The Bandy Papers Three Cheers for Me - Donald Jack (Paperback) 10-08-2017 Winner of Leacock Medal for Humour 1963.
"I enjoyed every word . . . terrifically funny." P.G. Wodehouse With his disturbingly horse-like face and a pious distaste for strong drink and bad language, young Bartholomew Bandy doesn't seem cut out for life in the armed services, as we meet him at the start of the First World War. Yet he not only survives the dangers and squalor of the infantry trenches, he positively thrives in the Royal Flying Corps, revealing a surprising aptitude for splitarsing Sopwith Camels and shooting down the Hun. He even manages to get the girl. Through it all he never loses his greatest ability - to open his mouth and put his foot in it. Donald Jack's blackly humorous Bandy memoirs are classics of their kind. Against an unshrinkingly depicted backdrop of war and its horrors, his anti-hero's adventures are both gripping and shockingly funny. What people are saying about The Bandy Papers: "Reading can lead to involuntary bursts of loud laughter." "Very descriptive, full of air combats and written with a fine eye for period detail . . . there is quite simply no finer book of its kind. Highly recommended." "It is clear that Bandy likely should've been killed several times, but very likely the Grim Reaper was laughing too hard to hold his scythe straight . . ." "Hysterically funny! . . . each book is another installment in the continuing saga of a Canadian and his adventures in war, the world, and women." "I have yet to find another author with the wit and humor of Donald Jack." Editorial reviews: "Jack does more than play it for laughs . . . The mingling of humor and horror is like a clown tap-dancing on a coffin, but Jack is skillful enough to get away with it." Time Magazine "Funny. Very. Donald Jack has as light a touch with this fragile art as his hero has on throttle of a Sopwith Camel. Excessive corn is avoided in favour of wit and a delight in life." New York Times "Bartholomew Bandy is the most remarkable hero (or anti-hero) since Harold Lloyd impersonated the Freshman." Chicago Tribune "To know Bandy is to love him . . . you tend to gallop through and come hurtling out at the end panting for more." The Sunday Sun "For those to whom Bandy is a newcomer, what a treat is in store." Toronto Star