After Dostoyevsky's "House Of The Dead" I could definitely do with something lighter. I picked up this book that had been gifted to me on my last visit home. The book contains two of Jerome K. Jerome's work : "Three Men On A Boat" and "Three Men On The Bummel". I has read the former earlier and had postponed the latter for a later date. Jerome's writing was witty and humorous. So I picked up "Three Men On The Bummel" with similar expectations.
I was not really far off. Jerome was as witty as I remembered from the first story. His style of writing is unique and focuses on the seeing the humourous aspects of the triviality of daily trites and human personalities. He laughs at everything possible. The hypocrisy of man, the characteristics of various nationalities, the absurdity of planning, travelling, gardening, and so on. And it is a dry and amusing laugh that he laughs. His way of making fun is a subtle one. One in which I suppose even the butt of the joke would not mind joining in! Jerome K. Jerome and his friends (George and Harris) take the reader on a bummel to the Black Forest in Germany. Jerome lets no occasion go by to comment on the punctilious nature of the Germans and the stark contrast between the two cultures : English and German. This being a story published in 1900 also makes the work slightly prophetic in nature.
The story starts with the familiar three men deciding upon their needing a change and, after much discussion, agreeing upon the change to be a cycling trip in the Black Forest. They leave after much arrangements ("persuading" the wives, not overhauling the cycles, etc) and reached London where they experimented with the language used in a popular travel book to much amusement of all involved. Then they advanced to Germany and travelled across the country to reach the Black Forest. The travelling involved some amusing accidents as well as some hilarious observations about the Germans and their sense of beauty, duty and pride. Then follows a brief account of their (mis)adventures in the Black Forest and how they managed to plan frivolously and ride slowly. The story ends after an account of the author's view on Germans as a people.
Jerome K. Jerome definitely has a sense of humour. His stories are little more than a humourous account of something but at times he digresses into topics that he does not do well in. This creates bits in the story when the author is not so interesting in his account and you know he could do better. Anyway, on a whole it is a good read and since the boring parts are not too long, they can easily be ignored to say that Jerome's work is a witty and crisply funny one. I actually remember laughing out loud at times, something that I do not usually do. I think I would not mind reading another of his stories if I come across one but I doubt I will go hunting for one.
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