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Sir Harry Paget Flashman, the bully from Tom Brown's Schooldays, has grown up to be an adventurer, a bounder, cad, reluctant hero, and a love and leave 'em man's man. The background fiction behind this novel is that this is the 11th of his journals to be found and published by author and historian, George MacDonald Fraser. This way Harry speaks to his readers directly just as he wrote in his memoirs, addressing them and asking for their opinions again and again. As this escapade begins, we meet Harry in Mexico in 1867 after he failed to save Emperor Maximilian from a well-earned firing squad. Harry escapes on a boat to accompany the body to Europe, but again has to beat a hasty retreat after seducing a young woman on the trip. So it's off to Africa for Harry as an envoy for Britain, to rescue a group of European hostages held in Abyssinia. Each page, including copious endnotes, in the language of the men of the times, tells the story not only of the adventure at hand, but also refers to Harry's previous jaunts in the many historical happenings of that time period. We hear of Harry's political and personal thoughts, his antics in both the battlefields and the bedrooms, and his swashbuckling adventures. Hail-fellow, well met, and all that, he's a man of his era, casually racist and comfortably misogynist. I admit, perhaps I am not the best critic for this book; I think you need that Y chromosome and a place in your reading tastes that havenŐt matured past the age of 12. I found myself bored at Harry's tales of fantastic escapes from horrendous situations, copious seductions of beauteous babes, and fanciful, flowery descriptions of exotic locations. The brag and swagger of the swashbuckling male doesn't interest me. This book is the equivalent of the silver screen's biggest adventure blockbuster. If you love tales of danger, rollicking couplings with comely beauties, evil henchmen, depraved royalty and dastardly doings, all told within a solid historical venue, FLASHMAN ON THE MARCH is for you.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, December 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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