Reviews for From London Far

The average rating for From London Far based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-08-30 00:00:00 Raymond Mcmanness Erudite and bizarre mystery about art theft. Richard Meredith, a middle-aged scholar of Juvenal and literary criticism, is catapulted into this adventure by mischance - don't worry if the first chapter puts you off as the story really starts with the second one; the first one makes more sense later on. Although Inspector Appleby isn't in this book, it did remind me of a few of his adventures.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-02-26 00:00:00 Marissa Hurwitz �A few hours ago I had nothing more momentous in front of me than a quiet journey to a great house in Yorkshire. Now you are beckoning me heaven knows where�say out of Anthony Trollope into John Buchan.� So says Professor Meredith, the protagonist of "From London Far." He's talking to Jean, a lovely, intelligent former student, with whom he is at the front end of a rollicking adventure. While in a tobacco shop, Meredith absent-mindedly murmurs a reference to a line of poetry, which is misunderstood and which tumbles him, literally, into being mistaken for the head of an international art-theft ring. As the quote indicates, it's a spoof of the adventure novels of Buchan and his ilk (which were more popular in 1946, when the book was written). The narrative is just a series of wild rides for Meredith and Jean. I mean "wild rides" literally: down chutes, across roofs, in the back of moving vans, into ruined island castles, caves, submarines, airplanes, a crazy American tycoon's elaborate estate), and preposterous situations. Innes novels are usually discursive and erudite; he was an Oxford don, so he tends to cram his books with literary jokes and allusions. There are SO MANY here. Meredith frequently drifts off into professorial fogs, usually at inappropriate moments. (Thank heavens for the intrepid Jane, as well as for a lot of lucky breaks.) Sprinkled throughout, too, are interesting thoughts about the postwar poverty of Europe, the ascendance of American culture and money, and the psychology (literally) of art collectors. Innes' plots are often improbable to the point of silliness...but this one takes the cake. It's a lot of fun, and funny. But half the time I had no idea what was going on, especially because he performs the literary equivalent of smash-cuts: Meredith and Jean will be in the middle of a seemingly inescapable, life-threatening situation, and then the scene shifts abruptly to them later, safely en route to another adventure, among new characters, with only the most cursory, nonsensical explanation of how they got there. I guess that's the parodic element? To be sure, it keeps the book from being too long. There's also no character development to speak of: Jane is kind of a cipher, but wonderful in a crisis. I THINK there's a romance there, but I'm not even certain. I've noticed that Innes sometimes puts little self-aware asides, little meta-messages in his books. I think the quote I mentioned earlier is one, and I think this is another: ��I�m afraid I�m making this story frightfully long.� �You are making it distinctly intriguing,� Meredith chuckled at what he conceived to be his very modish use of this word. �I would beg you not to retrench in any way what may appear to you to be the superfluities of your expression.� Such a weird book, even for Michael Innes! Kind of an exhausting shaggy-dog story. But enjoyable.