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… Thử hình dung anh phải bẻ gãy tay ai đó.
Phải hay trái không quan trọng. Quan trọng là phải bẻ, bởi vì nếu không bẻ thì thực ra cũng chẳng vấn đề gì. Cứ cho là nếu anh không bẻ thì sẽ có hậu quả xấu đi.
Vậy câu hỏi của tôi là: anh sẽ bẻ thật nhanh - rắc, ối chà, xin lỗi, để tôi giúp anh với cái xương gãy ngay tức thì kia - hay anh sẽ nhẩn nha trong vòng tám phút, thi thoảng mới mạnh tay lên một tí, cho tới khi tất cả những hoa cà hoa cải, những nóng và lạnh quyện vào nhau khó chịu đến vô cùng?
Đúng vậy. Tất nhiên rồi. Lựa chọn đúng đắn, lựa chọn duy nhất hẳn là làm cho xong đi càng nhanh càng tốt. Bẻ cái tay, nốc vài ngụm rượu, và lại trở thành công dân tốt. Chẳng thể có câu trả lời nào khác.
Trừ khi.
Trừ khi, trừ khi, trừ khi.
Nếu như anh căm ghét cái kẻ bị bẻ tay kia thì sao? Ý tôi là thực sự ghét hắn ta, vô cùng ghét hắn ta.
Đó chính là điều mà lúc này tôi phải tính tới.
Phải hay trái không quan trọng. Quan trọng là phải bẻ, bởi vì nếu không bẻ thì thực ra cũng chẳng vấn đề gì. Cứ cho là nếu anh không bẻ thì sẽ có hậu quả xấu đi.
Vậy câu hỏi của tôi là: anh sẽ bẻ thật nhanh - rắc, ối chà, xin lỗi, để tôi giúp anh với cái xương gãy ngay tức thì kia - hay anh sẽ nhẩn nha trong vòng tám phút, thi thoảng mới mạnh tay lên một tí, cho tới khi tất cả những hoa cà hoa cải, những nóng và lạnh quyện vào nhau khó chịu đến vô cùng?
Đúng vậy. Tất nhiên rồi. Lựa chọn đúng đắn, lựa chọn duy nhất hẳn là làm cho xong đi càng nhanh càng tốt. Bẻ cái tay, nốc vài ngụm rượu, và lại trở thành công dân tốt. Chẳng thể có câu trả lời nào khác.
Trừ khi.
Trừ khi, trừ khi, trừ khi.
Nếu như anh căm ghét cái kẻ bị bẻ tay kia thì sao? Ý tôi là thực sự ghét hắn ta, vô cùng ghét hắn ta.
Đó chính là điều mà lúc này tôi phải tính tới.
388 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1996
1134 people are currently reading
13553 people want to read
About the author
Hugh Laurie
60 books1,075 followersBritish comedian Hugh Laurie, OBE, could have easily taken another career track rather than that of well-known performer. As a secondary and college student, he was also a world-class oarsman. He wasn't the only one in the family to have a passion for the sport, however. His father won a gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics as part of the British national team.
The youngest of four children, Laurie went to Eton College, perhaps Britain's best-known preparatory school. During his time there, he became involved in rowing. He quickly became one of the nation's best, and in 1977, he became one half of the national junior champion coxed pair. In the world junior championships held in Finland that year, he and his teammate finished fourth in the world.
The following year, Laurie entered Cambridge University, with the intention of studying archeology and anthropology. He was also intent on joining the prestigious rowing team, rowing in the 1980 Cambridge/Oxford boat race. More information on the race can be found at BBC Sport
He reportedly became ill during his first year, however, and was forced to withdraw from the rowing competitions. While regaining his health, Laurie had his first experiences as a performer by getting involved with the Footlights Club, a famed undergraduate comedy revue group. In his last year at Cambridge, Laurie was elected President of the club, with fellow Footlighter Emma Thompson acting as Vice President.
Traditionally, at the end of the year, the Footlights take their act on the road throughout the nation. While on these tours, he met, via Thompson, a young playwright named Stephen Fry . They collaborated on a sketch called The Cellar Tapes , which they entered in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1981. They were awarded "Pick of the Fringe," enabling the duo, along with the other Footlights performers (including Thompson) to go on tour through England and eventually, Australia.
Soon thereafter, Laurie, Fry, Thompson, Robbie Coltrane , and Ben Elton formed the television sketch program Alfresco , eventually leading Laurie to the famous (in Britain, at least) Black Adder series, headed by Rowan Atkinson , and also to the Jeeves and Wooster series with Fry.
It wasn't long after these successes that he began appearing in films. In 1992, he appeared alongside fellow comedians Fry and Thompson, as well as Kenneth Branagh and Rita Rudner in the ensemble comedy Peter's Friends
He subsequently did outstanding work as a character actor in such films as Sense and Sensibility (1995) and 101 Dalmations (1996). In 1999, he took the lead in the adaptation of E.B. White's Stuart Little, playing the adopted father to a walking, talking, fully dressed mouse, a role he'd reprise in the film's 2002 sequel Stuart Little 2.
After a two year absence from the big-screen, Laurie returned to the multiplexes in 2004 with a supporting role in Flight of the Phoenix, a remake of the 1965 James Stewart action-adventure film about a group of plane-crash survivors who attempt to build a new plane from the wreckage. That same year Laurie essayed the titular role as the cynical but trailblazing Dr. Greg House in the primetime Fox Network television drama House .
Laurie is also a musician of note, invariably performing as a keyboardist with the rock band Poor White Trash and the Little Big Horns. He currently plays keyboards with Band From TV - a band featuring other television stars who perform to raise money for various charities. He added yet another profession to his lengthy list of accomplishments when, in 1996, he published his first novel, The Gun Seller. Married since 1989, he has three children with his wife, Jo.
The youngest of four children, Laurie went to Eton College, perhaps Britain's best-known preparatory school. During his time there, he became involved in rowing. He quickly became one of the nation's best, and in 1977, he became one half of the national junior champion coxed pair. In the world junior championships held in Finland that year, he and his teammate finished fourth in the world.
The following year, Laurie entered Cambridge University, with the intention of studying archeology and anthropology. He was also intent on joining the prestigious rowing team, rowing in the 1980 Cambridge/Oxford boat race. More information on the race can be found at BBC Sport
He reportedly became ill during his first year, however, and was forced to withdraw from the rowing competitions. While regaining his health, Laurie had his first experiences as a performer by getting involved with the Footlights Club, a famed undergraduate comedy revue group. In his last year at Cambridge, Laurie was elected President of the club, with fellow Footlighter Emma Thompson acting as Vice President.
Traditionally, at the end of the year, the Footlights take their act on the road throughout the nation. While on these tours, he met, via Thompson, a young playwright named Stephen Fry . They collaborated on a sketch called The Cellar Tapes , which they entered in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1981. They were awarded "Pick of the Fringe," enabling the duo, along with the other Footlights performers (including Thompson) to go on tour through England and eventually, Australia.
Soon thereafter, Laurie, Fry, Thompson, Robbie Coltrane , and Ben Elton formed the television sketch program Alfresco , eventually leading Laurie to the famous (in Britain, at least) Black Adder series, headed by Rowan Atkinson , and also to the Jeeves and Wooster series with Fry.
It wasn't long after these successes that he began appearing in films. In 1992, he appeared alongside fellow comedians Fry and Thompson, as well as Kenneth Branagh and Rita Rudner in the ensemble comedy Peter's Friends
He subsequently did outstanding work as a character actor in such films as Sense and Sensibility (1995) and 101 Dalmations (1996). In 1999, he took the lead in the adaptation of E.B. White's Stuart Little, playing the adopted father to a walking, talking, fully dressed mouse, a role he'd reprise in the film's 2002 sequel Stuart Little 2.
After a two year absence from the big-screen, Laurie returned to the multiplexes in 2004 with a supporting role in Flight of the Phoenix, a remake of the 1965 James Stewart action-adventure film about a group of plane-crash survivors who attempt to build a new plane from the wreckage. That same year Laurie essayed the titular role as the cynical but trailblazing Dr. Greg House in the primetime Fox Network television drama House .
Laurie is also a musician of note, invariably performing as a keyboardist with the rock band Poor White Trash and the Little Big Horns. He currently plays keyboards with Band From TV - a band featuring other television stars who perform to raise money for various charities. He added yet another profession to his lengthy list of accomplishments when, in 1996, he published his first novel, The Gun Seller. Married since 1989, he has three children with his wife, Jo.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,252 reviews
August 19, 2014
This book is F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C !!!
Maybe you haven't recognized the name of the author, but this Hugh Laurie is THE Hugh Laurie who was the star on the TV series House, M.D..
Sure, maybe some of you would say "So what? He is an actor but can he write?" Oh, yes! He CAN write!
Pain is an event. It happens to you, and you deal with it in whatever way you can.
If you ever watched some episode of House, M.D. you can be familiarized with the personality of the character that Laurie portraited there, and you will find the main character here very much like.
The only good thing I've ever noticed about money, the only positive aspect of an otherwise pretty vulgar commodity, is that you can use it to buy things.
Maybe he is not so grumpy but he is in the very same level of cynicism with direct politically incorrect comments.
It is the middle of December now, and we are about to travel to Switzerland - where we plan to ski a little, relax a little, and shoot a Dutch politician a little.
He is an honest voice in the book, where you can't separate the view of the main character and the position of the author, and anyway that's not important since you will laugh a lot, BUT you will think a lot too.
Having a vote once every four years is not the same thing as democracy.
I laughed a lot, I pondered a lot and I had the time of my life reading this novel and due that, I am even including it in my "favorites" virtual shelf that I commented in other reviews, I am struggling to keep it to 10 books tops at any moment, maybe some title would go out or go in, but always only 10 books there.
This was the tricky bit. The really tricky bit, trickiness cubed.
Maybe when I said that I laughed a lot, you'd diminish the novel, saying "Oh, no! That must be a dumb book then!" But no, it isn't.
The humor here is not silly comedy but in fact it's smart and witty comments.
Laurie is totally politically incorrect in this book and gosh I thank him for being in that way.
He is an author with attitude and you will find that even the "offensive" comments are not made in a deliberated act for the sick purpose to offense somebody, no, if you really can get into the mood of the book, you will find that Laurie is just telling the story of some guy who talks in an infinite honest way.
Just because it's a bad job doesn't mean I need to do it badly.
The novel has a lot of combined genres, since you will find a detective novel merging into a espionage story, with a lot of military and politics stuff.
Each character, main or minor, has a purpose and one of the best things is that at some moments you will meet a really main character without realizing it, until the story would develop more, it will be when you would know it.
In my opinion, this book is the ones that when one is reading it, one thinks "Geez! For books like this one is that I love to read books!"
If you analyze the very title of the book, you will realize that the story isn't about terrorism, since I'd understand people finding without taste to read a humoristic story about terrorism, but this isn't the case, this novel is about selling guns, about the arms dealing business, and that's a totally different field, you will understand when you'd read the novel.
Give it a chance to the book. You won't regret it.
Maybe you haven't recognized the name of the author, but this Hugh Laurie is THE Hugh Laurie who was the star on the TV series House, M.D..
Sure, maybe some of you would say "So what? He is an actor but can he write?" Oh, yes! He CAN write!
Pain is an event. It happens to you, and you deal with it in whatever way you can.
If you ever watched some episode of House, M.D. you can be familiarized with the personality of the character that Laurie portraited there, and you will find the main character here very much like.
The only good thing I've ever noticed about money, the only positive aspect of an otherwise pretty vulgar commodity, is that you can use it to buy things.
Maybe he is not so grumpy but he is in the very same level of cynicism with direct politically incorrect comments.
It is the middle of December now, and we are about to travel to Switzerland - where we plan to ski a little, relax a little, and shoot a Dutch politician a little.
He is an honest voice in the book, where you can't separate the view of the main character and the position of the author, and anyway that's not important since you will laugh a lot, BUT you will think a lot too.
Having a vote once every four years is not the same thing as democracy.
I laughed a lot, I pondered a lot and I had the time of my life reading this novel and due that, I am even including it in my "favorites" virtual shelf that I commented in other reviews, I am struggling to keep it to 10 books tops at any moment, maybe some title would go out or go in, but always only 10 books there.
This was the tricky bit. The really tricky bit, trickiness cubed.
Maybe when I said that I laughed a lot, you'd diminish the novel, saying "Oh, no! That must be a dumb book then!" But no, it isn't.
The humor here is not silly comedy but in fact it's smart and witty comments.
Laurie is totally politically incorrect in this book and gosh I thank him for being in that way.
He is an author with attitude and you will find that even the "offensive" comments are not made in a deliberated act for the sick purpose to offense somebody, no, if you really can get into the mood of the book, you will find that Laurie is just telling the story of some guy who talks in an infinite honest way.
Just because it's a bad job doesn't mean I need to do it badly.
The novel has a lot of combined genres, since you will find a detective novel merging into a espionage story, with a lot of military and politics stuff.
Each character, main or minor, has a purpose and one of the best things is that at some moments you will meet a really main character without realizing it, until the story would develop more, it will be when you would know it.
In my opinion, this book is the ones that when one is reading it, one thinks "Geez! For books like this one is that I love to read books!"
If you analyze the very title of the book, you will realize that the story isn't about terrorism, since I'd understand people finding without taste to read a humoristic story about terrorism, but this isn't the case, this novel is about selling guns, about the arms dealing business, and that's a totally different field, you will understand when you'd read the novel.
Give it a chance to the book. You won't regret it.
December 16, 2015
I wish I could give this book 6 stars.
I love Hugh Laurie. I love his dry, sarcastic wit. I love his accent. I want to hump his leg for writing this book.
Yes. I really just said that.
I picked up this book BECAUSE I love Hugh Laurie, but I didn't really have high expectations. I thought it would be humorous, but not a book to really be taken seriously. I thought it would be a little bit like a parody of the espionage genre, like Johnny English or Spy Hard, etc. I was prepared for it to be silly, and a bit cartoonish, and funny. I was prepared for this to be a quick, mindless read that would have me peeing myself with laughter 4 pages out of 5.
What I was NOT prepared for, was for this book to not only be funny, but to be absolutely brilliant and relevant and amazing. I was not prepared for this book to blow my socks off and make me read it in dribs and drabs, as my friend would say, because I just didn't want it to end. I was not prepared for this book to end up being a favorite.
I cannot really express just how much I was impressed by this book. It exceeded every expectation I had. I'd think something was going to happen, and then what DID happen was about as far from what I would expect as possible, and be BETTER than what I wanted to happen.
I spent so much time writing down quotes, that I almost have a faithful reproduction of the book in little bits of paper and in my notebook. I seriously wish I could quote this entire book.
Let me just wipe the drool from my chin and then we'll continue... OK, I'm ready now.
Laurie's main character and narrator, Thomas Lang, is quite possibly one of the best characters I've ever read. Laurie doesn't waste a ton of time having Lang tell us about himself, we just climb onto his presumably broad, sturdy shoulders and strap ourselves in for the ride. And it's quite a ride, be sure of that.
It's been a long time since I've read about a character that I loved as much as Thomas Lang. He's human, he's fallible, he's whip smart, and he is sexy. But he's not perfect by any stretch... he just knows what he's good at, and to me, that is sexy.
Lang has an absolutely unique eye and voice, and the way that he described people, places, the world in general, had me snorting with laughter. But I don't want anyone to mistake me, because, while he sees things with a half-cocked eye, there are some definite serious issues in this book. Serious as in, we should take them seriously and actually THINK about them.
I don't want to go too much into the story and ruin it for the multitudes of people I plan on pushing this book on, so I won't say much. Just know that this book is absolutely as relevant today as it was 15 years ago when it was written, if not moreso.
I will end this review by saying two things:
1) Read. This. Book.
2) Read. This. Book.
I love Hugh Laurie. I love his dry, sarcastic wit. I love his accent. I want to hump his leg for writing this book.
Yes. I really just said that.
I picked up this book BECAUSE I love Hugh Laurie, but I didn't really have high expectations. I thought it would be humorous, but not a book to really be taken seriously. I thought it would be a little bit like a parody of the espionage genre, like Johnny English or Spy Hard, etc. I was prepared for it to be silly, and a bit cartoonish, and funny. I was prepared for this to be a quick, mindless read that would have me peeing myself with laughter 4 pages out of 5.
What I was NOT prepared for, was for this book to not only be funny, but to be absolutely brilliant and relevant and amazing. I was not prepared for this book to blow my socks off and make me read it in dribs and drabs, as my friend would say, because I just didn't want it to end. I was not prepared for this book to end up being a favorite.
I cannot really express just how much I was impressed by this book. It exceeded every expectation I had. I'd think something was going to happen, and then what DID happen was about as far from what I would expect as possible, and be BETTER than what I wanted to happen.
I spent so much time writing down quotes, that I almost have a faithful reproduction of the book in little bits of paper and in my notebook. I seriously wish I could quote this entire book.
Let me just wipe the drool from my chin and then we'll continue... OK, I'm ready now.
Laurie's main character and narrator, Thomas Lang, is quite possibly one of the best characters I've ever read. Laurie doesn't waste a ton of time having Lang tell us about himself, we just climb onto his presumably broad, sturdy shoulders and strap ourselves in for the ride. And it's quite a ride, be sure of that.
It's been a long time since I've read about a character that I loved as much as Thomas Lang. He's human, he's fallible, he's whip smart, and he is sexy. But he's not perfect by any stretch... he just knows what he's good at, and to me, that is sexy.
Lang has an absolutely unique eye and voice, and the way that he described people, places, the world in general, had me snorting with laughter. But I don't want anyone to mistake me, because, while he sees things with a half-cocked eye, there are some definite serious issues in this book. Serious as in, we should take them seriously and actually THINK about them.
I don't want to go too much into the story and ruin it for the multitudes of people I plan on pushing this book on, so I won't say much. Just know that this book is absolutely as relevant today as it was 15 years ago when it was written, if not moreso.
I will end this review by saying two things:
1) Read. This. Book.
2) Read. This. Book.
February 16, 2019
Hugh Laurie , he’s one of the greatest actors! He’s my hero, brilliant Gregory House ( modern doctor version of Sherlock Holmes) ! I wish he would stay as an actor, instead of pretending as a writer who creates nonsense espionage stories☹️☹️☹️
April 27, 2023
I would like to please find the person who in the description of this book promised an "uproarious cocktail of comic zingers" and give them my best "Grandma Lydia look" (*)
Sidespittingly funny this book is not. And it is not meant to be such. The humor is uses is what we came to associate with 'quintessential Britishness' - dry and deadpan and almost serious. Which is fitting for a book that after a first chapter indeed filled with the promised "zingers" quickly heads down the path of exposing monetary greed and terrorism and secret wars waged for little else but money, and the overarching conspiracies that in the light of many events of our messed-up modern world hit quite close to home.
Thomas Lang, our protagonist, whom I could not imagine as anyone else but Mr. Laurie himself (How could I not??? You tell me while looking at that picture!!!!) is essentially a good guy with a military past and manners a la Mr. Bond a bit. He gets offered quite a handsome sum of money for the life of a certain American businessman (who, by the way, comes equipped with a lovely daughter with beautiful teeth), honorably refuses it, and the next thing he knows, ends up swept up in the quite substantial international conspiracy, with a first-hand participation in a few terrorist acts to boot. With quite depressing things seen through every humor-laden passage. Where simple stupid greed is what runs everything, really. And that's depressing, yeah.
I liked it quite a bit, even though there were a few parts in the middle where I was tempted to put this book down and forget about it. I'm just not that into the genre that Laurie parodies here, after all, and sometimes immersing myself into this story was not that easy. But ultimately every time something in the way Hugh Laurie writes ended pulling me back into the story. And he rewarded me with the "Fuck this all, this shit is depressing and nothing is ever likely to change" feeling in the end, which I assume could have been the underlying message of this story. The way the world and humanity are irrevocably fucked up. Not the comedic zingers.
So don't read this for funny. Read this for the serious, please.
3.5 stars - and I plan to read all the future literature works by Mr. Laurie if this gentleman desires to create more. And I will leave you with this apt (and actually funny!) observation of Mr. Laurie's protagonist on the bird strike of the aircraft:
(*) If you are NOT familiar with the "Grandma Lydia look", which you probably aren't since the chances of you actually having met my grandmother are slim to none, I will explain. This is the look you get from a tiny 5-foot-tall sweetest Eastern European grandmother that makes you stop in your tracks and beg forgiveness for anything you ever did or will ever do. Because she KNOWS you did something wrong, and firmly believes that a stern look alone should suffice to set you on the right path. And you bet your ass it will! I've been working on that look, too - so someday it can be re-christened as "Grandma Nataliya" look. That's my big aspiration in life. I'm not even joking about it. Seriously.But wait a second, you say. Are you trying to tell us that Hugh Laurie, THE Hugh Laurie, THE comic genius is NOT FUNNY in this book? Well, not exactly. This book is funny and smart and all that, but it really straddles the line between that and uncomfortable - because Laurie uses humor and satire and parody extremely well to showcase quite a few things about our world and ourselves that are uncomfortable, unsettling, and in the end, not as much funny as disturbing.
"Because what does it mean, to say that things aren't going well? Compared to what? You can say: compared to how things were going a couple of hours ago, or a couple of years ago. But that's not the point. If two cars are speeding towards a brick wall with no brakes, and one car hits the wall moments before the other, you can't spend those moments saying the second car is much better off than the first. Death and disaster are at our shoulders every second of our lives, trying to get at us. Missing, a lot of the time. A lot of miles on the motorway without a front wheel blow-out. A lot of viruses that slither through our bodies without snagging. A lot of pianos that fall a minute after we've passed. Or a month, it makes no difference. So unless we're going to get down on our knees and give thanks every time disaster misses, it makes no sense to moan when it strikes. Us, or anyone else. Because we're not comparing it with anything. And anyway, we're all dead, or never born, and the whole thing really is a dream.
There, you see. That's a funny side."
Sidespittingly funny this book is not. And it is not meant to be such. The humor is uses is what we came to associate with 'quintessential Britishness' - dry and deadpan and almost serious. Which is fitting for a book that after a first chapter indeed filled with the promised "zingers" quickly heads down the path of exposing monetary greed and terrorism and secret wars waged for little else but money, and the overarching conspiracies that in the light of many events of our messed-up modern world hit quite close to home.
"The only good thing I've ever noticed about money, the only positive aspect of an otherwise pretty vulgar commodity, is that you can use it to buy things."Oh, by the way, it was written in 1996, but feels as true as it can be a decade and a half later. Because things have probably only got worse. And all we can do is laugh helplessly about them.
"It is the middle of December now, and we are about to travel to Switzerland - where we plan to ski a little, relax a little, and shoot a Dutch politician a little."Now, I'm not all that familiar with the spy/thriller/Bond-esque or whatever you call it genre. But even I can easily spot the parodies of those on every page.
Thomas Lang, our protagonist, whom I could not imagine as anyone else but Mr. Laurie himself (How could I not??? You tell me while looking at that picture!!!!) is essentially a good guy with a military past and manners a la Mr. Bond a bit. He gets offered quite a handsome sum of money for the life of a certain American businessman (who, by the way, comes equipped with a lovely daughter with beautiful teeth), honorably refuses it, and the next thing he knows, ends up swept up in the quite substantial international conspiracy, with a first-hand participation in a few terrorist acts to boot. With quite depressing things seen through every humor-laden passage. Where simple stupid greed is what runs everything, really. And that's depressing, yeah.
I liked it quite a bit, even though there were a few parts in the middle where I was tempted to put this book down and forget about it. I'm just not that into the genre that Laurie parodies here, after all, and sometimes immersing myself into this story was not that easy. But ultimately every time something in the way Hugh Laurie writes ended pulling me back into the story. And he rewarded me with the "Fuck this all, this shit is depressing and nothing is ever likely to change" feeling in the end, which I assume could have been the underlying message of this story. The way the world and humanity are irrevocably fucked up. Not the comedic zingers.
So don't read this for funny. Read this for the serious, please.
3.5 stars - and I plan to read all the future literature works by Mr. Laurie if this gentleman desires to create more. And I will leave you with this apt (and actually funny!) observation of Mr. Laurie's protagonist on the bird strike of the aircraft:
"This, rather unfairly in my view, made it sound as if it was the bird’s fault; as if the little feathered chap had deliberately tried to head-butt twenty tons of metal travelling in the opposite direction at just under the speed of sound, out of spite."
May 14, 2024
***5 Stars***
I got this book as a Christmas present in 2016, started reading it in 2017 and finished reading it in January of 2019.
It was my travel book for almost 2 years and I only ever read it while on a plane, train or bus. It came with me to Thassos in Greece, to Madrid, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Milan, Frankfurt, Bucharest and a couple more places in Romania.
Yes, that's a lot of time and a lot of places where I failed to finish it, considering it's not even a long book, nor is it hard to read or anything 😂 Aaaanyway, I am mentioning this to underline the fact that this was a memorable story. Even with so many breaks and months on end not reading/thinking of it, every time I picked it back up, I always knew where I left off.
Hugh Laurie is a surprisingly good writer. I feel like he had the same humor as the character he played on Dr. House throughout the whole book: witty and smart, dirty but also classy at the same time. I actually sort of imagined the MC as Dr. House the entire time. I saw Hugh Laurie before my eyes, limping away through the story, even though the character's description is not even close to that.
The plot: Thomas Lang is a regular guy, that has his world turned upside down when someone offers him a lot of money to assassinate a businessman. He accepts and this is where things start to get from bad to worse really quickly.
He has to deal with brutal weapons dealers, fight against CIA killers and on top of all that stop one of the biggest terrorist attacks in history.
The story takes place in many different parts of the world and they're all so perfectly written that I could see it all playing out right before my eyes.
Long story short, The Gun Seller is a fast paced, action packed thriller. It's a complicated story, dealing with a lot of world issues, but I what I loved most was the fact that Hugh Laurie combines thrilling and serious moments with his extraordinary humor.
I got this book as a Christmas present in 2016, started reading it in 2017 and finished reading it in January of 2019.
It was my travel book for almost 2 years and I only ever read it while on a plane, train or bus. It came with me to Thassos in Greece, to Madrid, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Milan, Frankfurt, Bucharest and a couple more places in Romania.
Yes, that's a lot of time and a lot of places where I failed to finish it, considering it's not even a long book, nor is it hard to read or anything 😂 Aaaanyway, I am mentioning this to underline the fact that this was a memorable story. Even with so many breaks and months on end not reading/thinking of it, every time I picked it back up, I always knew where I left off.
Hugh Laurie is a surprisingly good writer. I feel like he had the same humor as the character he played on Dr. House throughout the whole book: witty and smart, dirty but also classy at the same time. I actually sort of imagined the MC as Dr. House the entire time. I saw Hugh Laurie before my eyes, limping away through the story, even though the character's description is not even close to that.
The plot: Thomas Lang is a regular guy, that has his world turned upside down when someone offers him a lot of money to assassinate a businessman. He accepts and this is where things start to get from bad to worse really quickly.
He has to deal with brutal weapons dealers, fight against CIA killers and on top of all that stop one of the biggest terrorist attacks in history.
The story takes place in many different parts of the world and they're all so perfectly written that I could see it all playing out right before my eyes.
Long story short, The Gun Seller is a fast paced, action packed thriller. It's a complicated story, dealing with a lot of world issues, but I what I loved most was the fact that Hugh Laurie combines thrilling and serious moments with his extraordinary humor.
October 23, 2014
Thanks to Chris for turning me on to this fun romp. Every now & then I'd just bust out laughing & it kept me up past my bed time to finish it. Random, odd, & meandering as it seems at times, the humor was a constant thread & I found that everything really was spot on. If the story occasionally took the long way around the barn, it was only so we'd sneak up on something unexpected.
It's at least a 3 star thriller & is written so perfectly in Laurie's voice that I could hear & see him the entire time, which easily gains it another star in my book. I loved the early seasons of House & have seen him in a few other things where he's always shined. This is mostly written in his comedic voice - snarky & not so dark as his House character. IF you like that, it's a 4 star read. If not, don't read this.
There was quite a bit of grittiness to the main character, Thomas Lang, who narrates the story. Not quite noir detective, but close, & the first person POV is excellently done. That's not always easy to do & if you don't like the character, it ruins the book, hence my warning above.
For all the low-key, comedic quality of Laurie's observations, it wasn't just funny. While poking some fun at the genre & most everything else, it was also brought out a lot of good points on society & our current state of affairs in general. It had it all AND it's 15 years old, which surprised me. It could have been written last year. Wow!
The plot certainly twists & turns with the best of the genre - international conspiracy, murder & betrayal all baked into a mystery that Tom finds himself firmly embedded in. Laurie did a great job introducing & maintaining one of my favorite supporting characters, Solomon right from the very start. Like everything else, he seems kind of random & odd at first, but eventually gels into clarity. Actually, that's a good description of the plot. About half way through, I wondered how there could still be so much to read - I thought I was closing in on an obvious, if not great ending - but I wasn't. That was a bit disappointing, I expected the last half to drag, a puffed up section simply to make some publishers word count. It wasn't. Oh, no, it was great!
I highly recommend this to all my detective-mystery-thriller reading friends.
It's at least a 3 star thriller & is written so perfectly in Laurie's voice that I could hear & see him the entire time, which easily gains it another star in my book. I loved the early seasons of House & have seen him in a few other things where he's always shined. This is mostly written in his comedic voice - snarky & not so dark as his House character. IF you like that, it's a 4 star read. If not, don't read this.
There was quite a bit of grittiness to the main character, Thomas Lang, who narrates the story. Not quite noir detective, but close, & the first person POV is excellently done. That's not always easy to do & if you don't like the character, it ruins the book, hence my warning above.
For all the low-key, comedic quality of Laurie's observations, it wasn't just funny. While poking some fun at the genre & most everything else, it was also brought out a lot of good points on society & our current state of affairs in general. It had it all AND it's 15 years old, which surprised me. It could have been written last year. Wow!
The plot certainly twists & turns with the best of the genre - international conspiracy, murder & betrayal all baked into a mystery that Tom finds himself firmly embedded in. Laurie did a great job introducing & maintaining one of my favorite supporting characters, Solomon right from the very start. Like everything else, he seems kind of random & odd at first, but eventually gels into clarity. Actually, that's a good description of the plot. About half way through, I wondered how there could still be so much to read - I thought I was closing in on an obvious, if not great ending - but I wasn't. That was a bit disappointing, I expected the last half to drag, a puffed up section simply to make some publishers word count. It wasn't. Oh, no, it was great!
I highly recommend this to all my detective-mystery-thriller reading friends.
April 17, 2017
This book restored my faith in celebrity novels. The last one I read (by a former TV hero of mine) was so disappointing but Hugh Laurie is a first-rate wordsmith and an excellent storyteller. I already knew he was a brilliant actor (I'm midway through The Night Manager, and his performance is sending shivers down my spine), a comic genius and a super blues musician, so he is way more multi-talented than most of us. This book is an action thriller, which is not my usual fare. I suspect he has a great comic novel in him, in which case I'll be at the head of the readers queuing up. But if he writes another action novel I'll still be jostling for a good position. I can't let talent like this just pass me by.
December 31, 2017
Someone I greatly admire in the book world was very excited to receive The Gun Seller as a Christmas gift which I pretty much took as an ultra-credible recommendation. The audio was at my library and I snapped it up. I didn't pay any attention to the author's name...and I'm glad I didn't because I likely wouldn't have read it. If you have never heard of this book, then don't research the author either. Just read it blind! I'm so glad I did. Obviously, after I finished this darkly hilarious piece of arms trafficking/international conspiracy action thriller, I had to find out who this author was! Admittedly, it is very unfair of me to say I was disappointed...until I learned that this person originally used a pseudonym when looking for publication opportunities. Then I finally looked beyond his name myself. Because in the end, all that matters is the book. And this book is laugh-out-loud witty, brilliantly outrageous, and a five-star read in my opinion. Take this recommendation from someone who has never been a fan of the author except for now and only in the context of The Gun Seller (and any other piece of fiction he may write). Check it out and be prepared to smirk, smile, laugh, eyeroll, chuckle, eyebrow raise and all the other involuntary reactions that happen when you read something that takes you by surprise. I absolutely loved it!
My favorite quote:
“There once was a man who went to see a psychiatrist, crippled by a fear of flying. His phobia was based on the belief that there would be a bomb on any plane he boarded. The psychiatrist tried to shift the phobia but couldn’t, so he sent his patient to a statistician. The statistician prodded a calculator and informed the man that the odds against there being a bomb on board the next flight he took were half a million to one. The man still wasn’t happy, and sat there convinced that he’d be on that one plane out of half a million. So the statistician prodded the calculator again and said ‘all right, would you feel safer if the odds were ten million to one against?’ The man said, yes, of course he would. So the statistician said ‘the odds against there being two, separate, unrelated bombs on board your next flight are exactly ten million to one against.’ The man looked puzzled, and said ‘that’s all well and good, but how does it help me?’ The statistician replied: ‘It’s very simple. You take a bomb on board with you.”
My favorite quote:
“There once was a man who went to see a psychiatrist, crippled by a fear of flying. His phobia was based on the belief that there would be a bomb on any plane he boarded. The psychiatrist tried to shift the phobia but couldn’t, so he sent his patient to a statistician. The statistician prodded a calculator and informed the man that the odds against there being a bomb on board the next flight he took were half a million to one. The man still wasn’t happy, and sat there convinced that he’d be on that one plane out of half a million. So the statistician prodded the calculator again and said ‘all right, would you feel safer if the odds were ten million to one against?’ The man said, yes, of course he would. So the statistician said ‘the odds against there being two, separate, unrelated bombs on board your next flight are exactly ten million to one against.’ The man looked puzzled, and said ‘that’s all well and good, but how does it help me?’ The statistician replied: ‘It’s very simple. You take a bomb on board with you.”
December 8, 2016
I bought this in hardback from Waterstones in Bromley when it first came out; I have a feeling I was revising for my A-levels at the time. A lot of comedians were publishing novels back then – Hugh's friend Stephen Fry had already done The Liar in 1991 (which was great – the book, that is, not the year), and before that I think it all started with Ben Elton's Stark in 1989, which I never got around to. Comedian-lit was a weird genre and not one, to be honest, that has produced many great writers; David Baddiel is probably the most talented. There was also Baddiel's quondam standup partner Rob Newman, whose first novel, Dependence Day, I remember only for a long literary apologia about the importance of ejaculating on a woman's face.
Yeah, they were all doing it in those days. (Writing novels, I mean, not discharging facewards.) In fact I read The Gun Seller in tandem with Adrian Edmondson's forgotten The Gobbler, which was fairly shit and made this seem comparatively finely-crafted. It is an above-average effort. All I can really remember of it now is that it was a kind of English comic version of Raymond Chandler; that, and one line during a high-speed road pursuit when the narrator pulls up at a traffic light near his house ‘that has never once been green in all the years I've been driving up to it’. Not sure why that stuck in my head, but I think of it all the time when I'm in the car. It's been twenty years, so that's not too bad.
Yeah, they were all doing it in those days. (Writing novels, I mean, not discharging facewards.) In fact I read The Gun Seller in tandem with Adrian Edmondson's forgotten The Gobbler, which was fairly shit and made this seem comparatively finely-crafted. It is an above-average effort. All I can really remember of it now is that it was a kind of English comic version of Raymond Chandler; that, and one line during a high-speed road pursuit when the narrator pulls up at a traffic light near his house ‘that has never once been green in all the years I've been driving up to it’. Not sure why that stuck in my head, but I think of it all the time when I'm in the car. It's been twenty years, so that's not too bad.
February 5, 2012
The only reason I read this book? You guessed it, Hugh Laurie. Anything to which his name is attached is worth a looksee. I'm not typically a fan of spy novels, so I must admit that some of the spoofing was probably lost on me. However, Laurie obviously enjoys the English language and bends and twists it to wit-laced results. As a narrator, Thomas Lang is sarcastic and self-deprecating, but also a genuinely nice guy. He's likable, someone you'd like to go have a drink with just to hear his running commentary on the people and places with which he comes into contact. Some of my favorites included his observation that hiding behind the warehouse walls was not a good idea "since the walls were no more than an inch of Gyproc plaster board, and probably couldn't have stopped a cherry-stone squeezed from the fingers of a tired three-year-old." Also, his philosophical thoughts on the use of the term bird strike: "This, rather unfairly in my view, made it sound as if it was the bird's fault; as if the little feathered chap had deliberately tried to head-butt twenty tons of metal travelling in the opposite direction at just under the speed of sound, out of spite." Amusing and sometimes laugh out loud funny, it's worth the read and will probably most appreciated by people familiar with the spy genre.
May 22, 2015
Hugh Laurie is a talented guy. I read this because I loved House MD and I wanted to know what he can do more. The book was ok but the action dragged at some points.
August 15, 2009
The Gun Seller is a strange book, in a way. The first few chapters are sort of random and whimsical, with at least one laugh-out-loud line on every page. About a quarter of the way in though, it seems like it occurs to Laurie that he actually has some storytelling to do, and sets about doing it. The book grows gradually more serious from that point, until it is close to being a Robert Ludlum-style spy thriller. It also gets rather confusing. I had a hard time figuring out the motivations of some of the characters, and what exactly they were trying to accomplish. I suppose this may have been intentional on Laurie's part, but that doesn't make it less frustrating. For that matter, maybe he planned the progression from Comic Novel to Serious Novel.
The last chapter pretty much ties everything together, to my relief; it felt for a while that Laurie didn't know himself where all of this was going. Overall it was an enjoyable and satisfying read, and definitely one of the funniest books I've ever read. As someone who's written humorous fiction, I can tell you it's not easy to balance this kind of droll, unpredictable humor with linear storytelling. Laurie is obviously one talented guy.
The last chapter pretty much ties everything together, to my relief; it felt for a while that Laurie didn't know himself where all of this was going. Overall it was an enjoyable and satisfying read, and definitely one of the funniest books I've ever read. As someone who's written humorous fiction, I can tell you it's not easy to balance this kind of droll, unpredictable humor with linear storytelling. Laurie is obviously one talented guy.
September 23, 2023
Snarky. I think that's the word to describe it. Hilarious, it is not, but snarky might be a good way to describe this. It definitely has a British sense of humour.
I only know Hugh Laurie as Dr. House, one of the best characters ever put on television. I used to assume that the writers made House great, which of course they had a hand in, but having now read Laurie's first book, I realize he put a lot of himself into that role.
The Gun Seller is a fun read, but suffers a little with pacing problems. The climax was entertaining, and the last line put a smile on my face. (Don't bother flipping to the last page, it will only make you smile if you read the whole book. I know your tricks.) The book not only feels like it was inspired by James Bond, it also uses an iconic location from the movies. So it has a self-awareness.
I picked this up because I enjoyed Laurie's portrayal of House. If you did the same, you will probably enjoy it. But I don't need to read it again.
I only know Hugh Laurie as Dr. House, one of the best characters ever put on television. I used to assume that the writers made House great, which of course they had a hand in, but having now read Laurie's first book, I realize he put a lot of himself into that role.
The Gun Seller is a fun read, but suffers a little with pacing problems. The climax was entertaining, and the last line put a smile on my face. (Don't bother flipping to the last page, it will only make you smile if you read the whole book. I know your tricks.) The book not only feels like it was inspired by James Bond, it also uses an iconic location from the movies. So it has a self-awareness.
I picked this up because I enjoyed Laurie's portrayal of House. If you did the same, you will probably enjoy it. But I don't need to read it again.
April 4, 2010
Fantastic. Fantastically funny. Fantastically savvy. Fantastically clever. Fantastically political. Fantastically cinematic. Fantastically entertaining. Fantastic.
Hugh Laurie has only written one novel, but I hope there are more to come after his near perfect debut, The Gun Seller.
Laurie takes a fairly standard "dirty CIA" story (ala Jason Bourne), tosses in some Wodehousian humour, takes the p*ss out of modern politics and democracy, builds suspense with some cracking chases, gun fights and 007-style violence, philosophizes about how the genitalia of modern men and women resemble and behave like FIATs and Volvos (respectively), offers thorough walking tours of London and Prague, and manages to come out the other end with a bang-on modern entertainment that bridges genres and expectations.
It isn't Booker Prize material, and thank God for that. Who needs the stuffy, intense and meaningful, when a talent like Laurie is willing to offer unstuffily breezy, playfully intense and subversively meaningful? Give me a beach chair in the summer (or a warm blanket in the fall) with a frosty, fruity drink (or a glass of red wine) and The Gun Seller.
It's not a bad way to spend an afternoon or two. Not bad at all.
Hugh Laurie has only written one novel, but I hope there are more to come after his near perfect debut, The Gun Seller.
Laurie takes a fairly standard "dirty CIA" story (ala Jason Bourne), tosses in some Wodehousian humour, takes the p*ss out of modern politics and democracy, builds suspense with some cracking chases, gun fights and 007-style violence, philosophizes about how the genitalia of modern men and women resemble and behave like FIATs and Volvos (respectively), offers thorough walking tours of London and Prague, and manages to come out the other end with a bang-on modern entertainment that bridges genres and expectations.
It isn't Booker Prize material, and thank God for that. Who needs the stuffy, intense and meaningful, when a talent like Laurie is willing to offer unstuffily breezy, playfully intense and subversively meaningful? Give me a beach chair in the summer (or a warm blanket in the fall) with a frosty, fruity drink (or a glass of red wine) and The Gun Seller.
It's not a bad way to spend an afternoon or two. Not bad at all.
July 13, 2010
This was a clever send up of the spy genre, but if Hugh Laurie were not working so hard to be clever in every single line, I think it would be a smoother read.
While the narrator's thoughts on sex drives, cars, how people look like their desks, etc, etc, are wry, witty, and amusing - they do not further the plot or the move the action along.
I will grant that it may be half the point of a spy novel to never know quite who is working for or with whom, this novel was overly full of characters who appeared to be in a constant state of double or triple crossing the hero / various governments / each other that it was impossible to sort out more than a general sense of shifting partners in a country dance.
It did have some truly funny moments, which save me from disliking it entirely, but if they were less expected, they would be set off to greater effect.
While the narrator's thoughts on sex drives, cars, how people look like their desks, etc, etc, are wry, witty, and amusing - they do not further the plot or the move the action along.
I will grant that it may be half the point of a spy novel to never know quite who is working for or with whom, this novel was overly full of characters who appeared to be in a constant state of double or triple crossing the hero / various governments / each other that it was impossible to sort out more than a general sense of shifting partners in a country dance.
It did have some truly funny moments, which save me from disliking it entirely, but if they were less expected, they would be set off to greater effect.
May 8, 2022
"House" dizisinin baş oyuncusu, "House"u "House" yapan o karizmatik oyuncu Hugh Laurie'nin ilk kurgu kitabı Silah Tüccarı.
Son sayfasına dek, heyecanla ve yüzümde kocaman bir gülümsemeyle okudum. Çok komik ve edebi açıdan bir polisiyeye göre çok yetkin.
Eski asker, dürüst tetikçi Thomas Lang, az çok geçinmek için küçük bir iş bulmaya çabalarken kendisini cinayetlerin, büyük paraların, kirli devlet görevlilerinin, büyük silahların ve güzel kadınların arasında bulur.
Onu kat kat aşan devasa işlerin içinden, kendisini böcek gibi ezebilecek büyük ve tehlikeli adamların arasından sıyrılabilmesi için zekasına, tecrübesine ve yeteneklerine güveniyor. Bir de hayatına pat diye düşüveren kadınlar var ki bu da Thomas'ın dertlerinin bir kısmı.
İyi bir kitap okuyacağınıza garanti veriyorum. Çok iyi bir çeviri okuyacağınıza garanti veriyorum: Övgü İçten'in zihni dert bulmasın harika bir çeviri yapmış.
Çevirinin niteliğine küçük bir kanıt:
Özgün metin:
"The other passers-by were almost certainly hearing ‘Reeded In Silly Shut Up’, but I hardly had to glance at the poster to know that he meant ‘Three Dead In City Shoot-Up.’ I bought a copy and read as I walked."
Çeviri:
"Yoldan geçenler büyük ihtimalle 'Şehriyenin Çatısı Göçürüldü' diye anlıyorlardı, ama ben gazetenin ana sayfasına baktığımda başlığın 'Şehir Çatışmasında Üç Ölü' olduğunu gördüm." (s. 164)
Yukarıdaki örnek, iyi bir çevirmenin bir kelime oyununun altından nasıl kalktığını gösteriyor.
Bir kaç tadımlık:
"... hiç kimse kiralık katil değildir, ta ki bir kiralık katile dönüşene kadar." (s. 67)
"Solomon durdu, kelimelerini tartıyordu ve muhtemelen bir kısmını olabildiğince ağır buluyordu." (s. 70)
"... üzerindeki üniforma o kadar yeniydi ki, ayak bileklerin çömelmiş, hala pantolonunun paçalarını dikmekte olan birini görmeyi bekledim." (s. 146)
"Zorunluluk kendini kandırmanın anasıdır." (s. 166)
"- övünmek gibi olmasın ama Amerikan aksanını epey iyi taklit ederim." (s. 168) (Hugh Laurie'yi tanıyanlar buradaki şakayı anlayacaklardır.)
"Bunlar aynı zamanda Mehmet Ali Ağca'nın da eline silah veren adamlar." (s. 236) (Bu kısım ilginç gelmişti bana.)
"Bu durum kaldırmaya mecbur olduğunuzu bildiğiniz kocaman, beton bir topa benziyordu. Her yanına bakıp tutacak bir yer ararsınız, ama yoktur." (s. 243)
"Kafamı iki yana sallayıp yine gözlerimi kapadım ve başka birine dönüşmeden önce kendimden son bir nefes aldım." (s. 261)
"Çöküşümüze neden olabilecek tek şey -insanlık tarihinde, bir arada iş yapan neredeyse her topluluğun çöküşüne neden olan şey- gerçekleşmedi. Çünkü yeni dünyanın mimarları olan ve özgürlük davasının bayrağını taşıyan bizler, yani Adaletin Kılıcı, bulaşık yıkama işini de paylaşıyoruz." (s. 269)
"Aslına bakılırsa ateşli silahlar bir tüp, bir parça kurşun ve biraz da baruttan başka bir şey değildir. Üstüne bir sürü karbon lifi ve hızlandırıcı yiv eklemek, vurulan adamı daha fazla ölü yapmaz. Bir silahı önemli ölçüde öldürücü kılan fazladan tek malzeme -ve neyse ki bu kötü dünyada buna nadiren rastlanıyor- silahı alıp eteşleyecek biridir." (s. 277)
"Hepsi korkmuş ve şaşkın vaziyetteydi, neler olduğunu kavrayamıyorlardı, senaryodaki yerlerini kaybetmişlerdi ve birinin hemen sayfa numarasını söylemesini istiyorlardı." (s. 385)
Son sayfasına dek, heyecanla ve yüzümde kocaman bir gülümsemeyle okudum. Çok komik ve edebi açıdan bir polisiyeye göre çok yetkin.
Eski asker, dürüst tetikçi Thomas Lang, az çok geçinmek için küçük bir iş bulmaya çabalarken kendisini cinayetlerin, büyük paraların, kirli devlet görevlilerinin, büyük silahların ve güzel kadınların arasında bulur.
Onu kat kat aşan devasa işlerin içinden, kendisini böcek gibi ezebilecek büyük ve tehlikeli adamların arasından sıyrılabilmesi için zekasına, tecrübesine ve yeteneklerine güveniyor. Bir de hayatına pat diye düşüveren kadınlar var ki bu da Thomas'ın dertlerinin bir kısmı.
İyi bir kitap okuyacağınıza garanti veriyorum. Çok iyi bir çeviri okuyacağınıza garanti veriyorum: Övgü İçten'in zihni dert bulmasın harika bir çeviri yapmış.
Çevirinin niteliğine küçük bir kanıt:
Özgün metin:
"The other passers-by were almost certainly hearing ‘Reeded In Silly Shut Up’, but I hardly had to glance at the poster to know that he meant ‘Three Dead In City Shoot-Up.’ I bought a copy and read as I walked."
Çeviri:
"Yoldan geçenler büyük ihtimalle 'Şehriyenin Çatısı Göçürüldü' diye anlıyorlardı, ama ben gazetenin ana sayfasına baktığımda başlığın 'Şehir Çatışmasında Üç Ölü' olduğunu gördüm." (s. 164)
Yukarıdaki örnek, iyi bir çevirmenin bir kelime oyununun altından nasıl kalktığını gösteriyor.
Bir kaç tadımlık:
"... hiç kimse kiralık katil değildir, ta ki bir kiralık katile dönüşene kadar." (s. 67)
"Solomon durdu, kelimelerini tartıyordu ve muhtemelen bir kısmını olabildiğince ağır buluyordu." (s. 70)
"... üzerindeki üniforma o kadar yeniydi ki, ayak bileklerin çömelmiş, hala pantolonunun paçalarını dikmekte olan birini görmeyi bekledim." (s. 146)
"Zorunluluk kendini kandırmanın anasıdır." (s. 166)
"- övünmek gibi olmasın ama Amerikan aksanını epey iyi taklit ederim." (s. 168) (Hugh Laurie'yi tanıyanlar buradaki şakayı anlayacaklardır.)
"Bunlar aynı zamanda Mehmet Ali Ağca'nın da eline silah veren adamlar." (s. 236) (Bu kısım ilginç gelmişti bana.)
"Bu durum kaldırmaya mecbur olduğunuzu bildiğiniz kocaman, beton bir topa benziyordu. Her yanına bakıp tutacak bir yer ararsınız, ama yoktur." (s. 243)
"Kafamı iki yana sallayıp yine gözlerimi kapadım ve başka birine dönüşmeden önce kendimden son bir nefes aldım." (s. 261)
"Çöküşümüze neden olabilecek tek şey -insanlık tarihinde, bir arada iş yapan neredeyse her topluluğun çöküşüne neden olan şey- gerçekleşmedi. Çünkü yeni dünyanın mimarları olan ve özgürlük davasının bayrağını taşıyan bizler, yani Adaletin Kılıcı, bulaşık yıkama işini de paylaşıyoruz." (s. 269)
"Aslına bakılırsa ateşli silahlar bir tüp, bir parça kurşun ve biraz da baruttan başka bir şey değildir. Üstüne bir sürü karbon lifi ve hızlandırıcı yiv eklemek, vurulan adamı daha fazla ölü yapmaz. Bir silahı önemli ölçüde öldürücü kılan fazladan tek malzeme -ve neyse ki bu kötü dünyada buna nadiren rastlanıyor- silahı alıp eteşleyecek biridir." (s. 277)
"Hepsi korkmuş ve şaşkın vaziyetteydi, neler olduğunu kavrayamıyorlardı, senaryodaki yerlerini kaybetmişlerdi ve birinin hemen sayfa numarasını söylemesini istiyorlardı." (s. 385)
April 27, 2019
BIG DISCLAIMER: I have been in love with Hugh Laurie most of my adult life so if I were someone else, I would not rely on any kind of objectivity here. But.
This book is pure fun. Great page-turner, a read that you cannot easily put down before you're finished. Witty, sarcastic, with a very well constructed and climactic plot - with just the right amount of dramatic effect. I think that the main risks with this type of books are (a) the story ending being unbelievable and (b) the book relying solely on plot twists and its story to remain interesting. Which in my opinion are both avoided in this one, so kudos to the author.
I really loved it and recommend it to anyone being a fan of a good adventure and spy story. I think you would not be disappointed.
P. S. Don't even think reading it in any other language than English if you can. I am confident that translation would take half of its charm away.
This book is pure fun. Great page-turner, a read that you cannot easily put down before you're finished. Witty, sarcastic, with a very well constructed and climactic plot - with just the right amount of dramatic effect. I think that the main risks with this type of books are (a) the story ending being unbelievable and (b) the book relying solely on plot twists and its story to remain interesting. Which in my opinion are both avoided in this one, so kudos to the author.
I really loved it and recommend it to anyone being a fan of a good adventure and spy story. I think you would not be disappointed.
P. S. Don't even think reading it in any other language than English if you can. I am confident that translation would take half of its charm away.
April 20, 2017
Audiobook review: the book started out strong, but got very tedious by the 2/3 point. Imagine watching a Mr. Bean marathon. Funny at first, but by the sixth hour, it's driving you up the wall. I think it's probably the format, and I might go back and read (not listen) this one someday.
February 9, 2021
3.5 stars
January 19, 2025
__________________
"Our chef's favorite seasoning? A sprinkle of laughter."
Good evening. My name is Thomas and I'll be your protagonist this evening. I highly recommend the Gun Seller special. Our chef will be Hugh Laurie, whom renown critic Steven Fry has recognized as an international gormless goggle-eyed ass.
As an amuse-bouche appetizer, I will force my way into the house of a rich bugger, because someone has tried to hire me to assassinate the old sod. I won't do that though. I have never killed anyone. Not anyone. Well, not for money, anyway.
For the main course, you will discover that I am Bond, James Bond. OK. That's not true. My name is Thomas Lang. I don't work for MI6. I do have certain skills though, although I'm not quite sure how I got them. That gormless google-eyed ass has never told me. This course is served with a devilled Bond villain as sumptuous as any in Ian Fleming novels and an ambrosial glaze of hysterical humor which I will personally baste on the plot at your table.
I will return in a moment. Right now I have to go make sure the villain gets his just dessert.
🌟🌟🌟🌟Stars. A great comic thriller.
"Our chef's favorite seasoning? A sprinkle of laughter."
Good evening. My name is Thomas and I'll be your protagonist this evening. I highly recommend the Gun Seller special. Our chef will be Hugh Laurie, whom renown critic Steven Fry has recognized as an international gormless goggle-eyed ass.
As an amuse-bouche appetizer, I will force my way into the house of a rich bugger, because someone has tried to hire me to assassinate the old sod. I won't do that though. I have never killed anyone. Not anyone. Well, not for money, anyway.
For the main course, you will discover that I am Bond, James Bond. OK. That's not true. My name is Thomas Lang. I don't work for MI6. I do have certain skills though, although I'm not quite sure how I got them. That gormless google-eyed ass has never told me. This course is served with a devilled Bond villain as sumptuous as any in Ian Fleming novels and an ambrosial glaze of hysterical humor which I will personally baste on the plot at your table.
I will return in a moment. Right now I have to go make sure the villain gets his just dessert.
🌟🌟🌟🌟Stars. A great comic thriller.
July 29, 2017
Prošlo je skoro četiri mjeseca od pročitane knjige, no osjećam se isto kao i onda kada je se sjetim. -
JES, pročitala sam je! :-) No, kako sam ju zatvorila, tako sam ju zaboravila.
Ono što je u knjizi dobro, je naslovnica i to što sam pametnoga doznala o talentiranom Dr. House-u, gospodin Hugh Laurie! Tip genijalac, ali ovo mu definitivno nije trebalo.
Naporno, dosadno, zbrkano, nebitno.. Za preskakanje savršeno!
JES, pročitala sam je! :-) No, kako sam ju zatvorila, tako sam ju zaboravila.
Ono što je u knjizi dobro, je naslovnica i to što sam pametnoga doznala o talentiranom Dr. House-u, gospodin Hugh Laurie! Tip genijalac, ali ovo mu definitivno nije trebalo.
Naporno, dosadno, zbrkano, nebitno.. Za preskakanje savršeno!
June 22, 2024
Cynical, wry freelance soldier of fortune Thomas Lang is hired to kill a man, but being a nice chap, refuses the money and goes to warn the intended victim. His discovery that the victim, an American industrialist, is also the man who hired him is only the beginning of a series of bizarre surprises and twists in store for Lang, as he is reluctantly involved in a plot to instigate a terrorist act so that a new attack helicopter can be tested out in actual combat. He falls for the industrialist's daughter, is captured, shot at, and goes undercover with a band of misguided extremists in an attempt to prevent the gun sellers from benefiting from a bloodbath.
This parody of the spy genre is about three parts P.G. Wodehouse, two parts Douglas Adams, and one part James Bond. Laurie writes in a breezy, amusing style that draws in the reader at once, and while Lang is not 100% likeable, he’s a devil-may-care noir roué with a heart of gold. His snarky narration, constantly puncturing the stuffiness of the genre, keeps the pages turning, so the few bits that are really too over the top can be overlooked. It's a very funny book in places, and the plot is wonderfully convoluted, with real drama near the end. The book could use a heavier-handed editor – perhaps Laurie's star power prevented anyone from suggesting reasonable cuts – and now and then Laurie makes unnecessary, disparaging comments about fat and short people, which will probably not lose him any fans: but come on, Hugh, we can’t all be multi-talented, tall, adorable stage and television stars. Despite these flaws, it's overall a delightfully funny novel, light and readable yet reasonably sophisticated.
[read twice: 12/23/06, 4/30/11]
This parody of the spy genre is about three parts P.G. Wodehouse, two parts Douglas Adams, and one part James Bond. Laurie writes in a breezy, amusing style that draws in the reader at once, and while Lang is not 100% likeable, he’s a devil-may-care noir roué with a heart of gold. His snarky narration, constantly puncturing the stuffiness of the genre, keeps the pages turning, so the few bits that are really too over the top can be overlooked. It's a very funny book in places, and the plot is wonderfully convoluted, with real drama near the end. The book could use a heavier-handed editor – perhaps Laurie's star power prevented anyone from suggesting reasonable cuts – and now and then Laurie makes unnecessary, disparaging comments about fat and short people, which will probably not lose him any fans: but come on, Hugh, we can’t all be multi-talented, tall, adorable stage and television stars. Despite these flaws, it's overall a delightfully funny novel, light and readable yet reasonably sophisticated.
[read twice: 12/23/06, 4/30/11]
September 3, 2008
Perhaps it's unfair to review this book seeing as I haven't finished reading it yet, but I'll do it anyway! I think, perhaps, I picked up this book for the wrong reason. I wasn't particularly interested in the story, though it did intrigue me. In all honesty, I picked it up because Hugh Laurie wrote it and I love him. (More specifically, I love Robert Sean Leonard who stars with Hugh Laurie on 'House', but has not actually written a book so this was the best I could do...) This, I have discovered, is the wrong reason to read a book. Laurie's writing style is...odd. Not like the quaint, lovably English kind of odd. It's just odd-odd. I'm not loving it, but I'm not hating it. Perhaps I can be more specific at a later date, but right now, I'm not exactly anxious to finish it.
**Update: I abandoned this book. It just held no appeal for me. Perhaps it's my scatterbrained disposition at the moment, but I just had a hard time following the story and in the end, I just didn't care. I do, however, still love Robert Sean Leonard and, by association, Hugh Laurie. :)
**Update: I abandoned this book. It just held no appeal for me. Perhaps it's my scatterbrained disposition at the moment, but I just had a hard time following the story and in the end, I just didn't care. I do, however, still love Robert Sean Leonard and, by association, Hugh Laurie. :)
July 24, 2008
I had to stop reading The Gun Seller around 1am, halfway through it, and believe me, the ONLY thing stopping me from reading to the end was an unfortunate dearth of eyelids propper-uppers, a la A Clockwork Orange.
It is LITERALLY laugh-out-loud funny. Adam (spousal unit)couldn't concentrate on his computer war game, so often did I punctuate the living room's ual silence with raucous laughter and stifled snorts.
But it is ALSO one helluva spy tale. He wrote it in 1996 and I can't for the life of me figure out why he hasn't written more -- except for maybe that little sideline of his in the thespian arena. Apparently it was immediately optioned as a screenplay; that never went anywhere, but I bet you dollars to doughnuts (WHAT does that phrase MEAN???) he could not only get it made today, but nab the leading role to boot (and what does THAT phrase mean?).
It is LITERALLY laugh-out-loud funny. Adam (spousal unit)couldn't concentrate on his computer war game, so often did I punctuate the living room's ual silence with raucous laughter and stifled snorts.
But it is ALSO one helluva spy tale. He wrote it in 1996 and I can't for the life of me figure out why he hasn't written more -- except for maybe that little sideline of his in the thespian arena. Apparently it was immediately optioned as a screenplay; that never went anywhere, but I bet you dollars to doughnuts (WHAT does that phrase MEAN???) he could not only get it made today, but nab the leading role to boot (and what does THAT phrase mean?).
May 9, 2017
Rather good, rather funny, rather decent plot.
Write some more Mr Laurie!
Write some more Mr Laurie!
May 6, 2013
This book has been on my to-read list for ages. Adding it was as simple as, “Hugh Laurie wrote a novel? Sold!” The fact that it’s a novel about a British ex-military freelancer trying to prevent the assassination of the American businessman he was hired to kill … well, that’s just a bonus. Some books keep their wit bottled up and dole it out carefully over the course of the story. The Gun Seller isn’t like that: from the very first page, Laurie makes it clear that this is a tongue-in-cheek, semi-absurd story that leverages the best of the dry humour I appreciate in my British comedy.
Thomas Lang is a hired gun—though for what, Laurie never bothers to make clear. I can’t imagine it would be for killing people, since he says that he doesn’t do that sort of thing. That’s why he chooses to warn Alexander Woolf instead of undertake Woolf’s assassination. This beneficent act puts Lang on the hit list of such luminaries as the Ministry of Defence, the CIA, and private arms contractors. Lang finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that, by the standards of 2013, is laughably straightforward and banal. I imagine that in the pre–Iraq War, pre-9/11 world of 1996, however, it seemed amazingly complicated and incredible.
As with any book in this vein of comedy, two things make it awesome: characters and voice. Laurie has both down. Thomas Lang, as the main character and narrator, is a quip-filled fellow with a surprisingly optimistic view of the universe. He loves observing other people, especially when he has just finished making them uncomfortable. And he has gall. He will lie through his teeth to make a plan work, and when the plan goes pear-shaped—which it inevitably does—he will just roll with the punches until he finds a way to get another lucky break.
If it were just Thomas, The Gun Seller would be a good novel. But Laurie puts that extra effort in to create a comprehensive cast of comedic characters. Solomon, Thomas’s sometimes assistant, is a combination of a sardonic butler and handler. His boss, O’Neal, is a delightfully slimy bureaucrat who enjoys trading barbs with Thomas. And there are both British and American antagonists, and Laurie does a good job differentiating between the two in terms of attitude, behaviour, and dialogue.
Thomas Lang’s voice is an even more compelling component than the characters. Laurie reveals himself as a writer with a skilled command of the English language. His descriptions, allusions, and metaphors are second to none. I love this line: “There's an undeniable pleasure in stepping into an open-top sports car driven by a beautiful woman. It feels like you're climbing into a metaphor.” Reading The Gun Seller is a funny experience on par with Douglas Adams, Nick Harkaway’s Angelmaker , or Laurie’s own favourite, P.G. Wodehouse. The wry descriptions that are hallmarks of such authors are present here, interspersed with periods of intense, staccato action.
While reading The Gun Seller, I couldn’t stop thinking about The Hitman Diaries . The two books are superficially similar, both humorous attempts to explore the world of contract killing. The latter, in my opinion, falls down because it tries too hard to be a love story in addition to all the other things it does well. The Gun Seller avoids this pitfall—this isn’t really a love story, despite the appearance to the contrary at the first.
Indeed, what most impressed me about this book was its unpredictability. There are plenty of twists that I didn’t see coming—and considering the rather simple nature of the plot and the conflict, that’s no small feat. I can read any number of books with this type of dry humour, but few of them will be able to keep me hooked as Thomas careens from one type of danger to the next. I certainly didn’t see the plot developing the way it did, branching out from assassination to international terrorism and hostage crises in the Middle East.
It might be strange to call The Gun Seller “cute” considering the subject matter, but it kind of is. It’s a delightful little package of a novel: slick and funny and fun, and on top of that a good story with a great main character. I’d read a sequel at the drop of a hat, but until such a thing materializes, I will have to content myself with the fond memories this book has created. Oh, and recommend it to a whole bunch of like-minded fans of dry British humour.
Thomas Lang is a hired gun—though for what, Laurie never bothers to make clear. I can’t imagine it would be for killing people, since he says that he doesn’t do that sort of thing. That’s why he chooses to warn Alexander Woolf instead of undertake Woolf’s assassination. This beneficent act puts Lang on the hit list of such luminaries as the Ministry of Defence, the CIA, and private arms contractors. Lang finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that, by the standards of 2013, is laughably straightforward and banal. I imagine that in the pre–Iraq War, pre-9/11 world of 1996, however, it seemed amazingly complicated and incredible.
As with any book in this vein of comedy, two things make it awesome: characters and voice. Laurie has both down. Thomas Lang, as the main character and narrator, is a quip-filled fellow with a surprisingly optimistic view of the universe. He loves observing other people, especially when he has just finished making them uncomfortable. And he has gall. He will lie through his teeth to make a plan work, and when the plan goes pear-shaped—which it inevitably does—he will just roll with the punches until he finds a way to get another lucky break.
If it were just Thomas, The Gun Seller would be a good novel. But Laurie puts that extra effort in to create a comprehensive cast of comedic characters. Solomon, Thomas’s sometimes assistant, is a combination of a sardonic butler and handler. His boss, O’Neal, is a delightfully slimy bureaucrat who enjoys trading barbs with Thomas. And there are both British and American antagonists, and Laurie does a good job differentiating between the two in terms of attitude, behaviour, and dialogue.
Thomas Lang’s voice is an even more compelling component than the characters. Laurie reveals himself as a writer with a skilled command of the English language. His descriptions, allusions, and metaphors are second to none. I love this line: “There's an undeniable pleasure in stepping into an open-top sports car driven by a beautiful woman. It feels like you're climbing into a metaphor.” Reading The Gun Seller is a funny experience on par with Douglas Adams, Nick Harkaway’s Angelmaker , or Laurie’s own favourite, P.G. Wodehouse. The wry descriptions that are hallmarks of such authors are present here, interspersed with periods of intense, staccato action.
While reading The Gun Seller, I couldn’t stop thinking about The Hitman Diaries . The two books are superficially similar, both humorous attempts to explore the world of contract killing. The latter, in my opinion, falls down because it tries too hard to be a love story in addition to all the other things it does well. The Gun Seller avoids this pitfall—this isn’t really a love story, despite the appearance to the contrary at the first.
Indeed, what most impressed me about this book was its unpredictability. There are plenty of twists that I didn’t see coming—and considering the rather simple nature of the plot and the conflict, that’s no small feat. I can read any number of books with this type of dry humour, but few of them will be able to keep me hooked as Thomas careens from one type of danger to the next. I certainly didn’t see the plot developing the way it did, branching out from assassination to international terrorism and hostage crises in the Middle East.
It might be strange to call The Gun Seller “cute” considering the subject matter, but it kind of is. It’s a delightful little package of a novel: slick and funny and fun, and on top of that a good story with a great main character. I’d read a sequel at the drop of a hat, but until such a thing materializes, I will have to content myself with the fond memories this book has created. Oh, and recommend it to a whole bunch of like-minded fans of dry British humour.
March 13, 2018
📕📕📕 Η άποψη μου 📕📕📕
Τίτλος : Μην πας ποτέ στην Καζαμπλάνκα
Εγώ πήγα και έχω να σας πω ότι είχα ένα ταξίδι γεμάτο ίντριγκες,δράση,και περίπλοκες καταστάσεις .
Ο Χιου Λόρι ο γνωστός σε όλους μας τηλεοπτικός χαρακτήρας από την τηλεοπτική σειρά House MD είναι ο συγγραφέας του βιβλίου και διαβάζοντας το ένιωθα ότι ο ήρωας,ήταν ο ίδιος χαρακτήρας. Με το σαρκαστικό μοναδικό χαρακτήρα του γέλασα πάρα πολύ σε κάθε σελίδα του βιβλίου.
Καταιγιστική δράση , έξυπνη πλοκή ,ατάκες με απίστευτο καυστικό χιούμορ σε κάθε πρόταση συνδυασμένα με την αγωνία συνέθεσαν ένα απίστευτο πρωτότυπο μυθιστόρημα που πραγματικά το λάτρεψα !
Έξυπνο, ιδιοφυή και μοναδικό κατάφερε να μου βγάλει όλα τα συναισθηματα και να στεναχωρηθώ όταν έφτασα στη τελευταία σελίδα , πραγματικά δεν ήθελα να τελειώσει!
Μια πένα ξεχωριστή ένα βιβλίο που κατάφερε να δημιουργήσει την δικιά του μοναδική κατηγορία !
Σας το συστήνω ανεπιφύλακτα και σας λέω πολύ απλά ότι θα το λατρέψετε !
Του βάζω 5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Σύνοψη του βιβλίου "Μην πας ποτέ στην Καζαμπλάνκα"
Ο Τόμας Λανγκ είναι ένας παλιός στρατιωτικός που φυτοζωεί στο Λονδίνο καταναλώνοντας ουίσκι και τριγυρνώντας με την αγαπημένη του μοτοσικλέτα. Για να κερδίσει τα προς το ζην, "εργάζεται" ως σωματοφύλακας και μισθοφόρος σε διάφορες αποστολές που του αναθέτουν οι παλιοί του γνώριμοι από το στρατό, μέχρι τη μέρα που κάποιος του προτείνει εκατό χιλιάδες δολάρια προκειμένου να δολοφονήσει τον εκατομμυριούχο κύριο Γουλφ. Ο Λανγκ όχι μόνο αρνείται, αλλά και επιχειρεί να προειδοποιήσει το υποψήφιο θύμα του για τον κίνδυνο που διατρέχει. Απερισκεψία; Ένδειξη καλής ανατροφής; Κεραυνοβόλος έρωτας με την κόρη του εκατομμυριούχου Γουλφ; Ο παρ' ολίγον πληρωμένος δολοφόνος βρίσκεται μπλεγμένος σε έναν κυκεώνα συνωμοσιών, εκβιασμών και δολοφονιών μέσα σ' ένα κοσμοπολίτικο περιβάλλον όπου παρεπιδημούν ακραίοι και αδίστακτοι χαρακτήρες. Και μερικές πολύ πολύ ελκυστικές γυναίκες.
Συγγραφέας: Laurie Hugh
Ημερ/νία έκδοσης: 12/2010
Εκδότης: Opera
Σελίδες: 459
Τίτλος : Μην πας ποτέ στην Καζαμπλάνκα
Εγώ πήγα και έχω να σας πω ότι είχα ένα ταξίδι γεμάτο ίντριγκες,δράση,και περίπλοκες καταστάσεις .
Ο Χιου Λόρι ο γνωστός σε όλους μας τηλεοπτικός χαρακτήρας από την τηλεοπτική σειρά House MD είναι ο συγγραφέας του βιβλίου και διαβάζοντας το ένιωθα ότι ο ήρωας,ήταν ο ίδιος χαρακτήρας. Με το σαρκαστικό μοναδικό χαρακτήρα του γέλασα πάρα πολύ σε κάθε σελίδα του βιβλίου.
Καταιγιστική δράση , έξυπνη πλοκή ,ατάκες με απίστευτο καυστικό χιούμορ σε κάθε πρόταση συνδυασμένα με την αγωνία συνέθεσαν ένα απίστευτο πρωτότυπο μυθιστόρημα που πραγματικά το λάτρεψα !
Έξυπνο, ιδιοφυή και μοναδικό κατάφερε να μου βγάλει όλα τα συναισθηματα και να στεναχωρηθώ όταν έφτασα στη τελευταία σελίδα , πραγματικά δεν ήθελα να τελειώσει!
Μια πένα ξεχωριστή ένα βιβλίο που κατάφερε να δημιουργήσει την δικιά του μοναδική κατηγορία !
Σας το συστήνω ανεπιφύλακτα και σας λέω πολύ απλά ότι θα το λατρέψετε !
Του βάζω 5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Σύνοψη του βιβλίου "Μην πας ποτέ στην Καζαμπλάνκα"
Ο Τόμας Λανγκ είναι ένας παλιός στρατιωτικός που φυτοζωεί στο Λονδίνο καταναλώνοντας ουίσκι και τριγυρνώντας με την αγαπημένη του μοτοσικλέτα. Για να κερδίσει τα προς το ζην, "εργάζεται" ως σωματοφύλακας και μισθοφόρος σε διάφορες αποστολές που του αναθέτουν οι παλιοί του γνώριμοι από το στρατό, μέχρι τη μέρα που κάποιος του προτείνει εκατό χιλιάδες δολάρια προκειμένου να δολοφονήσει τον εκατομμυριούχο κύριο Γουλφ. Ο Λανγκ όχι μόνο αρνείται, αλλά και επιχειρεί να προειδοποιήσει το υποψήφιο θύμα του για τον κίνδυνο που διατρέχει. Απερισκεψία; Ένδειξη καλής ανατροφής; Κεραυνοβόλος έρωτας με την κόρη του εκατομμυριούχου Γουλφ; Ο παρ' ολίγον πληρωμένος δολοφόνος βρίσκεται μπλεγμένος σε έναν κυκεώνα συνωμοσιών, εκβιασμών και δολοφονιών μέσα σ' ένα κοσμοπολίτικο περιβάλλον όπου παρεπιδημούν ακραίοι και αδίστακτοι χαρακτήρες. Και μερικές πολύ πολύ ελκυστικές γυναίκες.
Συγγραφέας: Laurie Hugh
Ημερ/νία έκδοσης: 12/2010
Εκδότης: Opera
Σελίδες: 459
September 5, 2015
Well, I can't say I'm surprised that Hugh Laurie's comic genius extends to writing novels just as well as it does to bringing other people's novels to life. This one isn't just funny, it's better plotted than most James Bond capers and with more interesting characters to boot. Laurie also finds time to pepper the book with his protagonists charming philosophizing, like this when he's discussing why it is he thinks he is isn't in a relationship:
If you only know Hugh Laurie from House, I feel sorry for you and recommend that you remedy the situation by immediately reading this book and spending at minimum one full weekend gorging yourself on Jeeves and Wooster. Also watch the Emma Thompson/Ang Lee version of Sense and Sensibility, not only because it is perhaps the most perfect adaptation of an English novel ever made, but also because Hugh Laurie has an absolutely stunning bit part as Mr. Palmer.
"[Men and women] want different things. Men want to have sex with a woman. Then they want to have sex with another woman. And then another. Then they want to eat cornflakes and sleep for a while, and then they want to have sex with another woman, and another, until they die. Women," and I thought I'd better pick my words a little more carefully when describing a gender I didn't belong to, "want a relationship. They may not get it, or they may sleep with a lot of men before they do get it, but ultimately that's what they want. That's the goal. Men don't have goals. Natural ones. So they invent them, and put them at either end of a football pitch. And then they invent football. Or they pick fights, or try and get rich, or start wars, or come up with any number of daft bloody things to make up for the fact that they have no real goals. "
"Bollocks," said Ronnie.
"That, of course, is the other main difference."
If you only know Hugh Laurie from House, I feel sorry for you and recommend that you remedy the situation by immediately reading this book and spending at minimum one full weekend gorging yourself on Jeeves and Wooster. Also watch the Emma Thompson/Ang Lee version of Sense and Sensibility, not only because it is perhaps the most perfect adaptation of an English novel ever made, but also because Hugh Laurie has an absolutely stunning bit part as Mr. Palmer.
September 13, 2019
Well, I don't know what I was expecting from this book. Humor? Yes. Clever story building? Yes. Terrorist groups and fighting? Not really. I guess I dived in without even reading the synopsis (the author was the focal point this time). Overall, it had all the classic elements of an action movie plot: the hero, a woman that needs to be saved, good guys and bad guys, a lot of people that will die pointlessly unless something is done, and the general great injustice bestowed on normal humans by the very rich. On top of it all, the book was full of action with a lot of British humor (sometimes too much of it... I mean at the beginning I was considering skipping some lines to get ahead with the story because it was becoming unnecessarily distracting and not even funny anymore). As an entertaining read, it works. As a good piece of literature? Not really. I guess it has the potential to be made into an average action movie (might need to tweak the ending a bit, though).
June 19, 2007
Hugh Laurie is...I suppose I should begin by saying I have something of a crush on him. In the beginning he was fantastic in "Blackadder" as the various Georges, then he was extremely fabulous opposite Stephen Fry in "Jeeves and Wooster", and then, having proved himself one of the best comic actors of his generation, he came to America to star in "House", and became not just one of the most versatile actors, but a sex symbol to boot.
It was on the strength of this reputation that I started to read The Gun Seller. I finished it because it is a novel of the sort I rarely encounter and seldom have the words to describe. If I were the sort who gave things one line zingers, Hollywood pitch style, I'd say it's "P.G. Wodehouse meets Ian Flemming", and I don't think I'd be far off. Laurie has taken plot elements from spy novels and, discarding Flemming's often wooden prose (have you ever read a Bond book? I have. There's a reason there's not a huge market for them) he infects the whole thing with the humor and energy of a Wodehouse book, and keeps a lovely dark underbelly to the whole thing, because he is a comedian and the one thing comedians do better than anyone else is look at the downside of things.
Thomas Lang, once of the British Military Complex but now a sort of free spirit muscle-for-hire, is offered quite a bit of cash to assassinate an American businessman. He says no, and then undertakes to warn the intended target, something he has cause to regret over the next three hundred or so pages. Through the whole thing, he gives both a view of and commentary on the events he experiences, interlacing everything with a rather dark, funny look at human nature. He also gives a refreshing perspective on Americans and Americana, one that most US writers (and to be honest, most Brits as well) either don't see or don't have the courage to write about.
Laurie as a writer is notable because he does in many ways what Wodehouse strove to do: cast off cliche and look at everything anew, try to figure out which poetic tropes we refer to work and which should be tossed out with the morning mail. He subverts some idioms and picks at the fabric of others.
While the language is wonderful, it is in this vein that the novel occasionally stumbles. At the beginning of one crucial scene, Lang spends several paragraphs nattering on about why we say "day breaks" but "night falls" when perhaps "night breaks" would be more accurate. Wodehousian novels require a certain amount of momentum to carry themselves along, and these moments of introspection (while doubtless serving a point from a literary perspective) provide a bit too much of a stall to the story; picture a paper airplane thrown upwards at a slightly-too-steep incline that, reaching the top of the arc, slows almost to a standstill before turning and falling. Some parts of the book feel like a prolonged series of these peaks and dips. But as I said, I am completely willing to overlook this, because it is in all other respects a tightly plotted, funny, insightful, and above all energetic novel. Someone tell Mr. Laurie to get in the line for high fives - he's totally earned them.
It was on the strength of this reputation that I started to read The Gun Seller. I finished it because it is a novel of the sort I rarely encounter and seldom have the words to describe. If I were the sort who gave things one line zingers, Hollywood pitch style, I'd say it's "P.G. Wodehouse meets Ian Flemming", and I don't think I'd be far off. Laurie has taken plot elements from spy novels and, discarding Flemming's often wooden prose (have you ever read a Bond book? I have. There's a reason there's not a huge market for them) he infects the whole thing with the humor and energy of a Wodehouse book, and keeps a lovely dark underbelly to the whole thing, because he is a comedian and the one thing comedians do better than anyone else is look at the downside of things.
Thomas Lang, once of the British Military Complex but now a sort of free spirit muscle-for-hire, is offered quite a bit of cash to assassinate an American businessman. He says no, and then undertakes to warn the intended target, something he has cause to regret over the next three hundred or so pages. Through the whole thing, he gives both a view of and commentary on the events he experiences, interlacing everything with a rather dark, funny look at human nature. He also gives a refreshing perspective on Americans and Americana, one that most US writers (and to be honest, most Brits as well) either don't see or don't have the courage to write about.
Laurie as a writer is notable because he does in many ways what Wodehouse strove to do: cast off cliche and look at everything anew, try to figure out which poetic tropes we refer to work and which should be tossed out with the morning mail. He subverts some idioms and picks at the fabric of others.
While the language is wonderful, it is in this vein that the novel occasionally stumbles. At the beginning of one crucial scene, Lang spends several paragraphs nattering on about why we say "day breaks" but "night falls" when perhaps "night breaks" would be more accurate. Wodehousian novels require a certain amount of momentum to carry themselves along, and these moments of introspection (while doubtless serving a point from a literary perspective) provide a bit too much of a stall to the story; picture a paper airplane thrown upwards at a slightly-too-steep incline that, reaching the top of the arc, slows almost to a standstill before turning and falling. Some parts of the book feel like a prolonged series of these peaks and dips. But as I said, I am completely willing to overlook this, because it is in all other respects a tightly plotted, funny, insightful, and above all energetic novel. Someone tell Mr. Laurie to get in the line for high fives - he's totally earned them.
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