The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

By: Tobias Smollett

Narrated by: June Whitfield, Suzy Aitchison, Hywel Simons, Ioen Meredith

Written as the letters of the five members of Squire Bramble's household sent as they journey around Britain, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker is a grouchy, very funny examination of how one story varies depending on who's doing the telling.

The tale is centered around the arrival of Mr. Clinker into the otherwise uneventful household, who never speaks and does not even enter the novel until a third of the way through. In spite of this, the duels, imprisonments, failed romances and jealousies and an inconveniently overturned carriage, all recounted with Smollett's characteristically coarse and satirical verve, manage to make Mr. Clinker one of classical literature's best-loved characters. This was Tobias Smollett's last novel.

Published in 1771, the year of the author's death, it brought together all the qualities of Smollett's work - his renowned gravelly style, his knowledge of the travails of a doctor beset by hypochondriacs,(being a qualified surgeon and MD himself), his lengthy and varied travels and a recent stay at the fashionable and increasingly ridiculous spa at Bath - all combine to make a very funny read.

Public Domain (P)2008 Silksoundbooks Limited

Quirky brits on parade

Vocal characterizations and audio quality were both outstanding which helped maintain interest during some dull portions of the text. It’s a grab bag — a thin plot with plenty of digressions into social commentary, travelogue descriptions and transitory characters. Reminds me a bit of Pickwick, and in some ways this book is more ambitious, but the constantly shifting viewpoints somewhat blunt the humor.

At one point there was an extended dialog between two characters about whether Scotland gained or lost in uniting with Britain. It was not clear what was intended. Was this a serious policy discussion or presentation of information? Was it intended to be humorous, showing the chauvinism of the Scotsman through his outrageous statements? Without historical knowledge of the events, it is hard to know.

Think of the old Ed Sullivan show: some acts wow you, some fall flat and some are awful, depending on your taste but no one is pleased with everything.

And yes, the servants are lampooned for their malapprops but the upper classes are treated the same way. Everyone has their foibles twitted, high or low.

just fantastic

a panorama of human nature. funny funny funny because we are each a mixrture of selfish qualities and generous ones. Not much character development due to the narrative device of letter writing. So glad I read this slice of life from way back when. Would love to have more Smollett on Audible but since not, am headed to his translation of Don Quixote.

A treat

The Expedition of Humphry Clinker is another delightful 18th century romp, although it has little or nothing to do with Humphry Clinker, who turns out to be a minor character. The framework, as with other novels of the period, is a journey around the country by the squire Matthew Bramble, his sister Tabitha, his niece and nephew (Liddy and Jery), and Tabitha's maid Win Jenkins. Along the way they pick up Clinker, an honest and religious man, as a footman.

The story is told in the letters they write to their particular friends. And the joy of the audiobook - and it is a joy, first to last - is the excellence of the ensemble cast. Unfortunately, though the four people in the cast are named in the credits, there is no guide as to who reads which part. Squire Bramble - Hywel Simons? Ioen Meredith? - is an especially brilliant performance.

Plot? There's no plot. There's lots of movement, though, and a few surprises and coincidences; and plenty of conflict, and a happy ending. If you decide to try this one out, just sit back, close your eyes, and enjoy the wonderful trip and the engaging characters. As with any good journey, the real pleasure comes from the diversions and digressions.

And don't bother trying to remember the names of the people addressed by the letters. Liddy unfortunately writes to someone named Letty, which occasioned some confusion in the beginning. But the people written to never write back, so the only people you really need to keep straight are the six letter writers themselves - and Humphry Clinker.

Underrated writer!

Smollett is in my opinion underrated and this is one of his most pleasing efforts. If you like Pickwick you will probably enjoy it. It gives a detailed, lively, humorous and most interesting glimpse into life in England and Scotland in the 18th century. Of course it also contains some unlikely coincidences and a worn out romantic storyline, but to a much less extent than most other 18th century novels. Perhaps one reason why Smollett has not received the appreciation he deserves is his sometimes bizarre and not altogether delicate sense of humour, but for me who was brought up on Monty Python this is certainly no problem. And I should also add that there is certainly very little in the book that could be called indecent. Only indelicate. Using different readers for the various writers of the letters that make up the book works brilliantly and adds considerably to the enjoyment of listening. By the way, there exists another, free, version of the book (which can be found at LibriVox) that was also well read but not as good as this one.

Good for long walks

In the vein of Tom Jones and Tristram Shandy, by the remarkable Smollett. The narration is perfect. Relaxing and fun story.

An odd book

I don’t think I’ve read anything quite like this book. Most novels, even epistolary novels, generally put the plot front and center. This novel in letters takes a very different approach: the letters mostly focus on describing the places and people the writers meet with on their journey, and relate odd or amusing anecdotes—some of which I found interesting, some tiresome; the plot, such as it is, only appears in little glimpses here and there, in small comments that the characters mention by the way. Perhaps another way to put it is that this novel focuses, for most of its length, on characterization almost to the exclusion of plot. The book becomes more conventional toward the conclusion, by bringing the plot more to the front. I found the ending quite satisfying.

I’m not in love with all the performances. There are two main letter writers (both male) and three more occasional letter writers (all female, although it sounds like one actress does double duty by reading the letters of two of the women). The women performers are very good, and one of the men is also quite good, but I found it difficult to listen to the other (younger) man. I have a paper copy of the book and ended up just reading his letters and fast forwarding through them in the audiobook.

The author who birthed Dickens all by himself

If you love Dickens, you'll be amazed at the amount of prototypical Dickensian characters and situations you will meet with in Smollett. Here is savage social satire, picaresque adventure, some of the most memorable characters in English literature, with a novel portmanteau for the whole, being letters from five different characters, each seeing the action from a different angle and speaking in a different voice. The writing is crisp, lucid and hilariously funny, as such subjects as air and water pollution, food processing, social climbing, moronic influence peddling politicians, profligate estate management, arrant husband hunting, tiresome proselytizers, over rated pleasure emporiums, pretentious literati, uxorious husbands and terrifyingly dangerous wives, are individually skewered. This book is a joy and has convinced me not to rest until I have read each and every one of the novels produced by this comic genius.
I must also recommend the delightful performances by the entire cast. Altogether splendid entertainment.

A (boring) travelogue, not a novel

This is a travelogue very thinly disguised as an epistolary novel. We are treated to extensive and minute descriptions of the people, sights, sounds, smells (mostly of raw sewage), and food of many areas of Britain, in the 1700s. I kept waiting for there to be a plot, or something resembling plot tension, but finally gave up. There are none.
There are multiple readers. They're pretty good, except that the reader portraying the crotchety uncle often modulates his speech close to a whisper, which is annoying if you're not in a perfectly silent environment.
The author thinks it's funny to portray the speech and spelling of members of the lower or servile classes as being the productions of unconsciously funny morons. While I am far from being a righteous warrior of the politically correct, assuming that all non-aristocrats are buffoons is simply not funny. Maybe it was funny in Smollett's day, but I doubt it. I take him to be an over-the-top, nose-in-the-air snob. I'll take slobs over snobs.
In sum: Unless you are planning to time travel to 18th century Britain, and require a detailed foretaste, I'd skip this. It has its charms, but it's mostly a bore.