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Never before published in America, and now a six-hour PBS presentation, Porterhouse Blue is the story of one college campus with more problems than students. A revolution at Porterhouse College sends a lot of things out in the open—namely one gross of condoms.
Confirms that Tom Sharpe is "unequivocally the best thing to happen to English comic prose since Wodehouse died and Waugh got religion." The Plain Dealer
Anonymous
Posted January 22, 2004
If you have'nt read Tom Sharpe earlier, Porterhouse Blue would serve well to be your initiation into his world of dark humour. Porterhouse epitomizes the Cambridge & Oxford aura in a restricted sense of the word - a humourous insight into another possible dimension of the sacred alma mater involving the foibles and skeletons-in-the-cupboard of this otherwise poker faced group of academicians, bureaucrats and administrators. The plot weaves around a myriad cast of characters involving the Headmaster, his servant Scullion and a group of bureaucratic personalities who typically run such halloed institutions, and builds into a hilarious orgy of unimaginable events within such a revered edifice. The plot also provokes possibilites of the wildest things that can happen even to the 'staidest' of institutions, engaging you through the plot and effectively building into a wicked twist of fate for all. This compares favorably to some of the other Sharpe's by way of some aptly used words that may cause you to dive for the dictionary now and then, but with no regrets. For those of you who have read Sharpe earlier (and not this), you would very well enjoy this as immensely as the rest - possibly even more. Porterhouse Blue is the prequel to Grandchester Grind - so plan accordingly by reading this before.
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Overview
Never before published in America, and now a six-hour PBS presentation, Porterhouse Blue is the story of one college campus with more problems than students. A revolution at Porterhouse College sends a lot of things out in the open—namely one gross of condoms.
Confirms that Tom Sharpe is "unequivocally the best thing to happen to English comic prose since Wodehouse died and Waugh got religion." The Plain Dealer