The meetings and misadventures of the Chobbingham Green Preservation Society. Annotated by diarist, journalist and write things downerist Leonard Sime. And all that sort of thing.
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Reviews:
"An excellent satire, it' s the type of gentle humour that older readers will love - particularly those active in the community who may find themselves at the next meetings checking off members against their book equivalents. "
Reviewer: Reader for Bookangel.
The Chobbingham Green Preservation Society is the village committee to manage bowling greens, soccer, local scandals, gossip and more. The highly-medicated Mrs Strong, whose moods veer with pills, a stray popstar who doesn't stay long and the problem of tourists picnicking on the bowling green (suggestion - add an electric fence) are all chronicled by the long suffering writer-down-erist Leonard Sime.
I could say it reminds me of the "Vicar of Dibley" or even "Hot Fuzz", but this is unfortunately far too familiar to anyone who has served on local committees. The dry, resigned tone and sly wit that sometimes creeps in is delightful. Less laugh out loud than raising an occasional wry chuckle, it is subtle, amusing and possibly too true to life to really be satire. You could imagine Leonard Rossiter reading this - it is pretty much committee notes by Reggie Perrin, the only sane man.
The horrors of the Women's Institute, a row about the speaking clock, and an unending catalog of the minor disasters of village life are all here, and it holds the reader's attention rather like a slow motion car crash. The formatting is well done, and I spotted no spelling errors or major grammar issues. The cover is deliberately plain, to resemble the bound minutes of this type of committee.
While it is an excellent satire, this is actually a book I'd recommend reading in sections as after a while the catalog of horror began to blur into each other. Coming back to if after a break keeps it fresh, and as each meeting is separate, readers can dip in and out easily.
It' s the type of gentle humour that older readers will love - particularly those active in the community who may find themselves at the next meetings checking off members against their book equivalents.
Four stars. Its a great read, but it does tend to be best in small doses.
Rating: 4
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Discussion
Tregaron (31 December 2015)
I thought it was a good book, but best read sparingly. Otherwise the insanity begins to feel normal, and the book loses its edge.
rz3300 (26 September 2016)
Well I love satires, and I have always thought that they are a sign of a strong community - when it can criticism itself. The humor is intriguing, and I am not sure I get enough of it in my readings, so this will be a nice way to fill that void a little bit.
clair02 (27 September 2016)
Wonderfully written book. I sure can appreciate a good satire and I can totally relate to the goings on in community meetings. I love the kind of humor that is not so blatant, and I would recommend this book to anyone who loves rhetoric.
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