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Three to See the King
A novel rich in comic menace from the author of The Restraint of Beasts
In a setting Samuel Beckett might have found homey lives a man in a house made of tin. He is content. The tin house is well constructed and located miles from the tin houses of his nearest neighbors. Though he seems to have escaped society, however, society finds him.
One day, a woman arrives and moves in. Soon a neighbor comes to visit, and then another. Soon, moving figures silhouette the horizon. People dismantling their tin houses and setting off to find a master builder with a revolutionary message. The gravitational pull cannot be resisted.
Nor can this novel. Part mystery, part parable, Three to See the King stalks the reader’s imagination and grows inexorably and irresistibly in the telling.
In a setting Samuel Beckett might have found homey lives a man in a house made of tin. He is content. The tin house is well constructed and located miles from the tin houses of his nearest neighbors. Though he seems to have escaped society, however, society finds him.
One day, a woman arrives and moves in. Soon a neighbor comes to visit, and then another. Soon, moving figures silhouette the horizon. People dismantling their tin houses and setting off to find a master builder with a revolutionary message. The gravitational pull cannot be resisted.
Nor can this novel. Part mystery, part parable, Three to See the King stalks the reader’s imagination and grows inexorably and irresistibly in the telling.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
September 6, 2009
I often have difficulty separating the book from the circumstances under which I read it. I read this while I was taking care of my father after his prostate surgery. His catheter got clogged, causing intense pain. He wasn’t able to climb into his own truck, a giant throaty Chevy, so I screamed on the front lawn until the neighbors came out, and one gave me his car to transport my father to the hospital. I threw him in the back seat and drove at high speeds across miles of country highway to the hospital in the nearest city. The procedure to unclog the catheter took only a minute or two, but the procedure to establish that my father’s insurance would pay took hours, and my father was visibly shaken from the speed and pain and hospital lights and health professionals in his underpants. During which I was glad to have Magnus Mills’ book miraculously appear in my bag. I read it out loud to him, and he flushed at some of the naughty bits. The simplicity of the story, its easy language and strong imagery, helped my father’s heart rate come down.
July 27, 2020
I am a big fan of Magnus Mills, and having now read more than half of what he has written it seems they fall into two categories. The Restraint Of Beasts, The Maintenance Of Headway, All Quiet On the Orient Express are in one category. They tell more of a story with a plot and have humour, albeit black.
This has similarities to The Field of the Cloth Of Gold and is similarly an allegory as to the way we live. When reading Mills I am always left thinking if something else, and deeper, is going on. Is there a subliminal message? And its particularly the case here.
An unnamed narrator lives in a house made of tin in an unnamed county at an unspecified time period on a sandy and windswept plain. There are no roads or vehicles, or any mention or insinuation of there being any children or electricity. It is almost Kafka-esque, it could be an ancient civilisation even. Initially our narrator has a hermit-like lifestyle but as the novella progresses more and more people come into the tale.
Despite its strangeness there is a story being told, or a parable even, and Mills leaves his trademark humour stamped on it, though it is never ‘laugh out loud’. For example:
‘Do you have any spares pieces of tin on the premises?’ asked Philip.
‘No, sorry, I dont.’
He looked genuinely surprised. ‘What, none at all?’
‘No.’
‘But what if a stranger came by and asked for some?’ said Simon. ‘What would you do then? ‘
‘Don’t know,’ I replied.
‘Has it ever happened?’
‘No, actually, it hasn’t!’
One look at Patrick Pybus told me it was futile trying to explain the finer points of living in a house of tin. He was simply too enthusiastic to understand that primarily you needed to be alone, and miles from the next person.
This has similarities to The Field of the Cloth Of Gold and is similarly an allegory as to the way we live. When reading Mills I am always left thinking if something else, and deeper, is going on. Is there a subliminal message? And its particularly the case here.
An unnamed narrator lives in a house made of tin in an unnamed county at an unspecified time period on a sandy and windswept plain. There are no roads or vehicles, or any mention or insinuation of there being any children or electricity. It is almost Kafka-esque, it could be an ancient civilisation even. Initially our narrator has a hermit-like lifestyle but as the novella progresses more and more people come into the tale.
Despite its strangeness there is a story being told, or a parable even, and Mills leaves his trademark humour stamped on it, though it is never ‘laugh out loud’. For example:
‘Do you have any spares pieces of tin on the premises?’ asked Philip.
‘No, sorry, I dont.’
He looked genuinely surprised. ‘What, none at all?’
‘No.’
‘But what if a stranger came by and asked for some?’ said Simon. ‘What would you do then? ‘
‘Don’t know,’ I replied.
‘Has it ever happened?’
‘No, actually, it hasn’t!’
One look at Patrick Pybus told me it was futile trying to explain the finer points of living in a house of tin. He was simply too enthusiastic to understand that primarily you needed to be alone, and miles from the next person.
November 30, 2025
فضای خاص و جالبی داشت، یه فضای ابزورد
سرگردونی آدما، پوچی، اینکه نمیدونند دنبال چی هستند، باری به هر جهت بودن، رهبریهای پوچ و... مضامین اصلی کتاب هستند
سرگردونی آدما، پوچی، اینکه نمیدونند دنبال چی هستند، باری به هر جهت بودن، رهبریهای پوچ و... مضامین اصلی کتاب هستند
October 9, 2011
Magnus Mills' allegory of a man who abandons his tin house to follow a messianic figure who wants to build a city of tin houses, only to return, is intriguing but not compelling. A critical portrait of idealistic certitude and those who follow without question, the book takes far too long to get moving, and lacks the punch that a more character-driven and less symbolically resonant novel may have. Perhaps it is his pacing that reminds me of Jim Krusoe's surreal narratives, or the cosmological completeness in his imagined allegorical universe, but Mills does not create the same sense of urgency that comes from recognizing the similarities between your world and the imagined one. Despite Krusoe's strangeness, there is always a hint of the familiar in his stories. Here, we get a touch of the strange with no sense of pathos to connect it to our own world.
September 12, 2008
Pure genius and it was so close to home I'm sure he wrote it just for me. It's about a man who lives in a desert in a house of tin because he wants to get away from the world and listen to the rain hammering on his rooftop. This and that happens, and it turns into a cautionary tale about leadership. You have a vision and you build it on your own at first, then people join you and it's great for a while, but the more successful you get, the more people join, and they all make demands on you, and eventually they get pissed at you because you're not fulfilling all their dreams the way you were supposed to. And you think, bugger it, I'll go back to working on my own.
August 2, 2019
A wonderfully quirky and intriguing book; most enjoyable. If you liked The Restraint of Beasts you will definitely enjoy this one too.
December 11, 2024
4,75
Aivan uusi tuntematon löytö kirjaston hyllystä. Thank god for kirjastot! Jo kansi kiinnosti, toki nimi myös varsinkin kun katsoin sisäsivuilta alkuperäisen teoksen nimen (Three to see the King) ja lainaustiskille välittömästi kun luin ensimmäisen sivun, joka alkoi sanoilla :
” Asun talossa joka on kokonaan peltiä, neljä peltiseinää, peltikatto, savupiippu ja ovi. Kaikki pellistä. Talossani ei ole ikkunoita sillä mitään nähtävää ei ole. Ikkunaluukut siinä toki on, niin että voin päästää valoa sisään tarvittaessa, mutta se ovat sään takia enimmäkseen kiinni.”
Siis mitä? Okei, tämä teos oli yksi omituisimmista vähään aikaan, ja kiinnostavimmista tematiikkansa takia, sen ansiosta. Tässä oli tasoja, paljon pohdittavaa, pinnan alle jätettyä viisautta (vaikka tämän voi ihan hyvin lukea aikuisten satunakin) ja mustaa huumoria, satiiria, sellaista outoa kummallista vinoumaa mistä pidän.
Nimetön mies on asettunut peltitaloonsa aavikon ylängöillä jo vuosia sitten.
Päähenkilö on enemmän kuin tyytyväinen äärimmäisen pelkistettyyn yksinkertaisuuteen elämässään.
Miehen elämässä ei ”tapahdu”mitään. Elämää rytmittää rutiinit ja ympäristön (erityisesti säätilan ja sen tuottamien äänien) tarkkailu.
Mies, erakko, ei kaipaa mitään, alussa ei edes sosiaalisia suhteita. Miehellä on vaatimattomassa asumuksessaan, itse valitsemassaa, jo kaikki mitä hän tarvitsee siitä huolimatta, ettei elämä ole täsmälleen sitä, mistä hän on alunperin unelmoinut.
Peltitalossa asuminen, yksinäisyys, on itsetarkoitus, siitä muodostuu kokonainen yksinkertaisuuden ideologia ja elämänfilosofia.
Mutta sitten taloon kävelee sisään nainen, tuntematon, tai ainakin melkein tuntematon. Nainen asettuu taloksi yläkertaan ja mies pikkuhiljaa päätyy naisen kanssa samaan sänkyyn. Kohta talossa asutaan naisen säännöillä ja karu peltiasumus muokkautuu kodiksi näille kahdelle hyvin erikoiselle hahmolle.
Naapureitakin on. Kolme samanmoista yksinäisen elämän valinnutta peltitaloasujaa asuu kilometrien päästä nimettömän miehen talosta, lapioi tuntien ajan hiekkaa ulko-ovelta joka aamu, kuuntelee kovan tuulenvinkan kolisuttelemia seiniään, peltikaton räminää.
Sitten tulee toinen muutos.
Kolme naapuria purkaa talonsa, muuttaa talonsa pellinpalat kanjonin liepeille. Naapurit häipyvät sanomatta sanaakaan miehelle ja Marylle. Nimetön mies lopulta lähtee kadonneiden naapureiden perään (Maryn usuttamana) ja mies löytää naapurinsa sielä minne itse vuosia sitten halusi, kanjonia kaivamasta. Kanjonilla tavataan mysteerinen Michael Hawkins, messiaanomainen mies, jonka ympärille on kerääntynyt seurakunnan verran seuraajia, peltitaloelämästä haaveilevia ja nimetön mieskin päätyy kaivamaan Michaelin kanjonin savimaata, muokkaamaan kanjonia.
Taas uusi muutos. Kaikki hajoaa, väkimäärän keskuudessa syntyy kapina, seuraa kaaos.
Mahtava tarina vaikkakin kysymyksiä jäi, kysymyksistä yksinäisyydestä, sosiaalisuudesta, laumoista, laumaelämisestä, sen tarpeesta, sen vaikutuksista omaan mielenrauhaan, rauhaan.
Tarina oli koherentti mutta paikka ja aika, jonne kertomus oli sidottu, herätti enemmän ja enemmän kysymyksiä. Onko tämä satu, mielikuvitusmaa, missä periodissa ollaan…? Mistä ruoka taloihin tulee, mistä vesi, mistä sähkö? Mistä kaikki ne leivokset, joita nimetön mies vie kanjoniin lähteneille entisille naapureilleen? Mistä miehet ovat hiekka-aavikon ylängölle tulleet. Mistä nainen. Mistä kaikki peltitaloelämästä haaveilleet tulevat, kuka on tämä jeesuksenkaltainen apostolimies Michel Hawkins, joka tietää vastaukset kaikkiin kysymyksiin, joka rakkaudellisesti vastaa lukemattomiin kysymyksiin, ratkaisee riidat pelkästään olemuksellaan.
Ja kuka on se epäileväinen juudas, naisihminen Jane,joka kyseenalaistaa kaiken, Michelin tarkoitusperät ja kaikki päätyy kaaokseen, pettymykseen.
Raamatullista, sanoisin.
Ja lopussa palataan takaisin sinne mistä lähdettiin, yksinkertaisuuteen, yksinoloon? Niinkö?
Avoin loppu, kuten huomaatte.
”Minun taloni on palvellut minua hyvin. Vaikka se on vain peltiä, se pysyi pystyssä kuningaskuntien pyyhkiytyessä pois. Se on yhtäaikaa turvapaikkani ja linnoitukseni. Olkoon se teidän temppelinne. ”
Tosi tosi hyvä.
Aivan uusi tuntematon löytö kirjaston hyllystä. Thank god for kirjastot! Jo kansi kiinnosti, toki nimi myös varsinkin kun katsoin sisäsivuilta alkuperäisen teoksen nimen (Three to see the King) ja lainaustiskille välittömästi kun luin ensimmäisen sivun, joka alkoi sanoilla :
” Asun talossa joka on kokonaan peltiä, neljä peltiseinää, peltikatto, savupiippu ja ovi. Kaikki pellistä. Talossani ei ole ikkunoita sillä mitään nähtävää ei ole. Ikkunaluukut siinä toki on, niin että voin päästää valoa sisään tarvittaessa, mutta se ovat sään takia enimmäkseen kiinni.”
Siis mitä? Okei, tämä teos oli yksi omituisimmista vähään aikaan, ja kiinnostavimmista tematiikkansa takia, sen ansiosta. Tässä oli tasoja, paljon pohdittavaa, pinnan alle jätettyä viisautta (vaikka tämän voi ihan hyvin lukea aikuisten satunakin) ja mustaa huumoria, satiiria, sellaista outoa kummallista vinoumaa mistä pidän.
Nimetön mies on asettunut peltitaloonsa aavikon ylängöillä jo vuosia sitten.
Päähenkilö on enemmän kuin tyytyväinen äärimmäisen pelkistettyyn yksinkertaisuuteen elämässään.
Miehen elämässä ei ”tapahdu”mitään. Elämää rytmittää rutiinit ja ympäristön (erityisesti säätilan ja sen tuottamien äänien) tarkkailu.
Mies, erakko, ei kaipaa mitään, alussa ei edes sosiaalisia suhteita. Miehellä on vaatimattomassa asumuksessaan, itse valitsemassaa, jo kaikki mitä hän tarvitsee siitä huolimatta, ettei elämä ole täsmälleen sitä, mistä hän on alunperin unelmoinut.
Peltitalossa asuminen, yksinäisyys, on itsetarkoitus, siitä muodostuu kokonainen yksinkertaisuuden ideologia ja elämänfilosofia.
Mutta sitten taloon kävelee sisään nainen, tuntematon, tai ainakin melkein tuntematon. Nainen asettuu taloksi yläkertaan ja mies pikkuhiljaa päätyy naisen kanssa samaan sänkyyn. Kohta talossa asutaan naisen säännöillä ja karu peltiasumus muokkautuu kodiksi näille kahdelle hyvin erikoiselle hahmolle.
Naapureitakin on. Kolme samanmoista yksinäisen elämän valinnutta peltitaloasujaa asuu kilometrien päästä nimettömän miehen talosta, lapioi tuntien ajan hiekkaa ulko-ovelta joka aamu, kuuntelee kovan tuulenvinkan kolisuttelemia seiniään, peltikaton räminää.
Sitten tulee toinen muutos.
Kolme naapuria purkaa talonsa, muuttaa talonsa pellinpalat kanjonin liepeille. Naapurit häipyvät sanomatta sanaakaan miehelle ja Marylle. Nimetön mies lopulta lähtee kadonneiden naapureiden perään (Maryn usuttamana) ja mies löytää naapurinsa sielä minne itse vuosia sitten halusi, kanjonia kaivamasta. Kanjonilla tavataan mysteerinen Michael Hawkins, messiaanomainen mies, jonka ympärille on kerääntynyt seurakunnan verran seuraajia, peltitaloelämästä haaveilevia ja nimetön mieskin päätyy kaivamaan Michaelin kanjonin savimaata, muokkaamaan kanjonia.
Taas uusi muutos. Kaikki hajoaa, väkimäärän keskuudessa syntyy kapina, seuraa kaaos.
Mahtava tarina vaikkakin kysymyksiä jäi, kysymyksistä yksinäisyydestä, sosiaalisuudesta, laumoista, laumaelämisestä, sen tarpeesta, sen vaikutuksista omaan mielenrauhaan, rauhaan.
Tarina oli koherentti mutta paikka ja aika, jonne kertomus oli sidottu, herätti enemmän ja enemmän kysymyksiä. Onko tämä satu, mielikuvitusmaa, missä periodissa ollaan…? Mistä ruoka taloihin tulee, mistä vesi, mistä sähkö? Mistä kaikki ne leivokset, joita nimetön mies vie kanjoniin lähteneille entisille naapureilleen? Mistä miehet ovat hiekka-aavikon ylängölle tulleet. Mistä nainen. Mistä kaikki peltitaloelämästä haaveilleet tulevat, kuka on tämä jeesuksenkaltainen apostolimies Michel Hawkins, joka tietää vastaukset kaikkiin kysymyksiin, joka rakkaudellisesti vastaa lukemattomiin kysymyksiin, ratkaisee riidat pelkästään olemuksellaan.
Ja kuka on se epäileväinen juudas, naisihminen Jane,joka kyseenalaistaa kaiken, Michelin tarkoitusperät ja kaikki päätyy kaaokseen, pettymykseen.
Raamatullista, sanoisin.
Ja lopussa palataan takaisin sinne mistä lähdettiin, yksinkertaisuuteen, yksinoloon? Niinkö?
Avoin loppu, kuten huomaatte.
”Minun taloni on palvellut minua hyvin. Vaikka se on vain peltiä, se pysyi pystyssä kuningaskuntien pyyhkiytyessä pois. Se on yhtäaikaa turvapaikkani ja linnoitukseni. Olkoon se teidän temppelinne. ”
Tosi tosi hyvä.
January 4, 2017
At the time, the least standard of Mills’s novels and the first not to be set in a work context – instead the book feels like a mix of: the male world of DIY and home improvement and building your own house (the interaction between the initial tin house owners, who enjoying inspecting and critiquing each other’s houses), a meditation on solitude/community, a parable of the Wizard of Oz (tin houses, strong winds, desert, a path which everyone follows) and part a satire on religious communities (with a Messiah type figure whose followers end up more fanatic than him).
March 19, 2021
امتیاز ۳.۲
کتابی دیستوپیایی و البته انقلابی. چیزی مثل یک انقلاب کم هیاهو.
خیلی کم پیش میاد که هنگام خرید کتاب از مسئول کتابفروشی بخوام کتابی بهم پیشنهاد بکنه ولی این کتاب یکی از استثناهاست و بهم گفتن که بر پایه نظرات بارت بنا شده این کتاب که البته من همچین چیزی درش کشف نکردم. البته مدعی نیستم که به نظرات بارت به طور کامل واقفم ولی بطور کلی بنظرم اومد که بیشتر پیرو نظرات کارل پوپر باشه.
کتاب تقریبا متوسطی بود بطور کلی.
کتابی دیستوپیایی و البته انقلابی. چیزی مثل یک انقلاب کم هیاهو.
خیلی کم پیش میاد که هنگام خرید کتاب از مسئول کتابفروشی بخوام کتابی بهم پیشنهاد بکنه ولی این کتاب یکی از استثناهاست و بهم گفتن که بر پایه نظرات بارت بنا شده این کتاب که البته من همچین چیزی درش کشف نکردم. البته مدعی نیستم که به نظرات بارت به طور کامل واقفم ولی بطور کلی بنظرم اومد که بیشتر پیرو نظرات کارل پوپر باشه.
کتاب تقریبا متوسطی بود بطور کلی.
November 16, 2018
What a strange little book. I read it very quickly, and I keep thinking about it. It is obviously an allegory, but I am a very literal person and I am not sure I get the message. It is a little frightening, and shows the fickle nature of humans. That is all.
July 5, 2017
Sparse, odd, funny, and, as the friend who recommended it to me said "I'm sure it's an allegory, I just don't know for what!"
April 13, 2017
I’ve been in a rare and unsettling reading slump this week, during which I failed to properly get into The Beach Beneath the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International and The Sellout so instead read a large chunk of the internet. It was therefore a relief to pick up Three to See the King this evening and read it straight through. It’s very similar in tone, structure, and ambiguity to Mills’ more recent fables, A Cruel Bird Came to the Nest and Looked In and The Field of the Cloth of Gold. Personally I prefer it when he puts more of a sting in the tail, as in Explorers of the New Century and The Restraint of Beasts. Nonetheless, there is something uniquely soothing about his tales of nothing in particular. In these abstract worlds he conjures, capitalism doesn’t seem to exist, which makes me think that they are metaphors for it. In this case, I began the book hoping the narrator was a woman (disappointingly this turned out not to be the case), subsequently became convinced in the middle that it was an allegory for industrialisation, and at the end had shrugged off attempts at deriving a definitive meaning from it. Perhaps there is only as much meaning to the story as the reader brings with them. There could be some message about human social relations, consumerism, or political organisation, perhaps. Just as likely, it’s a little parable about how contrary people can be. I found it pleasantly diverting, in any case.
[EDIT: Just noticed that the reading slump followed my 666th goodreads review. So I guess Satan was to blame for it.]
[EDIT: Just noticed that the reading slump followed my 666th goodreads review. So I guess Satan was to blame for it.]
December 4, 2007
GOD. Do not waste your time on this painfully slow, pointless book. It's like Mills had some indescribable and ridiculously long dream and tried to describe it blow-by-blow.
August 12, 2017
yeah I don't really think I got this one...
February 1, 2018
WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS
An odd book to say the least. I originally bought it for two reasons. 1; it sounded an interesting concept and 2; I was frustrated with the book I am currently reading for book club and this one is meant to be a treat in between chapters.
I believe this book is an exploration for the rationale of what humans want they live in solitude. The main character (who I assumed was a woman at first) is someone who has lost a clear vision of what they want in life. He originally wanted to live in his tin house within a canyon, but gave up when he failed to find one. So settled for a disserted desert plain.
When he is quizzed about why he settled for this, and not his dream home, he fails to answer properly. Indeed through out the whole of the story, he has little drive to change his way, even when change goes on around him.
Then suddenly a woman called Mary turns up and decides to stay with him. Indeed had I have been in the main characters position, I would have asked her to leave very quickly, because she imposes herself on his hospitality, and also complains about his life style. But instead she becomes a permanent tenant and takes control of certain runnings of the house. This intern makes the main character seem complacent and maybe his decision to give up on his dream seems more in keeping with his personality.
Mary is herself a very intriguing, as well as annoying character. No romantic relationship blossoms between the two. This is odd because the pair, prior to this, had only met once or twice at parties of mutual friends. At these parties she remembers him talking about his dream and decided to find and live with him.
One might assume that she has an infatuation with him, but nothing romantic develops between them. I wouldn’t even say that she develops a love for the location she now lives in, only an acceptance of it. When looking at it from the theme of solitude, I believe that Mary has discovered she cannot hold onto romantic relationships. Indeed, with her personality, she probably drives men away. But she doesn’t want to be alone, so she decides to live with our main character. That way she is with someone, but doesn’t have to get emotionally attached to him or her.
The character of Simon is probably the same. A man so desperate to seek company with friends, that he comes across as annoying. Maybe by living out in the same derelict environment, he can still have friends near by, but far enough away to not scare them off.
Michael Hawkins is a very odd addition to the story; a man who plans to build the dream location that our main character wanted to live in. Amazingly he rallies the three other people who lived in the local area (and hundred more from afar) to help make this dream come true. All wanting to live in a tin house in the canyon.
He almost becomes a cult leader, with his followers utterly devoted to him and unreasonably friendly with each other. In many ways however, a cult is another way to find solitude, as most group’s distance themselves from the world and live in their self-made communities.
But in the end, it is divulged that Michael’s real plan is to build houses out of clay not tin, which disappoint his followers. Even though these houses will be stronger and safer, it is not what they were promised or wanted. Here change is shown as a bad thing and certainly a disaster, because it shows the end of the society.
More importantly to live in a canyon within a tin house is what our main character had tried to do and gave up. In many ways, it should have been foreseen that this new society were destined to fail. Not to mention he clearly showed he was capable of adapting to change very quickly, something that this society was incapable of.
This book is interesting to say the least. Showing the simplicity of enjoying the world, even if dreams do not come true or even if you have to change drastically. Perhaps our main character was the only one who could truly exist happily within his own solitude.
An odd book to say the least. I originally bought it for two reasons. 1; it sounded an interesting concept and 2; I was frustrated with the book I am currently reading for book club and this one is meant to be a treat in between chapters.
I believe this book is an exploration for the rationale of what humans want they live in solitude. The main character (who I assumed was a woman at first) is someone who has lost a clear vision of what they want in life. He originally wanted to live in his tin house within a canyon, but gave up when he failed to find one. So settled for a disserted desert plain.
When he is quizzed about why he settled for this, and not his dream home, he fails to answer properly. Indeed through out the whole of the story, he has little drive to change his way, even when change goes on around him.
Then suddenly a woman called Mary turns up and decides to stay with him. Indeed had I have been in the main characters position, I would have asked her to leave very quickly, because she imposes herself on his hospitality, and also complains about his life style. But instead she becomes a permanent tenant and takes control of certain runnings of the house. This intern makes the main character seem complacent and maybe his decision to give up on his dream seems more in keeping with his personality.
Mary is herself a very intriguing, as well as annoying character. No romantic relationship blossoms between the two. This is odd because the pair, prior to this, had only met once or twice at parties of mutual friends. At these parties she remembers him talking about his dream and decided to find and live with him.
One might assume that she has an infatuation with him, but nothing romantic develops between them. I wouldn’t even say that she develops a love for the location she now lives in, only an acceptance of it. When looking at it from the theme of solitude, I believe that Mary has discovered she cannot hold onto romantic relationships. Indeed, with her personality, she probably drives men away. But she doesn’t want to be alone, so she decides to live with our main character. That way she is with someone, but doesn’t have to get emotionally attached to him or her.
The character of Simon is probably the same. A man so desperate to seek company with friends, that he comes across as annoying. Maybe by living out in the same derelict environment, he can still have friends near by, but far enough away to not scare them off.
Michael Hawkins is a very odd addition to the story; a man who plans to build the dream location that our main character wanted to live in. Amazingly he rallies the three other people who lived in the local area (and hundred more from afar) to help make this dream come true. All wanting to live in a tin house in the canyon.
He almost becomes a cult leader, with his followers utterly devoted to him and unreasonably friendly with each other. In many ways however, a cult is another way to find solitude, as most group’s distance themselves from the world and live in their self-made communities.
But in the end, it is divulged that Michael’s real plan is to build houses out of clay not tin, which disappoint his followers. Even though these houses will be stronger and safer, it is not what they were promised or wanted. Here change is shown as a bad thing and certainly a disaster, because it shows the end of the society.
More importantly to live in a canyon within a tin house is what our main character had tried to do and gave up. In many ways, it should have been foreseen that this new society were destined to fail. Not to mention he clearly showed he was capable of adapting to change very quickly, something that this society was incapable of.
This book is interesting to say the least. Showing the simplicity of enjoying the world, even if dreams do not come true or even if you have to change drastically. Perhaps our main character was the only one who could truly exist happily within his own solitude.
March 1, 2022
Een naamloze man woont op een uitgestrekte, verlaten en zanderige vlakte in een huis van blik, heel sober, met enkel het meest noodzakelijke. Hij heeft nog 3 buren die elk op verschillende kilometers van elkaar wonen, ook in een blikken huis. Af en toe ontmoeten zij elkaar. Het leven in een huis van blik, of geruime afstand van anderen, is voor hen het ideale leven. Dan komt er onverwacht een vrouw bij de hoofdpersoon aan de deur aankloppen. Hij kent haar vaag van vroeger. Zij trekt bij hem in en hij maakt zich nogal volgzaam ondergeschikt aan haar wensen zonder hierover zich klagend uit te laten. Het leven op de vlakte verandert pas als één van de 3 buren zijn blikken huis afbreekt om dichter bij een soort van goeroe, Michael, te gaan leven, de oorspronkelijke bewoner van het blikken huis van de hoofdpersoon. Michael wil een ravijn uitgraven om daar huizen te gaan neerzetten samen met zijn vele volgelingen. De keuze van het materiaal voor die huizen veroorzaakt echter een breuk tussen leider en volgelingen.
Bijzonder verhaal waarvan ik echter de laatste zin niet begreep. Het boek maakte me wel nieuwsgierig naar ander werk van Magnus Mills.
Jammer vind ik het dat een boek dat begin van de 21e eeuw geschreven is, al bij de afgeschreven boeken hoort waar ook, althans in het Nederlands, weinig op internet te vinden is.
Bijzonder verhaal waarvan ik echter de laatste zin niet begreep. Het boek maakte me wel nieuwsgierig naar ander werk van Magnus Mills.
Jammer vind ik het dat een boek dat begin van de 21e eeuw geschreven is, al bij de afgeschreven boeken hoort waar ook, althans in het Nederlands, weinig op internet te vinden is.
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November 16, 2024I love Magnus Mills. Everything feels familiar yet somehow alien. We know the people in his stories, have met them many times, but never in the circumstances he describes. We feel there is an underlying message to be gleaned, if only we could find a clue to give us a way in. Is it about religion? Conformity and individualism? Who cares? Tuck in and enjoy.
This tale has features in common with The Field of the Cloth of Gold, a strong sense of allegory, but here the characters live in a vast empty expanse while there they inhabit a geographically-limited, lush flood plain. In Waiting For Godot, famously “Nothing happens. Twice”. Mills doesn’t waste our time with a second occasion, yet we never feel cheated.
This tale has features in common with The Field of the Cloth of Gold, a strong sense of allegory, but here the characters live in a vast empty expanse while there they inhabit a geographically-limited, lush flood plain. In Waiting For Godot, famously “Nothing happens. Twice”. Mills doesn’t waste our time with a second occasion, yet we never feel cheated.
December 29, 2022
Stunning even by Mills' standards, with perfectly drawn settings, characters and (rare for Mills) plot and ending.
September 25, 2014
This book was an obvious allegory, yet I found that I was nowhere near interested enough to try and work out what the allegory might be. Religion, maybe? The hive mind of society? The prevailing importance of adhering to social hegemonic values? Who knows? Everything in it is clearly carefully designed to be a symbol for something else, or a metonym, but I just wasn't invested enough in the story to be bothered to decode them.
This is a short book. Some thinly crafted characters do some random things for no real reason. There is a vague sense of events moving from A to B to C to some half-hearted resolution, somehow both anti-climactic and entirely unexpected; the entire latter half of the book seemed to be leading up to a more interesting climax, only to falter and fall flat in the very last sentence. It somehow manages to be a book that is neither plot-heavy nor a character study. The protagonist remains unnamed throughout, which is a device that can work if they are fleshed out in other means, such as having an actual personality. Other characters are always referred to by their full names, first and last, which again is an interesting technique that would have worked if they had ever been more than their names. Instead, they were just cardboard cut-outs, archetypes that moved across the plains of the book (literally, I am not just being poetic here) with no real motivation or characterisation.
For all intents and purposes, this book was marketed as a philosophical comedy, but there was precious little philosophy in it, and even less comedy. The author seems to think that punctuating every tenth sentence or so with an exclamation mark turns it into a punchline, without appearing to realise that a punchline usually follows a comedic remark of sorts. There was even an instance of my least favourite grammatical entity - the double exclamation mark. There was really no going back from that point for me. It struck me as childish, and coupled with the sparse prose - usually a favourite of mine, when not littered with awry !!!!! - it meant that the book read like a high school essay from a B grade student.
The two stars I'm awarding this book are given on the sole two merits I found in the text. Firstly, Mills does have a knack for dialogue, and although it was obviously very artificial and structured with little to no regard for realism, it worked well in the context of the book. I liked that the characters didn't speak like people. For a book that is clearly supposed to be self-aware (although aware of what, I don't know) the stilted dialogue worked for me. Secondly, the surrealism. I genuinely liked the idea, and honestly, if the book weren't clearly trying so hard to make A Philosophical Point, I can see that I might have been quite invested in the story of a man, his house of tin and his neighbours' obsession with the knowledgeable newcomer. That in itself is a great plot, already imbued with a lot of references to a certain doctrine. If only the text had been less blatant about its ulterior motives and let the plot do the talking, then I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more.
I'm sure that there's a very deep meaning to the text if you look hard enough, but like the canyon excavators in the latter half of the book, I just gave up digging.
This is a short book. Some thinly crafted characters do some random things for no real reason. There is a vague sense of events moving from A to B to C to some half-hearted resolution, somehow both anti-climactic and entirely unexpected; the entire latter half of the book seemed to be leading up to a more interesting climax, only to falter and fall flat in the very last sentence. It somehow manages to be a book that is neither plot-heavy nor a character study. The protagonist remains unnamed throughout, which is a device that can work if they are fleshed out in other means, such as having an actual personality. Other characters are always referred to by their full names, first and last, which again is an interesting technique that would have worked if they had ever been more than their names. Instead, they were just cardboard cut-outs, archetypes that moved across the plains of the book (literally, I am not just being poetic here) with no real motivation or characterisation.
For all intents and purposes, this book was marketed as a philosophical comedy, but there was precious little philosophy in it, and even less comedy. The author seems to think that punctuating every tenth sentence or so with an exclamation mark turns it into a punchline, without appearing to realise that a punchline usually follows a comedic remark of sorts. There was even an instance of my least favourite grammatical entity - the double exclamation mark. There was really no going back from that point for me. It struck me as childish, and coupled with the sparse prose - usually a favourite of mine, when not littered with awry !!!!! - it meant that the book read like a high school essay from a B grade student.
The two stars I'm awarding this book are given on the sole two merits I found in the text. Firstly, Mills does have a knack for dialogue, and although it was obviously very artificial and structured with little to no regard for realism, it worked well in the context of the book. I liked that the characters didn't speak like people. For a book that is clearly supposed to be self-aware (although aware of what, I don't know) the stilted dialogue worked for me. Secondly, the surrealism. I genuinely liked the idea, and honestly, if the book weren't clearly trying so hard to make A Philosophical Point, I can see that I might have been quite invested in the story of a man, his house of tin and his neighbours' obsession with the knowledgeable newcomer. That in itself is a great plot, already imbued with a lot of references to a certain doctrine. If only the text had been less blatant about its ulterior motives and let the plot do the talking, then I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more.
I'm sure that there's a very deep meaning to the text if you look hard enough, but like the canyon excavators in the latter half of the book, I just gave up digging.
January 29, 2009
Magnus Mills' Three to See the King isn't what you'd call a trying read. I finished it in the space of two brief train journeys. It's less than demanding, I suppose. Enjoyable, but no more so than reading one of those newspapers that are handed out at the station.
It's not a long work, nor a particularly interesting one. I understand that it's essentially a meditation on the role of faith in group dynamics, and I'm sure that it can be read in a much broader way than I've probably taken it... but it just seems to be a little too knowing. That's fairly offputting.
I found it difficult to think that there was any weight to the actions of the characters when they appear to have been thrown together without any real reason. I know it's meant to free them from any history, to allow the reader to focus on the task at hand - but I found it more annoying than anything else.
Certainly, this isn't as good as Mills' other works.
It's not a long work, nor a particularly interesting one. I understand that it's essentially a meditation on the role of faith in group dynamics, and I'm sure that it can be read in a much broader way than I've probably taken it... but it just seems to be a little too knowing. That's fairly offputting.
I found it difficult to think that there was any weight to the actions of the characters when they appear to have been thrown together without any real reason. I know it's meant to free them from any history, to allow the reader to focus on the task at hand - but I found it more annoying than anything else.
Certainly, this isn't as good as Mills' other works.
November 26, 2015
Every time I read Magnus Mills, I start asking myself, "who does he remind me of?" Finally I realize, he reminds me of...Magnus Mills. This is what I like about this author - his style is so unique, there is no one else to whom he can be compared. His characters, in all his books, live in a world very similar to our own; in fact, it is our own world to all intents and purposes, but there is always something slightly off, which creates a sense of foreboding, of something sinister lurking behind every page. There is always something not quite right in his fictional worlds, which symbolize those sinister things lurking about in the real world.
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November 20, 2011No stars. This book is--startlingly--about even less than The Scheme for Full Employment. There are people in this book, but (through the first 50 pages, where I gave up) they don't act or talk or think like people, and they don't do anything that means anything or constitutes plot. A dreadfully unrewarding reading experience
June 17, 2009
I didn't really get on with this. The sparseness of the setting and the narration made me yearn for a more eloquent, lyrical novel. Gosh, it has something to say about the nature of human beings but did I have to be thoroughly bored along the way?
October 16, 2010
A one sitting religious allegory that ranks with anything I've read by Par Lagerkvist. An interesting study of group dynamics, how the individual finds his place in the world, and why it's not such a good idea to follow blindly.
March 14, 2015
Tämä oli kyllä outo tarina, mutta juurikin sellaisella tavalla outo, että minä tykkään! En tiedä, mitä kirjasta jää mieleen, mutta lukiesani huomasin miettiväni omaa suhdettani yksinoloon ja toisaalta sosiaalisuuteen. Se on varmaan yhtä ristiriitainen kuin näillä peltitalojen asukeillakin :)
February 1, 2015
Marvellous, so good I'm going to share it with my book group next month.
May 29, 2019
This is a small but mighty book.
Three To See A King follows and unnamed narrator and his life living on an expansive plain of red sand, alone in a tin house.
Oh Magnus Mills has done it again! As always he knows how to make the book funny yet seemingly sad and at some points feel unnecessary. What I enjoy about his writing is how he makes the insignificant feel significant and wholly important. Three To See A King is no different.
I enjoyed the conflict between Mary Petrie and the narrator, I enjoyed his conversations and internal diologue throughout. Mills has a way of making the hopeless very funny and it is indeed a skill. He has proven it each of his books (which I have read thus far).
This is the fourth Magnus Mills book I've read and it has not disappointed. Mills makes the people on the tin city seem devoted to Michael Hawkins and I liked how we could actually meet him too. I was expecting him to be fictional, but the fact that the narrator simply conformed to the attitude everyone else had to him was throughly more enjoyable and funny. I liked how willing he was to go along with the 'plan' when he arrived at the tin city, disregarding his initial apprehensions.
Mary Petrie and Alison and Jane were funny due to their anger and 'snapping'. Mills constant reiteration of ideas was throughly enjoyable and a hallmark of his writing. Steve and Phillip's dismantling of Simon's house was hilarious! They did something so destructive as literally tearing down a man's house in order for him to have a new life. How insane?! The incremental pressure to meet Michael Hawkins was also funny and the city peoples reaction to the narrator was equally entertaining. Very enjoyable.
Like The Scheme for Full Employment, the concept of this book was funnier the more I thought about it because it was so absurd. Mills truly captures his audience and knows how to tell a good story. I throughly recommend (only after reading The Restraint of Beasts!)
4.35 Stars
Three To See A King follows and unnamed narrator and his life living on an expansive plain of red sand, alone in a tin house.
Oh Magnus Mills has done it again! As always he knows how to make the book funny yet seemingly sad and at some points feel unnecessary. What I enjoy about his writing is how he makes the insignificant feel significant and wholly important. Three To See A King is no different.
I enjoyed the conflict between Mary Petrie and the narrator, I enjoyed his conversations and internal diologue throughout. Mills has a way of making the hopeless very funny and it is indeed a skill. He has proven it each of his books (which I have read thus far).
This is the fourth Magnus Mills book I've read and it has not disappointed. Mills makes the people on the tin city seem devoted to Michael Hawkins and I liked how we could actually meet him too. I was expecting him to be fictional, but the fact that the narrator simply conformed to the attitude everyone else had to him was throughly more enjoyable and funny. I liked how willing he was to go along with the 'plan' when he arrived at the tin city, disregarding his initial apprehensions.
Mary Petrie and Alison and Jane were funny due to their anger and 'snapping'. Mills constant reiteration of ideas was throughly enjoyable and a hallmark of his writing. Steve and Phillip's dismantling of Simon's house was hilarious! They did something so destructive as literally tearing down a man's house in order for him to have a new life. How insane?! The incremental pressure to meet Michael Hawkins was also funny and the city peoples reaction to the narrator was equally entertaining. Very enjoyable.
Like The Scheme for Full Employment, the concept of this book was funnier the more I thought about it because it was so absurd. Mills truly captures his audience and knows how to tell a good story. I throughly recommend (only after reading The Restraint of Beasts!)
4.35 Stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2019
Another odd story by Magnus Mills. I would say even more odd than the other two I have read earlier: "The Restraint of Beasts" and "All Quiet on the Orient Express" which both were also somewhat better than this one. At least much more to my liking.
This wasn't bad but I didn't quite get the purpose of the story. If this had been written by Mahatma Gandhi or Dalai Lama I would have supposed that there was some larger meaning hidden inside the story. Now I at least suspect there wasn't - which may be a total misjudgement. I dunno. Simply "My house is my castle" perhaps???
The world and happenings described were anyhow very allegorical as they obviously didn't make much sense. People just lived in their metal houses without any jobs, without cultivating anything, even without shopping food or anything else. No other means of transportation but walking. Still they ate, made visits, gave presents and had belongings. In the middle of nowhere.
All and all this somehow reminded me of the Japanese film from 1964, "The Woman in the Dunes" (Suna No Onna), probably partly due the environment, sand, sand and more sand. And as far as I remember also the film was quite odd and absurd.
If I should recommend a novel by Magnus Mills this would not be my first choice. Easy to read and not too long though.
Taivaanrannan kulkijat
WSOY 2001
This wasn't bad but I didn't quite get the purpose of the story. If this had been written by Mahatma Gandhi or Dalai Lama I would have supposed that there was some larger meaning hidden inside the story. Now I at least suspect there wasn't - which may be a total misjudgement. I dunno. Simply "My house is my castle" perhaps???
The world and happenings described were anyhow very allegorical as they obviously didn't make much sense. People just lived in their metal houses without any jobs, without cultivating anything, even without shopping food or anything else. No other means of transportation but walking. Still they ate, made visits, gave presents and had belongings. In the middle of nowhere.
All and all this somehow reminded me of the Japanese film from 1964, "The Woman in the Dunes" (Suna No Onna), probably partly due the environment, sand, sand and more sand. And as far as I remember also the film was quite odd and absurd.
If I should recommend a novel by Magnus Mills this would not be my first choice. Easy to read and not too long though.
Taivaanrannan kulkijat
WSOY 2001
May 4, 2022
Those reviewing this book who looked for an allegory are, I think, trying too hard. The man who lives in a tin house, takes in a woman who finds him and his friends unsatisfactory and then takes off in pursuit of one Michael Hawkins, who might just be a visionary leader, certainly could pass in a certain light for a mythical figure. But Mills' style is not to ram a message home, and to some extent this novel seems to me an exercise in deadpan style, where the way people live, the things they do and the places they live in are neither meant to be realistic nor stand for some larger, worthier truth. They just are. And the protagonist's almost baffled response to the world around him lacks the engagement or involvement to pack any kind of moral punch at the conclusion. To this extent Mills' novel doesn't quite stand up to the brilliance of All Quiet on the Orient Express or The Restraint of Beasts; but it's short, beautifully written and conjures a quite beguiling alternative reality. It reminded me slightly of Ishiguro's The Buried Giant, except that Ishiguro did set out to make a point and Mills' novel is much, much funnier. I really liked it and was grateful to pick it up in a charity shop for £2. Recommended, but if you've never read any Mills before either of the two novels mentioned above are I think genuine classics.
January 2, 2023
Imagine Franz Kafka but with a sense of humour. At one level this is a wry little tale about a mild-mannered, somewhat ingenuous chap who's perfectly happy with his life, living alone in his tin house in the middle of a windy desert. Then a girlfriend arrives and starts annoying him by criticising everything he does. But he's gentle and kind, and doesn't mind much. Then he discovers that spread out over a vast area, there are other single men also living in tin houses. They begin to frequent one another. More and more people join the group and eventually he finds himself joining a cult, engaged in a vast enterprise to construct a new city. But in the end, serenity returns. So this is a moral tale about the dangers of how people create hierarchies amongst themselves and how much better it is to live alone and unattached. Magnus Mills is very funny, because he uses everyday up-to-date English parlance. Highly recommended.
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