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Eliza: Love, Fate, and Society: A Victorian Tale of Romance and Tragedy
Eliza is a humorous story by Barry Pain. The young Eliza and her husband are constantly getting in trouble, but only one of them seems clever enough to solve any problem. A hilarious read!
78 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1904
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March 1, 2019The Life of Eliza
A very humourous look at the Life of young Eliza. Each chapter, in places, is written as a comedy sketch with a twist coming at the end on occasion. Eliza is the one who usually brings the joke to a close with some witty comment, or retort.
Considering this story is almost 120 years old, the story is still so well written. Without a lot of the swearing common nowadays with certain writers, this book is certainly a whole lot easier on the eye.
Barry Pain is quite the author of many different styles, and this story is well worth adding to your collection on the humour between Eliza and her husband alone...
A very humourous look at the Life of young Eliza. Each chapter, in places, is written as a comedy sketch with a twist coming at the end on occasion. Eliza is the one who usually brings the joke to a close with some witty comment, or retort.
Considering this story is almost 120 years old, the story is still so well written. Without a lot of the swearing common nowadays with certain writers, this book is certainly a whole lot easier on the eye.
Barry Pain is quite the author of many different styles, and this story is well worth adding to your collection on the humour between Eliza and her husband alone...
Did Not Finish
January 26, 2018Dnf. The story isn't so much about Eliza, but her husband, the narrator of the story. The book is supposed to be humorous, but I really didn't like Eliza's husband. He's a rude, stuck up, self absorbed prig.
January 2, 2017
Awesome ! I didn't think there was anyone who could match P.G Wodehouse's humor. Thankfully i am wrong. Mr.Barry Pain's reading is a joy to read.
I regret having discovered this author so late !
I regret having discovered this author so late !
August 13, 2024
Barry Pain is best known today for his horror fiction, but was famous in his day primarily as a humorist. He wrote five extremely slim volumes featuring Eliza and her husband (the narrator, who I want to say is not named?). Those have been collected under the uninspired name of "The Eliza Stories," sadly out of print. This is a review of the first of the five original books, conveniently available on Project Gutenberg.
I cannot follow Terry Jones in calling these "some of the funniest books in the English language." In general, they're extraordinarily basic in their plotting. The narrator and his wife have not been invited to a party; he spends several pages going on about how the party's hosts are of low character, and he wouldn't have attended even if they were invited. But then it turns out that the invite was lost in the mail, and when he realizes that they are in fact invited, he goes, even though he just said he wouldn't. What a twist.
Of course, actual events are only part of it; these stories are fortunately enlivened by character and writing. The narrator is fun, and the writing is amusing. "The more I think about myself, the more—I say it in all modesty—the subject seems to grow." But it's hard not to compare this unfavorably to something like a Wodehouse novel, which have the characters and the writing, but also have genuinely funny and unsurprising plots.
I cannot follow Terry Jones in calling these "some of the funniest books in the English language." In general, they're extraordinarily basic in their plotting. The narrator and his wife have not been invited to a party; he spends several pages going on about how the party's hosts are of low character, and he wouldn't have attended even if they were invited. But then it turns out that the invite was lost in the mail, and when he realizes that they are in fact invited, he goes, even though he just said he wouldn't. What a twist.
Of course, actual events are only part of it; these stories are fortunately enlivened by character and writing. The narrator is fun, and the writing is amusing. "The more I think about myself, the more—I say it in all modesty—the subject seems to grow." But it's hard not to compare this unfavorably to something like a Wodehouse novel, which have the characters and the writing, but also have genuinely funny and unsurprising plots.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews