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Rival Monster
The Rival 1367
249 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 15, 2017
A bit of a slog. Not nearly as funny as The Monarch of the Glen, but I stuck with it because it looked like he was setting up an interesting ending. Unfortunately, no.
February 20, 2023
I loved this book.
Already the start is a hilarious invite to read it: the Loch Ness monster is attacked by a flying saucer. Of course, this gives an easy starting point for lots of absurdity. Now, some may say that the book too easily feeds on this comical first idea, and doesn't have more interesting developments as the story goes on. However, I think there is more to it than that.
This is because the book can be seen as not just comedy fiction, but as satire, i.e. telling us something about the real world. Look what happens in the book: some people believe in the monster, some in the alien spaceship, some in both, some in neither. A media hype surges, and people start blaming and accusing each other. And when a monster is spotted near Little Todday, things get worse: investigations, rivalry, accusations, conspiracy theories, and more media hype. This is totally what would happen in the world we live in!
Just look at what happens in the real world of today, whenever something strange, surprising or otherwise interesting pops up in the news. Immediately parties from everywhere take it on, amplify it, politicise it, and invent theories. Wild ideas from one person are picked up by others, taken as real news, and amplified further. Media hypes immediately grow. Different parties use it to blame and shame other parties. Conspiracy theories are made up, and used to gather people for protest groups. Even violence occurs as a result every now and then. And all this while the original news was either nothing at all, or something completely different from what it is made to become.
Of course, you may argue that these things happen so much particularly nowadays, due to the modern media, and Mackenzie, who published this book in 1952, couldn't have known about the internet, Facebook or Twitter. You might thus think the similarity of his described comic situation with modern hypes is a coincidence. However, I don't think these phenomena are completely new. After all, gossip and prejudices, caused by misunderstandings and poor information, have always existed, and have always led to hate, baseless accusations, and occasionally unnecessary violence. The difference with today is that in the old days, the beliefs remained localized, and thrived by inbreeding in local communities, while today they spread in no time across the globe.
It seems to me MacKenzie saw very well what happened in the world around him in the situation of surprising news, and wrote this brilliant satire about it, which remains accurate to this day. I thoroughly enjoyed this revealing picture about a crazy aspect of human society.
Already the start is a hilarious invite to read it: the Loch Ness monster is attacked by a flying saucer. Of course, this gives an easy starting point for lots of absurdity. Now, some may say that the book too easily feeds on this comical first idea, and doesn't have more interesting developments as the story goes on. However, I think there is more to it than that.
This is because the book can be seen as not just comedy fiction, but as satire, i.e. telling us something about the real world. Look what happens in the book: some people believe in the monster, some in the alien spaceship, some in both, some in neither. A media hype surges, and people start blaming and accusing each other. And when a monster is spotted near Little Todday, things get worse: investigations, rivalry, accusations, conspiracy theories, and more media hype. This is totally what would happen in the world we live in!
Just look at what happens in the real world of today, whenever something strange, surprising or otherwise interesting pops up in the news. Immediately parties from everywhere take it on, amplify it, politicise it, and invent theories. Wild ideas from one person are picked up by others, taken as real news, and amplified further. Media hypes immediately grow. Different parties use it to blame and shame other parties. Conspiracy theories are made up, and used to gather people for protest groups. Even violence occurs as a result every now and then. And all this while the original news was either nothing at all, or something completely different from what it is made to become.
Of course, you may argue that these things happen so much particularly nowadays, due to the modern media, and Mackenzie, who published this book in 1952, couldn't have known about the internet, Facebook or Twitter. You might thus think the similarity of his described comic situation with modern hypes is a coincidence. However, I don't think these phenomena are completely new. After all, gossip and prejudices, caused by misunderstandings and poor information, have always existed, and have always led to hate, baseless accusations, and occasionally unnecessary violence. The difference with today is that in the old days, the beliefs remained localized, and thrived by inbreeding in local communities, while today they spread in no time across the globe.
It seems to me MacKenzie saw very well what happened in the world around him in the situation of surprising news, and wrote this brilliant satire about it, which remains accurate to this day. I thoroughly enjoyed this revealing picture about a crazy aspect of human society.
August 23, 2023
Another hilarious novel by Mackenzie. I will admit the ending was a bit "underwhelming" but in a way that seems appropriate to the subject.
There was one brief scene in particular where the author wrote about a traditional island celebration, complete with the women singing their wauking songs, and it made me pause. I felt the deep affection he had for these fictional Highlanders, despite his willingness to skewer the social hysteria over the mysterious Loch Ness Monster and its fate. It made me appreciate his stories even more.
Oh, and there is a UFO too. Pure gold.
There was one brief scene in particular where the author wrote about a traditional island celebration, complete with the women singing their wauking songs, and it made me pause. I felt the deep affection he had for these fictional Highlanders, despite his willingness to skewer the social hysteria over the mysterious Loch Ness Monster and its fate. It made me appreciate his stories even more.
Oh, and there is a UFO too. Pure gold.
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January 1, 2022A theatrical comic classic! Wonderful characterization and sense of place. Compton MacKenzie's snappy dialogue and the absurd premise of the fictional monster itself had me laughing out loud throughout this high-spirited adventure. A timeless story and must read for anyone who loves Scotland's unique character.
September 21, 2014
Monsters, flying saucers shaped like teapots, brilliant Hebridean summer nights, cranky lairds and a timid young palaeontologist - what more could you wish for?
January 16, 2015
Not as funny as the first two books but I can see where the show "Monarch of the Glen" got a lot of it's structure from and character humor.
January 10, 2015
Not quite as side-splittingly funny as Waugh or Wodehouse, but great fun. Now to read Monarch of the Glen and Whisky Galore!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews