The Diary of a Nobody by George & Weedon Grossmith

This was a welcome and pleasant surprise. I was drawn to this read after seeing an illustration from the book with the following caption; “He left the house, slamming the door after him, which nearly broke the fanlight; and I heard him fall over the scraper, which made me feel glad I hadn’t removed it.”

First presented in Punch magazine in 1888, it was later expanded to book form and published in 1892 where it was met with a tepid response.

It’s been said that ignorance is bliss, and in the case of diarist Charles Pooter, that is quite the understatement. Always just inches away from his latest catastrophe, he somehow manages to escape (somewhat) unscathed and most often with little awareness of the potential harm he has eluded.

Ne’er-do-well son Willie is his father’s antithesis, although so self-absorbed, he sometimes fails to see what is staring him right in the face. He puts on performances for his family and their neighbors with friends from his theater group that seem to bring more joy to the performers than its audience.

I’d love to meet the Grossmith brothers and would probably love to see them perform, rather than sitting down and chatting, but I’d attempt to get some insight into their sheer hilarity, both onstage and in writing.

My rating for The Diary of a Nobody is a 9 out of 10.

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Next up, Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood…