Number 31- Wilt- Tom Sharpe

 

A reread from my teenage years and I just have to say I was far too young when I first read this book.  

I remember thinking it was hysterically funny when I first read it, and that opinion has not changed on revisiting it 35 plus years later. 

Wilt dreams of killing his overbearing wife.  When she goes away on an unscheduled trip, he fakes her death.  Unfortunately. she fails to return from said trip, and the police get involved.

This is absolutely the funniest thing I've read in several years.  there were scenes I still remember from all those years ago. From the initial burial of the rubber sex doll to its eventual recovery, this is farce at its best.

Sharpe is/was a great writer and even a character as weak and worn down by life as Wilt is initially is eminently relatable. HIs journey of self discovery through the multiple indignities he's exposed to in the course of the story is a joy to read.

The side story of where his wife actually is- stuck on a barge in the Norfolk broads with an insane American lesbian and husband- is equally funny and leads to some of the funniest scenes in the book. 

Eva Wilt is a force of nature. Her character defies description. We can completely sympathise with Henry's dreams of ridding himself of her, but we still can understand how and why they're married.

It's always strange reading a book written and set in the early 80s.  When a restaurant is criticised by one of the charaters as being too expensive because they charge £0.95 for a prawn cocktail starter, it's now a culture shock.  When Wilt's salary of £3500 a year is enough for he and Eva to own their own rather large home in the suburbs and keep Eva in all her expensive hobbies, it really does drive home how much some things have changed.

Luckily, it's only the money talk that truly dates this book. Some people might say that some of the humour might not be considered de rigeur these days, but for the most part this has aged well and even the bits that some people would say haven't are still hysterical IMHO. 

This is a pitch perfect blend of satire (the internal workings of the college where Wilt teaches are brilliantly done) and bawdy farce. There is some complete filth in here (not explicit, but still filth) that I was far too young to be reading in the 80s, That makes me love it all the more that parents let me read this stuff.  As much as Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams helped formulate my sense of humour, Tom Sharpe definitely deserves a look in as another influence.