Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
Having just diagnosed himself with every illness in his medical textbook, and feeling generally run down by the grind of the city, the narrator of Three Men in a Boat convinceshis friends, George and Harris, to take a boat ride up the Thames. In agreement that this is just what they all need, they make a list of the essential things to bring – three rugs, a lamp, two flannel suits and plenty of socks (to say nothing of the narrator’s dog Montmorency) – and set off.
As they travel, they digress into memories of all sorts of absurdist situations from their past, dotting the narrative with a series of amusing vignettes. My favourite of these is the narrator’s recollection of carting around a couple of ripe cheeses with a ‘two-hundred horsepower scent’, which he later buries at the beach when he decides they’re too strong, causing that particular seaside town to gain a reputation as a place where ‘weak-chested’ people travel for the strong air.
An extra layer of interest Jerome brings to the story is how he intersperses titbits of British history into the narrative like which bars Queen Bess used to drink at; or how one of the ancient Celtic leaders planted stakes in the river to keep Caesar from crossing it; and how Caesar’s decision to cross it anyway is exactly the kind of gumption the three friends need against the private landowners, who put up notice- boards to keep people from sailing along their portions of the Thames.
I thoroughly enjoyed this ridiculous romp of a story; my only regret is I didn’t find it last year, as its simple escapism would have been a welcome change from lockdown. It was written in 1889, so it has much of the droll wit of other writers of the time, such as Oscar Wilde and J.M. Barrie. While it’s always been published as a book for adults, I imagine this would appeal to any readers of the Victorian classics, adults and children alike.
