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Three Men on the Bummel

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Three Men on the Bummel

By: Jerome K. Jerome
Narrated by: David Case
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About this listen

 When three late-Victorian gentlemen escape from their claustrophobic suburban life to go on a cycling tour in the Black Forest of Germany, their trip turns into a comic expedition.

Many of their humorous adventures and mishaps relate to the nuances in language and customs; one attempts to board a train unconventionally to avoid German procedures; when riding the Bummel in Dresden one butts and rolls into German passengers who, being familiar with the route know how to brace themselves and don't see the humor, "the dull lot"; another tries to buy his aunt a cushion and gets angry after he pays for it because he gets only a kiss from a young girl instead. Three Men on the Bummel is one of the most popular classics in English comic fiction.

©1991 Phoenix Recordings (P)2004 Tantor Media, Inc. Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Witty Comedy Funny

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Editor reviews

Three Men on the Bummel reintroduces audiences to the three humorous friends from Jerome K. Jerome's earlier book, Three Men in a Boat. In this sequel, the boat is replaced with bicycles as the three men try, with many comical mishaps and misunderstandings, to navigate the German Black Forest. Grammy-nominated performer, David Case, handles the production of this audiobook, and with his sarcastic and sly delivery, the comedy hits full force. Despite having been written over 100 years ago, Jerome K. Jerome's comic tale, with help from the energetic performance of Case, remains one of the favorite English comeic novels.
All stars
Most relevant  
An enjoyable yarn with lots of interesting observations but the narration deadens it. Hopefully Martin Jarvis will read this in the future & bring it to life.

Enjoyable

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Like everybody I know I always liked both of the three men books by JK Jerome in Czech translation but of course,it is even better in the original.

Fun

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Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

However poor the performance, JKJ's words of wisdom and entertainment surmount all obstacles.

Would you be willing to try another book from Jerome K. Jerome? Why or why not?

I love JKJ's writing it is always witty, entertaining and insightful

What aspect of David Case’s performance might you have changed?

A little less camp. JKJ's writings are so good they need no embroidery, let them speak.

Was Three Men on the Bummel worth the listening time?

The narrative is innocent of hindsight and gives an affectionate and entertaining picture of Germans, on the brink of one of the worst conflicts humanity has known.

Any additional comments?

I am still quoting JKJ on my local cycling campaign Facebook page to the delight and entertainment of other members. His opinions on saddles has stood the test of a century.

A little too camp, but worth it still.

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Its true, people never change.

I have a lot of dealing with German people through business, and if you would not have told me the author, I would have assumed this book was written last year - not last century. The book is a pleasure to experience purely because of the authors excellent style and many diversions in the book. I have heard many say its a poor sequel to the 3 men on a boat, I'm having none of it. Its far better.

On the downside I think the narrator could have been more upbeat and put more effort into the characters. It was difficult to distinguish between Harris and George until the narrator told us who was speaking - but this was a minor point as the story outshone this.

This could have been written last year !

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Both the narration and the recording production snuff out completely a lot of the joy of this book. If a friend or relative was reading to you as you lay with your cold in bed I expect you would not complain with their attempts at voices but paid for narration needs much more performance ability. And it sounds like a recording made decades ago on an old cassette. For these reasons I would recommend finding another version of this book.
Is Martin Jarvis up for a job? He would read this excellently.
I am a Jerome K Jerome fan so I say that to announce that I find him full of enjoyable anecdotes and stories. It really is so dependent on personal taste but his descriptions of the frailties of being human are to me thoroughly enjoyable.

Clouded by Weak Narration

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The book is not, in my opinion, as good as Three Men in a Boat. But, if you are a fan of TMIAB, you will get some enjoyment from revisiting these characters.

Enjoyable moments

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I enjoyed three men in a boat and this is the sequel. Three men are older and leave wives and children to cycle around Germany. I was frustrated about the lack of plot which meanders about with a lot of deviations into various anecdotes not connected with the story. The organisation of the trip and the departure are covered in a lot of detail. Then the book moves on and the holiday, the cycling and the return home is barely mentioned instead there are long descriptions about typical Germans, and making fun of them. Actually I found it very funny and surprised that even when the book was written in 1900 there were the German stereotypes of organisation and order, rules and bylaws for seemingly the most petty misdemeanours, as well as plenty of excessive beer drinking especially by students who had to tie an address label to their coat to ensure that they would be deposited at the right address when they were found slumped comatose on a floor or a gutter. The book is also interesting for describing the early days of cycling enthusiasts.

Making fun of Germans

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I bought this book on the basis that Three Men In A Boat was excellent and went into it expecting something very similar. If you do that, you are likely to be disappointed.

Whilst the booked is good, I don't rate it as highly as TMIAB. There isn't as much humour and the siuations the group find themselves in are sometimes not as believable.

On top of that, the narration isn't great. David Case doesn't do the book justice and I wonder if that is part of the reason it lacked something. If they'd used either Martin Jarvis or Nigel Plainer both of which did good narrations of TMIAB then this could have been a better listen all round.

Don't think of it as a sequel

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the readers superior sneering tone spolied this much loved authors work. the "swell" tone was so unlike the character of the humour

badly read

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