Me Too

The Bandy Papers #5

by Donald Jack

After his post-war adventures in movies in New York (see Me Bandy, You Cissie) our hero returns to his Ottawa Valley home in 1923. Through a series of misunderstandings Bandy becomes the official Liberal candidate in a by-election and to the horror of the Liberal Party leaders – especially Prime Minister Mackenzie King – he wins, takes his seat in the House of Commons, and proceeds to wreak havoc there.

To finance his campaign he goes into business with Gallop’s local tycoon to smuggle booze into the Prohibition-hit United States, a profitable business until the unpleasantness with the U.S. authorities and all the shooting and wounding. But it does make him a House of Commons authority on corruption in the Canadian government, which leads to his lightning elevation to Mackenzie King’s Cabinet as Minister of Defence. Will this last?

Genres: Canada, Historical, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Adventure, Comedy, Humor

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Novelist, playwright, and scriptwriter. Best known for his "Bandy Papers" novels about WWI ace Bartholomew Bandy, which won Jack the Leacock award three times for volumes of the series. Also penned the first modern play performed at the Stratford Festival of Canada, and wrote numerous scripts for television and radio.

Reviews

[Mark Edlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humour series - Bandy's misadventures continue. He is out of Russia, Cissie has left him to join a flying circus and he has too much time on his hands. He goes back to his parents in Ontario and gets a job as a rumrunner while running for the Liberal seat. McKenzie King plays a role as Bandy's political career stumbles along. An enjoyable read with an interesting character who is not as clueless as he seems.
Canadian references - set mostly in Canada.
Pharmacy references - the drug store in Gallop almost goes bankrupt because they have no access "medicinal alcohol" during Prohibition.

[Chris Tschirhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is that if you want a great Laugh about the ups and downs of an incompetent and lovable bumbling hero of a flyer you have to read all of "The Bandy Papers Books. I have never laughed till I couldn't breath so much in my life.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fifth entry in Donald Jack's 'Bandy Papers', this is set back in Bandy's home country of Canada, prohibition era (so between World War 1 and World War 2), and sees the titular hero(?) getting involved in rum-running to the States before running for (and winning a seat in) parliament.

While perhaps not as consistently funny as the earlier entries in the series (maybe because of the subject matter of Candian politics? Maybe because that's foreign (forgive the pun) to us Europeans?), this still has its moments where it near made me laugh out loud - as such, this perhaps not the best choice to read when you're on a bus packed full of people!

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as amusing as the earlier books. Perhaps Canadian politics aren't as funny as the Great War.

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as funny as previous volumes, but still with moments of hilarity.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't find this one as funny as some of the earlier books, but it was the first read through.