such a journey. And despite the mishaps portrayed, you'll want to go.
    • 3/5
      Light, amusing and occasionally brilliantly written (I'm a sucker for alliteration). Full of digressions, each of which is just about precisely the right length. > I do think that, of all the silly, irritating tomfoolishness by which we are plagued, this “weather-forecast” fraud is about the most aggravating. It “forecasts” precisely what happened yesterday or a the day before, and precisely the opposite of what is going to happen today. … But who wants to be foretold the weather? It is bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand.> We had just commenced the third course—the bread and jam—when a gentleman in shirtsleeves and a short pipe came along, and wanted to know if we knew that we were trespassing. We said we hadn’t given the matter sufficient consideration as yet to enable us to arrive at a definite conclusion on that point, but that, if he assured us on his word as a gentleman that we were trespassing, we would, without further hesitation, believe it. He gave us the required assurance, and we thanked him, but he still hung about, and seemed to be dissatisfied, so we asked him if there was anything further that we could do for him; and Harris, who is of a chummy disposition, offered him a bit of bread and jam.…> It always does seem to me that I am doing more work than I should do. It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart. You cannot give me too much work; to accumulate work has almost become a passion with me: my study is so full of it now, that there is hardly an inch of room for any more. I shall have to throw out a wing soon. And I am careful of my work, too. Why, some of the work that I have by me now has been in my possession for years and years, and there isn’t a fingermark on it.> The river—with the sunlight flashing from its dancing wavelets, gilding gold the grey-green beech-trunks, glinting through the dark, cool wood paths, chasing shadows o’er the shallows, flinging diamonds from the mill-wheels, throwing kisses to the lilies, wantoning with the weirs’ white waters, silvering moss-grown walls and bridges, brightening every tiny townlet, making sweet each lane and meadow, lying tangled in the rushes, peeping, laughing, from each inlet, gleaming gay on many a far sail, making soft the air with glory—is a golden fairy stream.> But the river—chill and weary, with the ceaseless raindrops falling on its brown and sluggish waters, with a sound as of a woman, weeping low in some dark chamber; while the woods, all dark and silent, shrouded in their mists of vapour, stand like ghosts upon the margin; silent ghosts with eyes reproachful, like the ghosts of evil actions, like the ghosts of friends neglected—is a spirit-haunted water through the land of vain regrets.
    • 4/5
      There are loads of reviews on this work, so this is only to say, I loved this book. It is one I will be seeking in hardcover so that I may read it again. I had the ebook version, and although the story was still wonderful, the illustrations were tiny. I need to hold this book, flip the pages back and forth, reread passages, underline some of them and make notes in the margins. I want to have a relationship with it and I can't do that with an ebook. There are not many books I feel that way about.This one had me laughing out-loud frequently. Not hysterical laughing, but amused laughing. Much of it felt modern, but certain passages made the reader aware of the times the book was written in. I took my time reading this, because I wanted to appreciate it. It is farce, comedy, poetic, philosophical, and retrospective. Good, clean fun. The only thing which could make it better for me, is if I had been on a boating trip on the Thames, but the author describes it in such a way, that I feel I have been.
    • 4/5
      The classic tale of three young men who decide to take a respite from their lives and spend two weeks rowing up the river Thames.I knew this was a comic novel but I wasn't quite prepared for just how often this book would have me laughing out loud. The many asides our narrator gives on his previous boating experiences, the locales that surround him, and the adventures that he and his two friends as well as his dog get up to had me giggling loudly both at home and in public. Probably best read if you've had some other experience with Victorian literature but highly recommended if you haven't picked this one up already.
    • 4/5
      Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) recounts a two-week boating holiday on the Thames from Kingston to Oxford and back again. The story focuses on George, Harris, Jerome, and Jerome’s dog, Montmorency, as they plan the trip and recount past stories in the course of their adventures. Jerome humorously muses on the nature of cheese, the habit of visiting tombs in picturesque villages, historical Thames islands like Magna Charta Island, their visitors such as Kings John and Henry VIII, the nature of Victorian-era flirting, the relationships of dogs, the methods of rowing, fish stories, and more. Though some of the situations Jerome describes are uniquely nineteenth-century, the wit of his writing will entertain readers over a hundred years later. This Folio Society edition reprints the original 1889 text with illustrations from Paul Cox that capture the humor of Jerome’s text.
    • 3/5
      Mild fun up the Thames. This book was originally commissioned as a travelogue but it does seem to have hung on remarkably well. It takes about two hours to read, but it is best taken in small bites. It was originally copyright in 1889.
    • 5/5
      Light funny and entertaining as well as giving you a history lesson as J and friends travel up the thames. I now want to get a fox terrier :-)
    • 5/5
      What a complete little gem this is! A quick read, only 100 pages, but I laughed from beginning to end. I was needing something funny to read, and this quickie really worked. Recommended!
    • 5/5
      Originally produced as a series of magazine articles this book contains some of the finest comic set-pieces ever written. Classic.
    • 4/5
      It's hard to believe that a 130-year-old humorous account of a boating trip on the Thames could be as fresh today as when it was written. But it remains hilarious.The three men are based on the author himself and two real-life friends, and and a totally fictitious dog, Montmorency, who is as much a character as the three men. One of the funniest moments in the book is when the three men decide to make an Irish stew by using pretty much all the food they had on hand. The dog decided to help:"I forget the other ingredients, but I know nothing was wasted; and I remember that, towards the end, Montmorency, who had evinced great interest in the proceedings throughout, strolled away with an earnest and thoughtful air, reappearing, a few minutes afterwards, with a dead water-rat in his mouth, which he evidently wished to present as his contribution to the dinner; whether in a sarcastic spirit, or with a genuine desire to assist, I cannot say."
    • 5/5
      Embarrassingly funny. I had to move to a secluded spot to read this book because people kept asking me what was so funny. I did not identify with the characters but the tale is truthful in a comical way. Good read!
    • 5/5
      That Three Men in a Boat was written in 1889 is absolutely fantastic! It is incredibly readable and modern in their language! It's about three good friends who will make a trip on the Thames by boat. The problem is that they are completely useless in outdoor activities, from unpacking to handle the boat. The story is mixed with the narrator's juicy anecdotes and exaggerations! You laugh right out when you read it!
    • 4/5
      Very funny. Jerome's sense of humor was way ahead of his time; he was a snarky wise-ass long before there was such a thing.
    • 4/5
      This was very funny, sometimes in a laugh out loud way. It probably mostly deserves its high reputation as a comic masterpiece. I was struck by the almost offhand insertion of a random moment of tragedy amidst the otherwise lightweight material when they discover in the river a suicide's body, that of a young woman who gave birth out of wedlock and was rejected by her family and friends in consequence.
    • 4/5
      A funny, touching and enjoyable trip on the River Thames. Enjoyable with company that comes along and side trips the characters take you through.
    • 3/5
      A Victorian era collection of anecdotes about three impractical friends who decide a two-week boating holiday up the River Thames would be perfectly sublime. Little do these hypochondriacs suffering from 'overwork' take note of the practicalities involved. Along with fox-terrier Montmorency they wrestle with ropes, inclement weather, lack of a tin opener and other mishaps in this classic comedy. Fabulous to know that they were just as mad in 1889 as we are today!
    • 2/5
      Some humorous insights into people; otherwise, it's quite boring. Favorite Quote: "Some people are under the impression that all that is required to make a good fisherman is the ability to tell lies easily and without blushing. But that is a mistake. Mere bold fabrication is useless. It is in the circumstantial detail, the embellishing touches of probability, the general air of scrupulous - almost of pedantic - veracity, that the experienced angler is seen."
    • 4/5
      In this comic story about three friends on a boating trip up the Thames, Jerome K. Jerome, the narrator and one of the three men in question, weaves in countless anecdotes about his boatmates George and Harris and their various acquaintances, not to mention some very funny details about their misadventures. Apparently, the author had originally intended this book to be a serious travel guide, and while there are some descriptions of the sites and local history along the way, even these passages are usually told with with a good dose of irony, while in some places with quite a lot of lyricism. I found the narrator in this particular recording quite excellent. My only complaint is that I kept wondering why there was not more mention of the dog, and which of his two friends he kept referring to as 'Montmorency' until the very end when I realized they were of course one and the same. Silly me.
    • 1/5
      I found this book dull in the extreme and could not wait for it to finish! I was looking foward to it, having read so many favourable reviews, and being a huge fan of Victorian literature. I did not find it funny at all. It was silly, exaggerated and the both the poetic descriptions and the boating details went straight over my head.
    • 5/5
      Great illustrations that really augment this wonderful funny story.
    • 4/5
      I definite "fight the blues" book. Lots of great British humor. The oddest thing about the book is that--while poking fun at nature writing--JKJ simultaneously writes some beautiful descriptions of nature. Also little odd bits that give the book a quirky personality. Sections on the Magna Carta (!) and on the discovery of a dead body (femaie, fallen woman, deserted by family and friends) don't fit in any traditional way, but they work nonetheless. Perhaps JKJ, while telling us not to take ourselves too seriously, is also telling us not to take ourselves too lightly, either. I recommend this.
    • 4/5
      A delightful book full of very gentle humor from a different age (when it seemed to be possible to be genuinely funny without putting anyone/anything down). The description of the Thames' banks and locks were so delightful that I ended up following the entire trip on Google Maps.
    • 3/5
      A travel writing detailing three men's travels through England. This forms the basis for the anecdotal asides which are oftentimes funny. However, the humor is not sustained and the pattern grows tiresome. Usually there is a brief discussion about travels and then the author will say something like "that reminds me of a time" therein launching into a story. As such, the work reads like loosely bound humorous vignettes without any read tie as many of the asides have little or nothing to do with travel.
    • 4/5
      Jerome transitions from slapstick to sublime and back smoothly and unnoticeably, just like the everyday life tends to do for each of us.
    • 3/5
      After two long, heavy reads, I took a very light digression with Three Men in a Boat. It's a stylish but largely frivolous and frequently slapstick 19th-century travelogue covering about a 50-mile stretch of the River Thames from Kingston to Oxford. I'd call it amusing but by no means hilarious and can't really see how this book acquired its reputation.
    • 3/5
      Three friends decide to spend a fortnight going up the Thames in a skiff - even if it kills them, which it just may do. Their misadventures are humorously recalled in this "travelogue" which has withstood the test of time. There are some laugh-out-loud moments, but it's slow going in places. Made me really sympathize with their struggles to row (or tow) UP stream. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for this very British memoir that was first published in 1889. Glad I finally read it, but I won’t be raving about it.
    • 4/5
      This is a reread of a book I haven't read in a very long time and I found that I still enjoyed it.
      It is only partially about three men in a boat. It's often just an excuse of the author to go off on tangents and tell stories and anecdotes about things that have happened to him, his friends and his relations.
    • 4/5
      Jerome K. Jerome wrote a leisurely chronicle of a summer's boating holiday on the Thames. It was published in 1889 when he was only thirty years old. It was a success as a popular humorous book and has remained in print to this day. While some of the book is pure farce his main approach to humor was understatement and outrageous exaggeration in a style that reminds one of some of Twain's comic writings. He described his technique thus:"Some people are under the impression that all that is required to make a good fisherman is the ability to tell lies easily and without blushing: but this is a mistake. Mere bald fabrication is useless; the veriest tyro can manage that. It is in the circumstantial detail, the embellishing touches of probability, the general air of scrupulous---almost pedantic---veracity, that the experienced angler is seen."His humor relies on the diabolic malice of inanimate objects when they escape from civilization: of the infrangibility of cans when the can opener has been left behind, the ingenuity of an untended rope, the cunning of kettles and leaking kerosene. His narrator is known simply as J. while his companions are Harris and George (though they are somewhat shadowy characters) and of course there is Montmorency, the dog."To look at Montmorency you would imagine that he was an angel sent upon the earth, for some reason withheld from mankind, in the shape of a small fox-terrier. There is a sort of Oh-what-a-wicked-world-this-is-and-how-I-wish-I-could-do-something-to-make-it-better-and -nobler expression about Montmorency that has been known to bring tears into the eyes of pious old ladies and gentlemen."With a convivial narrator and two friends, to say nothing of the dog, this tale of a boat trip is simply one of the funniest and most delightful short books that I have ever read.
    • 4/5
      Since this book was an influence on Connie Willis' fabulous and funny novel, I figured I should read it and see what she was getting at.
      It's a short, comic Victorian novel. The humor is based on the fact that none of the events of the book are of any importance whatsoever, but that the narrator makes every little thing out to be practically an incident from a heroic epic.
      It's very short, and it is funny - but I think it's good that it's short, because I don't think that it could have been sustained much longer.
      (Willis is funnier.)

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    Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome

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