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Ticky
The Club in central London holds the quarters of Queen Victoria's finest regiment: the First Bloods. Inside the mighty building, with its two exquisite glass towers, the First Bloods and their regimental servants tussle over a portion of recreational ground. Amidst the rows and rumbles - and remarkable punishments - is a mocking and piquant observation of factious all-male societies.
224 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1943
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About the author
Stella Gibbons
58 books410 followersStella Dorothea Gibbons was an English novelist, journalist, poet and short-story writer.
Her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933. A satire and parody of the pessimistic ruralism of Thomas Hardy, his followers and especially Precious Bain by Mary Webb -the "loam and lovechild" genre, as some called it, Cold Comfort Farm introduces a self-confident young woman, quite self-consciously modern, pragmatic and optimistic, into the grim, fate-bound and dark rural scene those novelists tended to portray.
Her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933. A satire and parody of the pessimistic ruralism of Thomas Hardy, his followers and especially Precious Bain by Mary Webb -the "loam and lovechild" genre, as some called it, Cold Comfort Farm introduces a self-confident young woman, quite self-consciously modern, pragmatic and optimistic, into the grim, fate-bound and dark rural scene those novelists tended to portray.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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May 2, 2023I did a DNF on this one.
I read over 100 pages so I think I gave it a good shot.
Apparently Stella Gibbons knew what this book was about since she wrote it, but after reading a Goodreads reader’s review of it, after I had read 100+ pages and was wondering if I was missing the point of the novel, then I was satisfied I was not the only one on this planet that was clueless as to what this book was about.
Stella Gibbons is author of Cold Comfort Farm (1932), which was and is wildly famous —she was disturbed that people only focused on that book and not the rest of her oeuvre...I have read a number of her works and liked a good number of them but some in my opinion fell flat, and this was one of them.
Synopsis, Taken from https://www.waterstones.com/book/tick... :
• 'He wanted very large sums of money, the friendship of titled and distinguished men, the love of beautiful women who were also famous. He was twenty, and his dreams were titanic.'
Ticky's father has bought him a position in Queen Victoria's most famous regiment: the First Bloods. Spending his last pennies on lavish accommodation and a fine stallion, Ticky arrives at The Club: the mighty glass towers in central London where the First Bloods reign supreme. Here, dressed in their violet cloth and copper lace, the First Bloods and their regimental servants fight over a portion of recreational ground, row over rituals, and dole out extraordinary punishments.
Satirizing the pomp of all-male military societies, Ticky was Gibbons' own favourite of her novels.
'Gibbons proves herself to possess a natural and effortless talent for the burlesque' Times Literary Supplement
Reviews:
• Can’t find any other than Goodreads reviews.....
I read over 100 pages so I think I gave it a good shot.
Apparently Stella Gibbons knew what this book was about since she wrote it, but after reading a Goodreads reader’s review of it, after I had read 100+ pages and was wondering if I was missing the point of the novel, then I was satisfied I was not the only one on this planet that was clueless as to what this book was about.
Stella Gibbons is author of Cold Comfort Farm (1932), which was and is wildly famous —she was disturbed that people only focused on that book and not the rest of her oeuvre...I have read a number of her works and liked a good number of them but some in my opinion fell flat, and this was one of them.
Synopsis, Taken from https://www.waterstones.com/book/tick... :
• 'He wanted very large sums of money, the friendship of titled and distinguished men, the love of beautiful women who were also famous. He was twenty, and his dreams were titanic.'
Ticky's father has bought him a position in Queen Victoria's most famous regiment: the First Bloods. Spending his last pennies on lavish accommodation and a fine stallion, Ticky arrives at The Club: the mighty glass towers in central London where the First Bloods reign supreme. Here, dressed in their violet cloth and copper lace, the First Bloods and their regimental servants fight over a portion of recreational ground, row over rituals, and dole out extraordinary punishments.
Satirizing the pomp of all-male military societies, Ticky was Gibbons' own favourite of her novels.
'Gibbons proves herself to possess a natural and effortless talent for the burlesque' Times Literary Supplement
Reviews:
• Can’t find any other than Goodreads reviews.....
June 22, 2020
I'm not a military girl, from any country. I don't keep track of ranks and who's over who, and badges and guns and all that. I should have known this book was headed that way when the dedication is to a specific group of English military men and members thereof.
Ms. Gibbons, whose humor amused me in her book Cold Comfort Farm, wrote this one and from time to time I was able to pick the joke or mocking bit out of the pile of words on the page. But mostly I just didn't get it. I was seduced by the old, hardback copy that ended out in my hands, and was sure it would be a gas. I didn't get it. So many characters, fighting over a plot of land and ladies hands, designated by obscure nicknames and their real names, filtered by social standing (who knew that I always sort that by costume? uniforms take that bit away! now I know).
There's a group of people for whom this book will bring buckets of chortles. I got the end where most every seeking Romeo finds his Juliet (or vice versa), and the land in question is settled appropriately, but the read was a trudge, like that long hike you had to take as part of the summer camp you didn't want to go to. I really need to let that persona go. . . .
So 2 stars from me, but please. . . .that's probably my fault.
Ms. Gibbons, whose humor amused me in her book Cold Comfort Farm, wrote this one and from time to time I was able to pick the joke or mocking bit out of the pile of words on the page. But mostly I just didn't get it. I was seduced by the old, hardback copy that ended out in my hands, and was sure it would be a gas. I didn't get it. So many characters, fighting over a plot of land and ladies hands, designated by obscure nicknames and their real names, filtered by social standing (who knew that I always sort that by costume? uniforms take that bit away! now I know).
There's a group of people for whom this book will bring buckets of chortles. I got the end where most every seeking Romeo finds his Juliet (or vice versa), and the land in question is settled appropriately, but the read was a trudge, like that long hike you had to take as part of the summer camp you didn't want to go to. I really need to let that persona go. . . .
So 2 stars from me, but please. . . .that's probably my fault.
July 30, 2014
Another delightful satire from Kaye Gibbons, this time set in Queen Victoria's fawnciest of fawncy regiments. Internecine war shakes the foundations of this hothouse society when the officers try to take away their servants' pleasure grounds for a drill parade. Fig Starkadder males a cameo appearance!
February 9, 2019
Quirky little story first published in 1943 & set in Victorian times, includes appearances by Queen Victoria.
August 8, 2022
This book! This book! THAT was what was in the wood-shed, all this time.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews