The Throwback

by Tom Sharpe

Book Overview

When Lockhart Flawse is catapulted out of his upper-class and rapunzel-esque life with the curmudgeonly Flawse Senior, he must enter the world of suburbia, and marriage. Rendered an absolute twit in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 033026012X
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Macmillan Pub Ltd
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 1.0" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

The funniest book ever

This book is probably the funniest piece of writing I've ever encountered. I literally laughed so hard I cried the first time I read it. Sharpe is a terrific writer of black comedy, and in my opinion (having read all his books) this is his best work. You will NOT be sorry with this purchase!

Perhaps the funniest book I have ever read.

The base premise is really simple. Guy inherits a street of houses, but they are on long leases at low rent. The only way he can earn a living is to get the residents to leave.So he engages on a meticulously planned campaign of side-splitting terror. The methods employed to rid himself of his reluctant residents are gruesome, medieval but oh so funny.This is Tom Sharpe at his riproaring best.

This book should be sold with a disclaimer

The Throwback is the funniest book I have ever read (and I was nearly tossed out of a bar in New Hampshire for laughing at Foucault's Pendulum). When I first read it over ten years ago, I nearly did myself grave injury whilst laughing hysterically. I recommend it to all who possess a slightly warped sense of humor (mundanes need not apply) - there is nothing quite comparable from an American author. I am extremely disappointed that it is not currently available!..............

Funniest book since "A Confederacy of Dunces"

You have not experienced true laughter until you read this one! I could not believe the things Sharpe put into this book! I tried explaining to people what the book was about, but it's just not possible. If you have a "questionable" sense of humor and enjoy comedy and even a little perversion...this is the ONE you MUST read!

Demented, literary terrorism

I have been reading Sharpe for twenty five years and this is, if not the absolute best of his books, certainly the funniest and most completely anarchic. One can not help admire the protagonist who through no fault of his own has no outlet in the modern world for his undoubted abilities. All of us have at some time aspired to unfettered control of our destinies but are content to allow society to dictate the standards by which we operate. No such petty concerns trouble the throwback - he will by fair means or foul, secure his home and his family. I can only admire him, and hope that he truly exists, in his Northumbrian fastness, daring the revenue man to cross his threshold. There's a lesson here, couched in some of the most hilarious writing since Mein Kampf.