A Short Gentleman

by Jon Canter

Another funny and thoughtful story from Seeds of Greatness author Robert has had a privileged upbringing, but his life falls apart when he commits a crime that sends him to prison. He struggles to come to terms with the forces that brought him down.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Humor

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2008

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genius. Totally brilliant. With an unguessable stunning ending that made perfect sense and capped off a very funny and beautifully-written book with an open-mouthed surprise. What audaciousness to turn the hero on his head like that!

Any more and it would spoil the book.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0196rnd

Description: Hugh Bonneville stars as Robert Purcell, QC, a perfect specimen of the British Establishment, who applies faultless legal logic to his disastrous personal life.

1/4: Robert sails through all his exams, but finding a girlfriend is more testing.

Father James Hayes
Mother Nichola McAuliffe
Young Robert Josef Lindsay
Pilkington Ewan Bailey
Ticky Moxon-Smith Katherine Jakeways
Judy Page Tracy Wiles
Alan Temperley Gerard McDermott

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
by Jon Canter, adapted by Robin Brooks

Hugh Bonneville stars as Robert Purcell, QC, a perfect specimen of the British Establishment, who applies faultless legal logic to his disastrous personal life.

1/4
Robert sails through all his exams, but finding a girlfriend is more testing.

2/4
Robert woos Elizabeth, by means of a putty-coloured carpet.

3/4
When dealing with his wife's lover, Robert employs his deadliest weapon: being a gentleman.

4/4
Robert's nemesis approaches, along with Edward, basset hound of doom.

Produced and Directed by Jonquil Panting

The Writer

Jon Canter read Law at Cambridge, where he was President of Footlights, then worked as an advertising copywriter before becoming a radio and TV scriptwriter. His comic novels include Seeds of Greatness, A Short Gentleman and Worth.

Praise for A Short Gentleman

'Brilliant, but for God's sake don't let this book fall into the hands of any women - if they find out what we're really like we'll never hear the end of it.' Charlie Higson

'A witty, accomplished, and highly entertaining warning about the folly of ambition.' Mail on Sunday

'Elegantly written, civilised and genuinely funny.' The Scotsman

'Robert is infectious. You might just catch yourself bringing his loathsome logic to your own domestic dilemmas.' Time Out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018x...

[Allan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book for my 'In Person' book club, that I wouldn't otherwise have picked up, and to be honest, I was completely underwhelmed by the story - the characters were a little too cringeworthy for me, the comedy not really hitting the spot for me. Funnily enough, most of the others that read the book felt the same way - maybe it's a Belfast thing...

[Mary Crawford · Rating 2 out of 5]

This really wasn't my type of book. I felt more irritated than engaged in the social mores. There were a couple of laugh out loud moments and it was in my own era timeline but not sure I would have bothered to finish it if it wasn't a book club read.

[Wanda]

13 FEB 2015 - a recommendation through Laura. Thank you, Dear Laura.

[Alan Draycott · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing read. The superiority of barristers in their working sphere is always amusing to see and I must admit that I regularly bow down to them when their intellectual efforts stagger a plodder like me. This book is amusing in how this superiority develops and the mindset needed for it to continue. My favourite line of many is the incredibly insulting, hugely understated, but magnificently accurate line relating to an unimpressive female that he has to spend time with, "Sophie read the Sunday Times, avoiding any section that contained news". The book scoots along when talking about his early life, student life and working life, but the breakdown of his marriage though not unexpected just wasn't as funny as it could have been and it even became a little tiresome. I think the real "short man" would have spent much less time on trying -in his non trying manipulative way- to win back someone as unimportant as a wife and mother of his children.

[Beth (bibliobeth) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really charming and funny novel which I might not have picked up were it not for my book club. I'm glad I did as I discovered an excellent main character and some hilarious writing. Some of the footnotes were quite frankly, genius.

[Ladywinkfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was only one reason to persevere to the last page. To see if an actual story could be found. The book is a tortuous meander to nowhere. A study in the banal machinations of barrister Robert Purcell’s mind. It is well written and vaguely amusing in places but if this is the best the author can fictionalise I’d rather be condemned to a lifetime of Apple News. And the myriad microscopic and pointless footnotes … don’t get me started.

[Rosemary · Rating 2 out of 5]

The device is funny to start with but wears a bit thin

[Cate Buxton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, loved it.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly joyful. Intelligent, witty… a must read.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

British comedic writer Jon Canter has written, "A Short Gentleman", which is the story of a short gentleman who is recounting a crime he committed. This crime - never specified til late in the book - is certainly not one the reader would expect this Oxford-trained "Queen's Counsel", measured in every phase of his life, to make. His confession, written in the first person, is the entire book.

Okay, Robert Purcell, QC, is a short-in-stature but long-in-accomplishment. Born in the mid-1950's to a judge and his wife, Robert has his whole life plotted out by the time he's 10 years old. Go to Winchester College and then on to Oxford, Robert wants to attain success in his law career. His love life, indeed his personal life, is equally plotted out. "Correct" wife, two children (one of each gender), a house in London, and, eventually, ownership of his parents' house in Suffolk. Robert has loved this house all his life and owning it outright is his ultimate dream.

But Robert Purcell, while brilliant in public life, is almost autistic in how he handles friendships and love in his private life. While at Oxford, he befriends/is befriended by another law student, Mike Bell, who is from a lower social level. They remain friends - Mike Bell is one of the few friends Robert Purcell keeps. While Robert climbs the legal ladder and acquires a wife and family, Mike roams the world looking for opportunities in film making. Robert wants to be a QC and Mike wants to produce avant-garde films.

How Robert manages to lose his virginity at a rather late age, acquire a girl friend - to pop up later in the story - and then find the perfect woman to marry, are all parts of the story. Pompous and without much, if any, ability to self-analyze, Robert Purcell moves through his life as if in a well-planned dream. Until his parents die...and then hell breaks loose for Robert.

One of the most interesting characters in the book is Robert's wife, Elizabeth. Herself trained as a solicitor, Elizabeth represents for Robert the perfect choice for a wife. And she goes along with the cold marriage, until one day she realises that much of her life isn't what she wants. How she comes to terms with her situation and the way she handles it is handled very well by Jon Canter. And, actually, Cantor has written a funny book, filled with interesting characters, who remain with the reader. None are caricatures though most are unlikable. The least likable is Robert Purcell but the book ends with his finally coming to some sort of understanding of himself and the others around him.

"A Short Gentleman" will not appeal to many readers, but for the right one, it's a gem.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the beginning of this book we know it is a recount of a man's life leading up to a crime he commits which changes the course of his life. He doesn't drop many hints as to what his crime might be and I found myself guessing throughout as he isn't exactly a criminal being that he is on the right path to becoming a Judge. This is the first book I've ever read where I found it difficult to be anything but indifferent about the main character for most of the story. He (Robert Purcell) is very much a "stiff upper lip" Englishman, someone who doesn't believe in emotions and who from the age of 8 has a life plan which he somehow sticks to. He goes to the schools he planned on going to, he gets the job he wanted, he found the type of woman he wanted to marry and he had the daughter and son he wanted. He is on the path he wanted to be on, the same path his father took in life. However somewhere along the way his life plan goes astray, not because of anything he does but because of the type of person he is. I won't say too much about this as I'll ruin the surprises but his crime turns out to be something; at least in my opinion; understandable but unnecessary in the end and I was wishing he hadn't done it. From being very indifferent about Robert Purcell I was left feeling slightly sorry for him (so I suppose I do care!), and that's something I'm sure he (if he were real) would hate to hear.

[Davidg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am grateful that Waterstones included this in their promotions earlier this year. The original publishing passed me by; I remember no reviews or anything like that.

It is wonderful autobiography of a rich, privileged snob who is totally unaware of his own weaknesses and prejudices. Imagine a more educated and successful Mr Pooter. Robert Purcell details his perfect life and parents, showing the weaknesses that he himself is blind to. And it all builds up to his fall from grace - this isn't a spoiler - he tells us about going to prison in the Acknowledgements. I did love all the little extras, such as the different prefaces and epilogues, even a film advert, that surround the text and which add to the fun.

A very funny and enjoyable read.

[Stan Dandyliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

An agreeable read but ponderous and, at times, daft. I found myself wanting to slap Purcell with a big fish, almost as much as I wanted to drown Mike Bell in a vat of export retsina (sold as Toilet Duck in most UK supermarkets). Apart from being an insufferable snob, Purcell appeared too dimwitted and socially inept to have any of the qualifications of a barrister, let alone a silk. Canter clearly wants you to think that he was a man of integrity and tolerance. However he came across as weak and actually rather stupid. For an airport novel not bad, but it's light reading indeed. Why it was chosen for our book club book is beyond me.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

You probably have to be English was a smattering of exposure to the upper classes to get every nuance in this book. Sometimes I was flinching at a sentence and then chuckling knowingly at the next one. One is so very glad that one isn't the main character that it can be hard to sustain empathy for him, and the very rigidity of his personality (a central theme) limits the author's ability to develop him in any way. It would be interesting to argue that this character is a form of unaware aspergers syndrome (lack of empathy, extreme rule following, avoidance of touch).

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A Short Gentleman" is very funny and very English in a way, we love deflating the middle class and pompous. The protagonist is a self opinionated snob, who repressed his emotions to such an
extent he almost denied having any, but I did quite like him. He tried to do the 'right thing' and to be fair, honest, generous and was much less selfish than most of the people around him. I felt sorry for him a lot of the time. He must have been exasperating for his wife though, I'm surprised she put up with him for as long as she did.

[Glenys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, a tour de force! The unforgettable protagonist is well conceived and sustained, such a pitiable monster yet by the end almost admirable. Even the lapses (e.g. A 'crate' of Burgundy; 'dessert' rather than pudding) set me wondering if they were deliberate clues that all was not as it seemed with this English gentleman. And, above all, it's funny. Well done Mr. Canter! Highly recommended as a very enjoyable read.

[Cindy Zeiher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful satire on English class and pomp. I highly recommend reading this book not alongside domestic life (as I did), but rather, when one is settled in the countryside, glass of grandfather port in hand, so that one's laughter and bemusement carries into the distant hills and disturbs no one.

[Carl Roff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely, humorous writing - reminded me of P.G. Wodehouse. Disappointed with the ending, but I guess that's because I sympathised so much with the main character I wanted a happier conclusion for him!

[Mary Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initially, this was one of those great books which make me laugh out loud, but that passed after about ten pages. My reactions changed to boredom and some mild annoyance interspersed with occasional amusement. I struggled to finish it, but the ending was the best section.

[Martine Peacock]

I feared this book would be dull, but I was immediately drawn in. Written very engagingly. Very droll. Not a dull moment.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unbearably British. Very funny.

[Graham Darvell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny a must read!

[Lorraine Currie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Jim Mowatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Splendidly funny - a fine example of just how self-delusional we humans can be.

[Felicity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious. Guffaw out loud moments. I thoroughly enjoyed this witty and perceptive novel.