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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780330247320
ISBN: 0330247328
Label: Pan Books Ltd
Manufacturer: Pan Books Ltd
Book Pages: 256
Publication Date: 2003-02
Publisher: Pan Books Ltd
Studio: Pan Books Ltd

Raised in Burma and Britain, Saki was a correspondent for London's Morning Post and a political satirist before he found his true calling as a short story writer. Satirical and macabre, these stories skewer pre-war British society by unleashing their irreverent heroes into its upper-class drawing rooms, where they flounce its dowager Duchesses and irascible aunts.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Hilariously dark short stories
Review: Probably the only sane response, as a writer, to Edwardian England was to skewer it mercilessly. And nobody serves up a finer kebab than Saki. These stories are clever and hilariously funny. I think part of their appeal is that, although Munro can be merciless, one always senses an underlying affection for his targets. It's also pretty clear that Saki's sympathies are with those who lack clout in the established power structure of Edwardian society (children, for example), which makes me like him all the more.

A very funny book.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: An outstanding collection
Review: This is one of my favorite and most admired books, ever. An ideal collection of ideal short stories - witty, brief yet complete, and not a word wasted in creating tone and point. Funny and satisfying. Unsettling and creepy. Deliberate use of language and vocabulary that cuts and exposes. All of the above. Unforgettable: The charging stag. The baby playing with buttercups. Schartz-Metterklume.

Recommended without reservation, for a single sitting or a one-a-night from the bedside table.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Darkly Humorous Revenge
Review: Picador edition has wonderful, nicely written introduction that gives marvelous details of Saki's remarkable and short life, explaining well why his stories are usually so dark, and why he liked to take aim at stuffy old bats.

Nearly all of Saki's short stories are about some character exacting revenge upon cruel or shallow members of the British upper class. His writing sometimes feels labored and overwrought, with overlong sentences or ungainly descriptions. But his consistant style, sense of justice, and biting wit are the gems to be discovered within.

The earliest stories seemed to have a lack of balance between darkness and wit, but he did find his equilibrium and most of the later tales are deliciously satisfying.

Absolutely delightful reading if you liked Robert Altman's recent film Gosford Park, or if you are fed up with stuffy, mean upper class types.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great Book
Review: Saki's writing style is unique. His stories are mostly bleak and tragic. Some of his writing seems to have been influenced by his background and childhood experiences. However, they are amusing, interesting and tinged with humour.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Acid humour in 1900's England
Review: If P.G.Wodehouse in "literature's performing flea" of light, easy, beautifully-turned literature of the quintessentially English house party, Saki's stories are the dark side: Wodehouse with acid. "The Unrest-Cure" probably one of the finest short stories ever written in the English language. If you like your humour astringent and your use of language tight then read these stories.

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