Evan Leach's Reviews > Flashman

I am not a big historical fiction buff, but I fell head-over-heels in love with this book. The very premise is awesome: in 1857, Thomas Hughes wrote a novel based heavily on his own experiences as a schoolboy. The villain of the book is a boy called Flashman, a bully, drunkard, and general asshole. Naturally, 100 years later George MacDonald Fraser decided to write a series of historical novels starring a grown up Flashman as the “hero.” The result, at least in Fraser’s original book, was pure magic.




Flashman picks up right where Hughes left off, in 1839. The recently expelled Flashman is forced to find an occupation after being expelled from school for drunkenness, and chooses the army in the hopes of landing a cushy post with no real demands. Unfortunately, Flashman ends up getting shuttled off to India and then Afghanistan, just in time to take place in the First Anglo-Afghan War. Flashman is, by his own admission, a coward, scoundrel, and overall crummy human being. He may also be the greatest anti-hero I have ever encountered and is a thoroughly entertaining main character.

The book is written as a sort of diary penned by Flashman in his old age, later discovered by Fraser (who provides endnotes). The book honestly feels like it was written in the 19th century, and not in a bad way. Fraser is pitch-perfect writing in Flashman’s style, and overall the prose in this book is top notch. The plot is also perfectly paced and Fraser does a great job in knowing where to draw out the suspense and where to cut to the chase, so to speak. I have nothing but praise for MacDonald’s writing and the pages flew by for me. The book is also very funny. I was turned onto this book (in part) because I have been nostalgically re-reading Douglas Adams’ books (for the 3rd-4th time) in order to review them for this site, and have been in the mood for British humor. Flashman is not as goofy as Adams’s Hitchhiker books, but it is extremely clever and has plenty of laugh out loud moments.

The historical aspect of this book is also compelling. While I am a bit of a history buff, I do not read much historical fiction as I can’t help but feel I’d be better served just reading the actual history (truth being stranger than fiction and all that jazz). I am not an expert on the First Anglo-Afghan War, so I cannot speak to Fraser’s accuracy. But he has a reputation for being rock solid regarding his history, and I found that to be completely true. I was continually referring to Wikipedia during Flashman’s exploits, to determine whether this or that crazy historical occurrence was accurate, and it invariably was. While the character Flashman is fictional, the history his adventures take him through is very real and I actually learned a lot in reading this book.

One word of caution. Flashman is supposed to be an asshole. He is also a 19th century asshole, and to some degree a product of his time. Through the course of his book he says and does many things that are racist and/or sexist. If reading about a fictional character doing these sorts of things will upset you, this is not the book for you. However, keep in mind (a) he is supposed to be awful, and (b) he is supposed to be a 19th century Englishman, and if you think all 19th century Englishmen regarded their Indian subjects as their equals it’s probably time to think again. Remember, this book purports to be the journal of a man living in 1839. Many of the men who would fight & die to end slavery in the U.S. Civil War weren’t even born yet. So hand-wringing over the lack of political correctness in this book seems incredibly stupid, but I include this paragraph as fair warning.

There are twelve (12!) Flashman novels and I could not be more excited to tackle the lot. This book featured a thoroughly enjoyable anti-hero, razor-sharp writing, a fine sense of pace and plot, and plenty of laughs. I really can’t recommend this book highly enough. 5 stars.