Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages

By: Tom Holt

Narrated by: Ray Sawyer

Length: 15 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

Polly, an average, completely ordinary property lawyer, is convinced she's losing her mind. Someone keeps drinking her coffee. And talking to her clients. And doing her job. And when she goes to the dry cleaner's to pick up her dress for the party, it's not there. Not the dress - the dry cleaner's. And then there are the chickens who think they are people. Something strange is definitely going on - and it's going to take more than a magical ring to sort it out.

©2011 Tom Holt (P)2011 Hachette Digital

Critic Reviews

“Clever, funny, tirelessly inventive …Tom Holt maybe the most imaginative satirist to land on our shores since Douglas Adams." (Christopher Moore)

"Uniquely twisted...cracking gags." ( The Guardian)

Cluck

loved every minute of it!!!!! A rollicking inter dimensional comedy of errors,real estate,and chickens. Great.

life, liberty and the persuit of sausages

This is the first Tom Holt book I have listened to and I couldn't put it down.Well drawn characters in extraordinary situations, entertaining and funny, it's for those who like something completely different. If you like Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman you may enjoy this.

Some magic you can believe in!

This is the 4th or 5th title of Tom Holt's that I've had the pleasure of experiencing but the first I've had as an audiobook. Either way it's another excellent story where even the plainest of characters have the most adventures and you are kept guessing and wondering until the end of the book where the mysteries are revealed in the most inventive and amusing of ways.

While listening to this one, i was asked about the story and anyone who hadn't read one of these before looked at me in complete bewilderment as i spoke of pigs and chickens and things that seemed downright silly. To anyone who has read any in his collection however it's only expected that the weird and wonderful will certainly come to life.

I enjoyed Ray Sawyer's narration and interpretation of each character, this defiantly helped in building a picture of each of them individually and aiding the escapism which is always something i crave in books, paper or audio.

Having read a few of Holt's books prior to downloading this, I was pleased to be able to hear that characters from other titles were still involved in 'the Trade'.

This is a book which can be enjoyed by anyone whether you've experienced Holt before or not, you must be willing however to open your mind to magic, mystery and farm animals that have more sense than perhaps you first thought!

Engage your Holtiness....

Where does Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

If ever you need a break from life, Tom Holt will always provide a space for you to retire in to. This book is well up to his normal standard and I will keep it within easy reach in my listening library.

What did you like best about this story?

Tom Holt continues to demonstrate his ability to take a concept and run backwards with it; laughing and challenging you to join him.

What about Ray Sawyer’s performance did you like?

I think it might be a challenge to deliver a Tom Holt. Ray Sawyer does the job... He doesn't get in the way of the story, which is what you really want.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Multidimensional conveyancing for the 21st Century.

Extremely slow!

What did you like best about Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages? What did you like least?

The story itself was okay, it was interesting and different. It took some time to get into the story, it was quite complicated although it did come together at the end. I listened to it in 1.5 x speed, which made it less difficult to listen to.

What did you like best about this story?

it was a unique and interesting concept.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

It was very slow, very drawn out and even at 1.5 x speed, it was a bit too boring for my liking.

Do you think Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, definitely no follow-up!

kinda bizarre, but not bad

very metaphysical, playing with time and space to make a very British comedy. not the best work of fiction, but idle fun.

How funny is this?

Th story is very funny. I don't think I've laughed so much in a long time. The naration is top class and that makes the story even more amusing. What I disliked about the overall construction of the book is the appalling grammar. At school in my day we'd have been marked down for excessive repitition or misuse of grammar. the word 'said' appears in the book far too often for my taste. I would recommend this book to any lovers of the Terry Pratchet novels. It really is very very funny

Brilliant

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It is entertaining and has a very satisfactory coming together of dimension of time and plots.

Not up to standard

I have read a number of Tom Holt books and have, in general, really enjoyed his style. However, I found this story really hard to engage with and did not have any empathy with the characters in this story. The narrator was fine, as usual, but the story was padded, overlong and not very flowing. Not up to his usual standard.

excellent break from realities...

loved this adventure, great humour and the narrator performance brought extra life to the narrative!

Fine

Entertaining, lots of crazy ideas, it all comes together at the end, though with new facts rather than an aha moment, it wasn't bad but I won't listen again.
Good performance.