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Summary: The most entertaining book ever written
Review: Macdonald Fraser is in his element with the Flashman series. Historical fiction heroising the bully from 'Tom Brown's School Day's' (T.Hughes); the reader is offered an account of the Victorian upper classes from first hand. Excellent accounts of London Society and then the British military in the East. This book is hilarious. Possibly best enjoyed by males, it is an absolute must.
Rating:
Summary: Flashman
Review: Read this 30 years ago (at least) when it first came out and loved it! Subsequently read every one as they became available and am delighted to see that this first one is being re-issued as an Audiobook. Can't wait to listen to it all over again! Am sure I will agree with the previous reviewers about the reading since accents add a wonderful dimension to any book. I am a rabid Flashman fan!
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Summary: The Beginning of the End for "Victorian England"
Review: Thank goodness for Harry Flashman. If not for this man's self-depreciating, lurid, immoral, wanderings through psuedo-prim & proper "Victorian England", I might have believed the "Howard's End" version of that era. Harry proves that we as a race are merely inches ahead of wild boar in the evolution. Quite frankly "Flashy" makes James Bond seem like a prig.
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Summary: Coward, cheat, bully - and those are his good sides!
Review: The Flashman books are a rip-roaring read. First-hand accounts of real historical events portrayed through the eyes of Flashman, everybody's favourite scoundrel. Flashman, a British cavalry officer, lies, fornicates, cheats, pleads and abuses his way thro ugh battles and uprisings and other major historical events always emerging the hero. But Flashman is no hero - he is a self-confessed coward with the morals of an alley cat. You'll love him!
This, the first of the series, is perhaps the best. Flashy take s part in the first Afghan War with hilarious results. You also get the full background in the Flashman character. I've recommended this book to a few people and they all became instant converts, although I think men will find it more directly appealing t han women. Sexy, thrilling AND educational. British military history was never this much fun at school.
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Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, educational, humorous, historical, bawdy
Review: The Flashman novels are entertaining, educational, humorous, historical, and bawdy. Harry Flashman is not a character you are intended to like, but you sympathize with his point of view as often as not.
In the end, you can put up with him only because he suffers so much form his fears and hardships. Along the way you get a jaundiced view of British political and military leaders of the 19th century, from a commentator who knows his subject.
Harry Flashman, is a scoundrel, cheat, bully, cad, lecher, toady, and coward, who manages to get caught up in every major military campaign. In spite of himself, Harry finds women and honors falling upon him at every turn. All undeserved, but then that's the way he prefers it.
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Summary: Flashman in Afghanistan
Review: The Flashman novels provide a rogues view of the British Empire in the 19th century. A warning however, these books are not for the PC crowd. This is perhaps what makes them so funny, and at the same time interesting and informative. Mr. Fraser has combined burlesque/comedy with historical fiction here, and he has done it masterfully. Of course we do not condone Flashman's behavior, but at the same time he provides an amusing insight into the times he lived in. In this first novel of the series Flashy relates how he got statrted in the British army with Lord Cardigan's 11th Hussars.
The story expands as he is posted to India after marrying below his station. Flashy then finds himself in the sequence of events which lead to the desasterous Kabul expedition of 1842. Much has been made of how the British lost an entire army on this occasion to the supposed prowess of the Afghans. In fact of the 14,000 that comprised the Bombay army, fewer than a quarter were combatants, and only one British regiment, the 44th Foot, were involved. The rest were hangers-on and camp followers. It is no surprise that the Afghans were able to destroy this motely force. This does not detract however from the appalling incompetence shown by General Elphistone and co. The book accurately portrays the timid leadhership displayed. However, the British did come back to Kabul a year later and they crushed every Afghan force set against them. So much for Afghans being unbeatable! Being that much of this novel is set in Afghanistan, the story makes for unteresting reading today. While Flashman is a ficticious rake, he provides the medium by which the author can create some truly good historical fiction. The events related have been carefully researched by the author, with only minor liberties taken here and there. The narrative makes for fast and enjoyable reading. Try not to let the Flashman character distract from the historical events which are being realted here. Again, if you are soooo politically Correct it is doubtful you will get anything out of these books. But if you like a good laugh and good historical fiction, Flashy is for you!
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Summary: Flashy's Strange Appeal
Review: The Flashman papers - the memoirs of the fictional 19th century British officer Harry Paget Flashman - are the product of George MacDonald Fraser's fertile imagination. If they had really been found in a Leicester saleroom in 1965, as Fraser tells us in the preface of the first Flashman book, their discovery would have been as serendipitous as the discovery of the ruins of Pompeii. These books are really special, and it's a pity that more people don't know about them.
The first of eleven books in the series, Flashman: From the Flashman papers, 1839-1842 recounts Harry Paget Flashman's adventures as a young adult, primarily his participation in the First Afghan War. The book presents certain thematic elements that recur delightfully throughout the series: Flashman's propensity for finding himself at the center of major historical events, brushing shoulders with important historical figures like the Duke of Wellington and Queen Victoria; his uncanny luck in getting out of the stickiest situations imaginable while getting credit for heroic deeds not his own; and his unbridled hedonism. Flashman is a talented equestrian and linguist. His positive characteristics end there. By any objective measure he is a deplorable human being. Flashman is a coward, a lecher, and a libertine; and yet, oddly, most readers will wind up liking him. Some have compared him to James Bond, but that would be an insult to 007, who was after all a decent guy. This contradiction is hard to explain. How can we like a guy who has a deplorable character and yet always seems to come out on top? Perhaps he appeals to the irresponsible freedom-loving id in all of us. There is a part of us that envies someone who can sin often, get away with it, and never feel burdened by a guilty conscience. Flashman is a scoundrel and knows he's a scoundrel; it just doesn't bother him. We feel privileged to be let in on the secret, for while some of the book's characters recognize Flashman's true nature, most do not. And Fraser makes an art of killing off the characters that have the most damaging information on Flashman before they get a chance to expose his treachery. Near the end of the book, we can only chuckle when a young Queen Victoria, filled with emotion, gushes to Flashman, "You are a very gallant gentleman. God bless you," as she pins a medal on his coat in recognition of his "service" to England in the Afghan campaign. As you follow Flashman's every move, devouring this action-packed adventure like ice cream, reveling in its bawdy humor and ironic twists and turns, you'll realize that this is very high quality stuff. Flashman is an extremely well-written piece of historical fiction. The eloquent narration fits with what one might expect from a memoir by a 19th century officer in her Majesty's service. The British retreat from Kabul in early 1842, which is recounted in all its gruesome detail, really did happen as described in the book, with men, women, and children savagely hacked to pieces by Afghani tribes. And true to form, Fraser does justice to the book's many historical figures, who at least in spirit are similar to the real life personalities. Flashman is a great book that can be seen on many different levels: comic adventure story; commentary on Victorian life; or historical fiction. In the end, no matter how one chooses to view Flashman, there is no denying the entertainment value of this book, which is unparalleled, unless compared to some of the other books in the Flashman series (i.e. Flash at the Charge or Flash for Freedom). One word of caution: given Flashman's offensive views on race and gender, you can throw political correctness out the window with this one.
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Summary: Falshman Forever !
Review: The most outrageous historical fictional series ever penned began with this book. George Mac Donald Fraser served with distinction in Burma and wrote his memoirs 'Quartered Safe Out Here' a soldier's look at one of the toughests campaigns of WW2. One cannot help but wonder what on earth his friends thought possesed him when he created the character of Flashman--borrowed from "Tom Brown's School Days"--a fellow soldier in Victorian England serving during Afghan War. Who, unlike the real Fraser and his fellow soldiers, or any fictional protagonist in a war novel, is a craven poltroon. This is the book that asks the question: Can a man who flees the enemy, abandons his comrades, marries for money, and betrays his country be all bad? Flashie is a bigot and a coward. He is also very much a product of his time---no other living writer of fiction can make the 19th century come alive as well as Fraser--Flashman considers himself a harmless enough fellow, wanting only his upper class creature comforts: Lechery and leisure. But a series of mishaps brings him to the God forsaken hills of Afghanistan during the British Army's disastrous retreat. Naturally he comes through smelling like a rose and winning The Victoria Cross AND a knighthood. Told as a first person narrative, from a packet of papers 'found' by his descendants. The book is a 'stand alone' classic, which promises--and delivers greater joys to come. Besides wonderfull prose, fast paced plots and the vividness with which Fraser portrays the genuine notables of the past (Abe Lincoln, Bismark, Custer, and John Brown being a few of the characters Flashy will meet in later novels) the main appeal is that of satirical parody; there are thousands of gallant heroes in the fictional realm of romantic/historical/adventure novels. There's only one Flashman.
Rating:
Summary: You'll notice right away
Review: The people who bought one Flashman book bought them all. So will you.
Rating:
Summary: You'll notice right away
Review: The people who bought one Flashman book bought them all. So will you.
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