Flashman

The Flashman Papers, Book 1

By: George MacDonald Fraser

Narrated by: Colin Mace

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown's schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents - horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the nineteenth century despite trying his utmost to escape them all.

Flashman, soldier, duellist, lover, imposter, coward, cad, and hero triumphs in this first installment of The Flashman Papers. His adventures as the reluctant secret agent in Afghanistan and his entry into the exclusive company of Lord Cardigan's Hussars culminate in his foulest hour - his part in the historic disaster of the Retreat from Kabul.

This is the story of a blackguard who enjoyed villainy for its own sake. Shameless, exciting, and funny, Flashman's deplorable odyssey is observed with the cynical eye of a scoundrel who was honest only in reporting what he saw. He makes all other black sheep look respectably grey.

©2015 George MacDonald Fraser (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Good satire.

The Flashman papers, of which this is the first pack is a good satire with a very good interpretation.

Fun, fabulously un-PC

All the worst parts of British culture hung out to dry. Satire on par with Yes, Minister, but far more salty. Spike Lee should make this into a TV show, the perfect picture of how we became so horrible in Europe. In a time when works of art are judged by the morality of the main character this is utterly irredeemable of course; a story of the Man, British colonial superiority, a cross between James Bond and Indiana Jones. Cheerfully racist and misogynist. Great naughty fun.

What a fantastic listen

I don’t no what every body is going on about, complaining about Colin Mace. He was superb and really brought Flashman to life in my eye. Each to their own I suppose.

Great listen don’t let the other reviews put you off like it nearly made me do so glad I took a chance and it paid off

Well written, well read, but not well aged

An excellent reading of a well written and often funny book - but much as Fraser makes clear that it's a satire and that Flashman is not supposed to be seen as a hero, it's nevertheless difficult to really enjoy a book with Flashman as a first-person protagonist. He - the character, one must presume, not the author - cheerfully displays many of those traits that were more common among the colonial British tag many would like to believe, and his casual racism and awful treatment of women is made no more palatable as entertainment by its realism.

It's a good book, but even knowing the point Fraser meant to make I just couldn't enjoy it. Perhaps I'll finish listening to it one day, but probably not.

Hilarious

My favourite part of the day is listening to Flashy’s adventures.
Irreverent, human and funny!

Masterfully told, as always.