Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Almost Unbelievably Curious Case of Jeremiah Hudgejaw by Marten Weber





Reviewer: Alan Chin
Publisher: Aquarius Publishing
Pages: 148


Set in the beginning of the 1900’s aboard the RMS Noricum, traveling from England to New York, Jeremiah Hudgejaw is on the lookout for a husband for his daughter and a wife for himself. Jeremiah is a super rich, super homophobic, self-absorbed loudmouth who has a knack for offending nearly everyone he meets. Also, he often can’t tell if a person is male or female, which gets him into trouble when he is smitten by a young steward who he mistakes for a female.

Jeremiah is joined on this cruise by several quirky characters who provide both humor and romance. The comedy is built on the kind of absurd misunderstanding one finds in Oscar Wilde’s plays.

The writing is well crafted, fast paced, and breezy in this somewhat entertaining historical satire that takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the topic of homophobia and gay marriage. The story is rather predictable, the premises are too absurd, none of the characters are likeable, and the humor gets tiresome, yet it leaves a smile on the reader’s face.



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