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Publisher's Weekly
Eight droll stories--linked only in that they may or may not have happened to Durrell--told with the cleverness and wit of an accomplished after-dinner raconteur.
Library Journal
In these eight stories, which feature the author himself, naturalist Durrell contrasts human and animal behavior. The entire collection is prefaced by an epigram from Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary : ''Bride--a woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her.'' The reader soon finds the same prospect, for the epigram's minimal relevance indicates the problem: Durrell does not seem to know when he has made his point. The title story shows how the author's widowed mother cleverly stops her meddlesome children from trying to get her remarried. ''Retirement'' aims for profundity with the sudden death of a retiring sea captain but becomes silly. ''The Jury,'' about a hangman in Paraguay haunted by his victims, has potential but grows tired and predictable. There are many wonderfully descriptive passages and images, but they ramble. A valiant effort drowned by purple prose. Not recommended.--Kenneth Mintz, Hoboken P.L., N.J.
Genre: General Fiction
Eight droll stories--linked only in that they may or may not have happened to Durrell--told with the cleverness and wit of an accomplished after-dinner raconteur.
Library Journal
In these eight stories, which feature the author himself, naturalist Durrell contrasts human and animal behavior. The entire collection is prefaced by an epigram from Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary : ''Bride--a woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her.'' The reader soon finds the same prospect, for the epigram's minimal relevance indicates the problem: Durrell does not seem to know when he has made his point. The title story shows how the author's widowed mother cleverly stops her meddlesome children from trying to get her remarried. ''Retirement'' aims for profundity with the sudden death of a retiring sea captain but becomes silly. ''The Jury,'' about a hangman in Paraguay haunted by his victims, has potential but grows tired and predictable. There are many wonderfully descriptive passages and images, but they ramble. A valiant effort drowned by purple prose. Not recommended.--Kenneth Mintz, Hoboken P.L., N.J.
Genre: General Fiction
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