The Miseries of Human Life

by James Beresford, Michelle Lovric

First published in 1806, this hilarious study of the follies and foibles of humankind relates the miseries of human life--such as being compelled by a deaf person, in a large and silent company, to repeat some very inane remark three or four times over, at the highest pitch of your voice. 20,000 first printing.

Genres: Humor, Comedy, History, Nonfiction

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Robert Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't the original book by James Beresford (which ran to two volumes and had more of a story woven around the snippets you will find in this volume) but instead, it's a compilation of all the actual moans and groans you find in the original. This volume was compiled by Michelle Lovric who, rather cheekily I thought, asserts her right to be thought of as the author of this work (or words to that effect).

The moans and miseries themselves are a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them had me laughing out loud, some raised a smile and others had me thinking 'how clever'. All of them are still relevant 200 years after they were written (I suspect that the compiler cherry-picked those out for that purpose).

It was worth reading. It was over in a few hours, there being only 65 pages after all. It's one of those books that is nice to read with a group of like-minded friends so that you can read excerpts and have them all laugh together. The author (JB) would have probably made a spot-on stand-up comedian.

So, yeah - read this if you're a chortler and you have people around you who are similarly endowed. Avoid it if you don't like truncated versions of books. If you're like that - shell out for the original volumes (if you can find them).

[Adam Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extracts of a longer work, this hones in very specifically on the miseries, rather than the frame around them.

As such, the miseries are not earth-shattering terrors and problems but the pinpricks of irritation we all find in life.

I love how they are expressed, neatly and elegantly describing some misery that a reader can easily identify with. Some problems (walking down a narrow alleyway behind a slow fat man) are still with us - and for those that aren’t, the description means it doesn’t take much imagination to see.

As far as a comical moan goes, it’s still pretty funny.

[The Cute Little Brown-haired girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is actually a beautiful little book. Great art and pokes fun and the agony of being alive with quotes and little stories. Given to me from a friend who is married to a man with Paranoid Schizophrenia, it was a lovely birthday present!

[Kathryn Baron · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing trifle of a book. Best read in short doses.

The attached bookmark —a ball & chain— is visually humerous, but purely decorative. The chain is far too thick and round to fill it's purported purpose.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not nearly as much fun as you'd expect.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

considering when it was originally written,
these annoyances really hold up in there
relevance and humor.

[Krzysztof · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's kind of attractive because of the historical background of it, but generally speaking that's a very boring book, written in a language so complex that you have to read each paragraph twice to even understand the basic gist of it. Unless you want to have a peek into how life was 200 years ago and what aspects of it are still here, this is basically a waste of time.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saving this so I can find it easily in the future. The copy we had on hand at the university library I used to work for had a ball-and-chain bookmark. This book is a gem, and I highly recommend it to any purveyors of satire.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

resurrection of a classic look at the grievances and petty annoyances of everyday life in georgian england. it was surprising how many were s applicable 200years later ...