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4.0 out of 5 stars
slapstick yet morbid comedy; not for the squeamish, Sep 14 2001
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.
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by Tom Sharpe
by Tom Sharpe
by Tom Sharpe
by Tom Sharpe
by Tom Sharpe
