Awesome indulgences.

DisappointingThe blurb suggested an amusing story set in an interesting time. Then I started reading it ...The times were interesting and there may be a funny story to be told about them but this is not it. There is a bit of history, a bit of a comedy of manners, a bit of the author amusing himself with futurology, and that’s about it.

9th book of 2022.Well, I mean it's called Hurdy Gurdy, I can't really talk about literary merit. It's fun, that's it. And it's not even always fun. Looks like we are already heading into plague-literature [1], and I'm yet to decide about that. Wilson thinks he's funny and there's 'humour' throughout the book though it never really took off or tickled me. It's 1349, Black Death, monks, on page 6 there's an allusion to Donald Trump (Saint Udo has supernatural vision in which he sees, among other t...

Our many futures mentioned in Saint Odo’s The Great Unhappened, describing the many perils and plagues that would befall the coming generations, were hilarious.

I adored this clever and funny novel about a novice monk making his way through plague-struck medieval England. The prose is artful and tender. It fizzes from the first page, drawing you into Brother Diggory’s tragic, yet uplifting tale. Forced out into a broken world, our hero encounters many strange and wonderful things, including Woman, and all her rich delights; a Satanic pig detained on charges of well-poisoning; and his nemesis Simon Mostly (so-named, because despite the loss of many appen...

Not what I expected and not a great read. Maybe it's too soon still for kidding about the pandemic and this just felt like an episode of Blackadder where all the jokes fell flat.Tough crowd.

I bought this book because it was billed in the press as being one of the funniest historical fiction books of recent times. It isn't. It is a finely sketched story where the characters you meet are believable, but it always feels like the outline for a book, rather than anything weighty. A lot of the humour relies on paragraphs about the imagined future which are dull. Also, without spoilers, the way the author deals with building tension around a near death experience near the end of the book

Brother Diggory is one of the younger members of the monastery when the Black Death hits and everyone else dies. He sets out to seek all the sins he's missed growing up a monk so that he has something to repent when his end is near. I loved this book; it's funny and amusing and witty but also sweet and touching. An unexpected treasure with the most gorgeous cover.

I was drawn to this book by its cover and its promise to showcase in a highly amusing manner the dealings with the black plague from the perspective of a young monk. However, after being first enamored with the tone of the writing (the introduction), I found myself trudging through actual sludge (lots of body humor that I don't find amusing at all, a lack of plot and a penchant for looong enumerations that make me wonder where the editor of this book was). Nothing happens for much of the book, a...

This is a gently humorous, sometimes ribald, sometimes gruesome coming-of-age tale of Brother Diggory - real name, Jack Fox. (“So I rhyme, face and arse, with the Black Pox.”) Diggory/Jack is a novice friar in the Order of St Odo, whose founder, Saint Odo the Ugly, could see into the future (he even saw “the orange-faced king, Small Hands, with straw-yellow hair…”). When bubonic plague arrives at his monastery, wiping out the inhabitants and very nearly dispatching Jack, he heads north, carrying...

This was only a short novel but one which made me chuckle throughout. The author is able to use comedy as a means to humanise the plague, even more pertinent during coronavirus! The use of foreshadowing of the modern world in a way which was understandably unfathomable to someone from the 14th century also added depth and humour to the story and the thoughts of the main character.

Such an engaging book, the setting is like The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey but her medieval world of priests, plagues, and pilgrimages is turned on its head. It is so funny, I could not put it down.

Funny in parts but the author was clearly too into his own humour to rein it in where it dragged on. It’s clear he would rather have written a history book because the amount of medical information about dealing with the black death (in the eyes of a man living in the 1300’s) is incredible. The story ends abruptly and doesn’t know where it wants to go, avoid like the plague 🤙

Brother Diggory, a young monk in the minor Order of Saint Odo of Whye, is continually visited in his dreams by some kind of succubus ‘come to steal his innocence and the seed of his generation’. But his troubles, and his sinful thoughts, are only just beginning – soon, the much-rumoured Black Death reaches the monastery, and all but wipes out the brotherhood. Diggory is forced to leave behind everything he has known and make his way in the big, bad world of 14th century England, at which point h...

Really, 3.5 stars. I ordered this book because it’s got such a good review from The Times of London. It’s very clever and quite amusing and it certainly moves along but I admit to being a bit disappointed overall. I guess that’s on me, though, since I had assumed something different from the write up. Brother Diggory of the Order of St Odo of Whye is an oblate - a monk promised to God as a child - and in his years at the monastery, he has learned Latin, Greek, Rhetoric, Writing, Medicine, and ma...

A rather pointless read.Not a book I enjoyed. We all have different views but I cannot understand the favourable reviews this book has received. I finished it because I don't like dropping a book part way through and this one is mercifully short.

I haven’t laughed out loud at a book in a while. Kind of cathartic to read during this time. Genuinely hoping we all get the same rebirth experience post our current plague <3

A lovely quirky book which is a dark comedy. The lead character is certainly one you route for and the pa e of the novel moves quickly. That death follows our main character means no one is safe in his company.

An entertaining book.

A good teadA happy enquiring readers prepared to be amused and entertained and very open minfef. Read and I hope you will enjoy.