Reviewed by Briana @ Pages Unbound on
The published book is a facsimile edition, reproducing Tolkien’s illustrations and hand-lettered text on the right-hand pages, with typed-out text on the left. The illustrations are on the smallish side but still detailed and characteristically Tolkien. There are also some entertaining captions, such as when Tolkien notes that he’s tired of drawing the car in every scene so he simply left it out or when he comments that a character is missing from a certain scene because he rose from his chair to do something else. Normally I’m not a fan of authorial asides, but these come across as personal notes to the reader and are just in the right space between charming and funny.
The plot is wild and clips along at as a fast pace, as Mr. Bliss encounters an increasing number of troubles with his new car, running people over, picking people up, driving into walls, and so forth. I suppose it’s a bit of a story of its time, when automobiles were still kind of wild and new, but it doesn’t read as old or out of touch. Rather, it’s just hilarious and will still resonate with today’s readers. (As a side note, I half wonder if the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender reader Mr. Bliss because there’s a character here who keeps screaming “My cabbages!” and Mr. Bliss keeps as a pet a Girabbit, a cross between a giraffe and a rabbit.)
I’ve been meaning to read Mr. Bliss for years because it’s currently out of print in the US and can be a bit hard to find. I was excited to discover my local library actually has a copy (it never occurred to me to look before), and I highly recommend it to anyone else who can locate a copy.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 3 January, 2018: Reviewed