Tennyson's Gift & Going Loco

by Lynne Truss, Timothy West (Narrator), Belinda Lang (Narrator)

Lynne Truss debuted in America as a guffaw-inducing grammarian, but her UK audience has known her for years as a critically acclaimed novelist. Tennyson's Gift is an imaginative cocktail of Victorian seriousness and farce that reimagines the world of the nineteenth-century English poet laureate, placing him in the midst of eccentric company that includes Lewis Carroll. Going Loco features a critic trying to write a definitive account of the doppelganger in gothic fiction, amidst the chaos of her domestic life, including paranoia that her cleaning lady is taking over her life. These two works will delight the hordes of Truss fans who made Eats, Shoots & Leaves such a spectacular bestseller.

Audio Cassette

First published October 1, 2005

About the author

Lynne Truss is a writer and journalist who started out as a literary editor with a blue pencil and then got sidetracked. The author of three novels and numerous radio comedy dramas, she spent six years as the television critic of The Times of London, followed by four (rather peculiar) years as a sports columnist for the same newspaper. She won Columnist of the Year for her work for Women's Journal. Lynne Truss also hosted Cutting a Dash, a popular BBC Radio 4 series about punctuation. She now reviews books for the Sunday Times of London and is a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4. She lives in Brighton, England.

Reviews

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this isn't what I expected at all. I don't remember why I bought it - it's been quite a while - but the cover picture led me to expect a serious story. Instead it's a clever, comical tale of several egotistical, artistic personalities meeting on the Isle of Wight in the summer of 1864 and it's very funny.

First, there is Alfred Tennyson who is on the island with his wife and sons and spends his days reading his own works aloud to himself. Surly and unfriendly, he has very little tolerance for anyone but his own family. Juliet Cameron is a photographer with such an obsession for the good opinion of others that she forces unwanted gifts on everyone she meets. G. F. Watts is a painter who lives off the charity of others and who is married to a beautiful woman with whom he has never been intimate. Then there is Lorenzo Fowler and his daughter, Jessie, American phrenologists who are on the island to put on a show and find new clients. And finally, there is a mathematician called Charles Dodgson, who is actually Lewis Carroll. Once he enters the picture the story begins to take off.

It could be called a comedy of manners, except that most of these people don't have any manners - or they have them but feel no need to use them. I think it would be more accurately labeled a farce. It's quite light-hearted and witty but underneath the comedy are some deeper issues that I think are as well handled as the humour.

All in all Tennyson's Gift made for an entertaining summer read but don't let the fact that summer's over hinder you. You'll enjoy this one anytime.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tennyson's Gift was hysterical. I laughed until I cried! I'm still laughing days after I finished it. If you like silly British humor and farces, you'll like this one.

[Emily Shenfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, but found it tough to get through. Didn't feel very forward moving, but I enjoyed the slow time I spent with it.

[Susanne Haywood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me a while to get into, but once I did (about a third of the way through - I am persistent!) it was actually quite funny. Fairly plotless, but funny.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not get into the book. I think you have to know who each of them was and what their major works were to really enjoy the read. I knew only about half of them and it was not enough, or so it seems.