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quote:I asked Billy later what value he would have put on all the loot that we saw piled up and scrambled for in that one yard, and he said curtly: "Millions of pounds, blast it!" I'd believe it, too: there were solid gold and silver vessels and ornaments, crusted with gems, miles of jewel-sewn brocade, gorgeous pictures and statues that the troops just hacked and smashed, beautiful enamel and porcelain trampled underfoot, weapons and standards set with rubies and emeralds which were gouged and hammered from their settings all this among the powder-smoke and blood, with native soldiers who'd never seen above ten rupees in their lives, and slum-ruffians from Glasgow and Liverpool, all staggering about drunk on plunder and killing and destruction. One thing I'm sure of: there was twice as much treasure destroyed as carried away, and we officers were too busy bagging our share to do anything about it. I daresay a philosopher would have made heavy speculation about that scene, if he'd had time to spare from tilling his pockets. Because of how well the readers know Flashman, having characters who see through him to the bastard within shows that they're clever and perceptive. Here we have Campbell explicitly go one further and see past the bastard to the man blessed by fortune. quote:I didn't know what to think of this or of his curious opinion of me. I just stood and waited anxiously. Here we see both the legend of spreading Lakshmibai spreading and, uniquely, Flashman finding a reason to throw himself into danger. A hilariously terrible reason, but still. quote:I explained my thoughts to Rose the first part, about the special platoon, not the rest at dinner in his tent, and he frowned and shook his head. Chartism is a fascinating mid-19th century political movement and 1848 coincides with a great deal of continental upheaval. Wikipedia gives their six main desired reforms as: * A vote for every man aged twenty-one years and above, of sound mind, and not undergoing punishment for a crime. * The secret ballot to protect the elector in the exercise of his vote. * No property qualification for Members of Parliament (MPs), to allow the constituencies to return the man of their choice. * Payment of Members, enabling tradesmen, working men, or other persons of modest means to leave or interrupt their livelihood to attend to the interests of the nation. * Equal constituencies, securing the same amount of representation for the same number of electors, instead of allowing less populous constituencies to have as much or more weight than larger ones. * Annual Parliamentary elections, thus presenting the most effectual check to bribery and intimidation, since no purse could buy a constituency under a system of universal manhood suffrage in every twelve months. And yes, the future Napoleon III was in the UK at the time. quote:"Bribery, perhaps if we could smuggle a proposal to some of her officers?" says he. And now that the British have the upper hand in the conflict, foolish racists with stupid plans assert themselves. However precise the history it makes for good narrative.
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# ? Jun 2, 2021 18:07 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 10:32 |
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quote:In essence it was what I've already described I was to convince Lakshmibai of the wisdom of giving herself up (which I reckoned she'd never agree to do), and if she accepted, I was to explain how she must make an attempt to escape through the unguarded Orcha Gate at the very height of our attack on Jhansi city the timing, said Rose, was of the utmost importance, and the further advanced our attack was before she made her bolt, the less suspicion her people might feel. (I couldn't see that this mattered much, but Rose was one of these meticulous swine who'll leave nothing to chance.) That monster. quote:So there it was again. Hell in front and no way out. I tried to balance the odds in my mind, while I kept a straight face and punished the brandy. Would Lakshmibai listen to me? Probably not; she might try to escape when all was lost, but she'd never give herself up and leave her city to die. What would she do with me, then? I conjured up a picture of that dark face, smiling up at me with parted lips when I pinned her and kissed her against the mirrored wall; I remembered the pavilion no, she wouldn't do me harm, if she could help it. Unless had she set those Thugs after me? No, that had been Ignatieff: And yet there was the Jhansi massacre how deep had she been in that? Who knew what went on in an Indian mind, if it came to that? Was she as cruel and treacherous as all the rest of them? I couldn't say but I was going to find out, by God, whether I liked it or not. I'd know, when I came face to face with her and just for an instant I felt a leap of eagerness in my chest at the thought of seeing her once more. It was only for an instant, and then I was sweating again. Seeing the humanity in his enemies, even when he ignores it. quote:Aloud I said: Worst of all, it succeeds? quote:The sound of marching feet came from the gloom beyond the archway, and I got to my feet, quivering. The havildar came out of the dark, with two troopers behind him. He stopped, gave me a long, glowering look, and then jerked his head. I went forward, and he motioned me on into the courtyard beyond, falling in beside me with the two troopers behind. I wanted to ask him if he'd given the note to the Rani personally, but my tongue seemed to have shrivelled up; I'd know soon enough. As my eyes became accustomed to the gloom after the glare of the torches by the gate, I saw that we were heading across the yard, with high black walls on either side, and another torch at the far end over a doorway, guarded by two more Pathans. Oh dear.
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# ? Jun 5, 2021 03:12 |
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Oh christ haha, Flashy you unlucky bastard.
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# ? Jun 5, 2021 04:27 |
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Frasier really can spin a yarn.
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# ? Jun 5, 2021 07:20 |
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quote:How I've survived four-score years without heart seizure I do not know. Perhaps I'm inured to the kind of shock I experienced then, with my innards surging up into my throat; I couldn't move, but stood there with my skin crawling as he came to stand in front of me a new Ignatieff, this, in flowered shirt and pyjamy trousers and Persian boots, and with a little gingery beard adorning his chin. But the rat-trap mouth was still the same, and that unwinking half-blue half-brown eye boring into me. Just letting it all fly. quote:let me go, you bastard! Please in God's name, I'll tell you!" I felt the drum turn behind me as the troopers put their weight on the lever, drawing my arms taut above my head. "No, no! Let me go, you foul swine! I'm a gentleman, drat you for pity's sake! We've had tea with the Queen! No, please " Wait, no, There we go. quote:I was in such anguish that it was even an effort to keep my eyes open, so I didn't, but I heard her cry of astonishment, and then the chamberlain babbling, and Ignatieff swinging round. And then, believe it or not, what she said, in a voice shrill with anger, was: I've said it before but boy does it bear repeating: the man recovers fast when he has to. quote:"This is by your order?" Lord, it was a lovely voice. Do you know who this is?" Somehow this isn't even the most suspenseful part of the book, maybe top 5. quote:"Release him," says she, and I near fainted with relief. She watched impassively while he undamped me, and I took a few staggering and damned painful steps, catching at that hellish wheel for support. Then: The hits keep coming. quote:I'm an easy-going chap, as you know, and can take things pretty well as they come, but I'll admit that I wondered if I was mad or dreaming. Not much above two hours ago I'd been in Rose's tent in the safety of British lines, gulping down a last brandy and trying to read the advertisements in an old copy of The Times to take my mind off the ordeal ahead, with young Lyster humming a popular song and since then I'd taken part in a cavalry skirmish, and skulked through a hostile n***** city in disguise, and been scared out of my senses by that fiend Ignatieffs appearance, and stretched on a rack in fearful physical and even worse mental agony, and been rescued at the last minute and dragged and bound in the presence of a female despot and here she was clinging and weeping and slobbering over me as though I were Little Willie the Collier's Dying Child. It was all a shade more than enough for my poor bemused brain, and body, and I just sank to my knees under the weight of it all, and she sank with me, crying and kissing. It's quite apparant on your second read-through is how perfectly she's working him and trying desperately to keep her options open. If you share the end-notes' opinion that it wasn't her at the pavilion then take special note of her keeping his hands bound so he can't join in their reunion. From a horrifying return to torture to rescue to suspense to this, and all in just under 4000 words. If that's not economy I don't know what is. Arbite fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Jun 12, 2021 |
# ? Jun 6, 2021 20:16 |
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Arbite posted:From a horrifying return to torture to rescue to suspense to this, and all in just under 4000 words. If that's not economy I don't know what is. One of the things I like about the Flashman books is that Fraser never really wastes a page. Flashman is always in motion from one thing to the next, and if he's ever in one place long enough to establish a status quo, you just hear about it for a paragraph or two as Flash whiles away a few weeks, just as a way of marking time before the next thing happens. It's a little bit exhausting sometimes, but it makes these books really hard to put down.
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# ? Jun 7, 2021 02:52 |
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No matter what he was like in his later years, Fraser truly was a master at his craft. His books are not high culture, and he doesn't pretend they are.
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# ? Jun 7, 2021 06:32 |
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quote:"If I had only listened to you," says she. "If there had only been more time! I did not know if only I could make you understand all the years of waiting, and trying to right injustice to to me, and my son, and my Jhansi " Multiple ways you can read that. Perhaps disappointment that he actually was fooled, or disappointment that's what sprang to mind, or that he interrupted the planned monologue, or, or, or... Any which way, she pushes on. quote:" and when you disappeared, and I thought you dead, there was such an emptiness." She was trying not to cry. "And nothing else seemed to matter not I, or Jhansi, even. And then came news of the red wind, sweeping through the British garrisons in the north and even here, in my own state, they killed them all, and I was helpless." She was biting her lip, staring pleadingly at me, and if she'd been before the House of Lords the old goats would have been roaring "Not guilty, on my honour!" with three times three. "And what could I do? It seemed that the Raj and I hated the Raj! was falling, and my own cousin, Nana, was raising the standard of revolt, and to stand idle was to lose Jhansi, to the jackals of Orcha or Gwalior, or even to the sepoys themselves oh, but you are British, and you cannot understand!" So many lies between them. quote:"Why should they spare me?" For a minute the fire was back in her eye. "Who else have they spared? Why should they want to keep me alive when they blow men away from guns, and hang them without trial, and burn whole cities? Will they spare Nana or Tantia or Azeemoolah then why the Rani of Jhansi?" The captial L Liberal Party wasn't actually formed until 1859 but that hadn't stopped them from holding power as a Whig-Radical coalition. British party politics can be a beautiful messy puzzle. quote:I was smiling to reassure her, and after a while she began smiling back, and gave a great sigh, and settled against me, seemingly content, and I suggested again that it might be a capital notion to unslip my hands, just for a moment I was most monstrously horny with her nestling up against me but at this she shook her head, and said we had delayed already, and must not excite suspicion. She kissed me a lingering good-bye, and told me to be patient a little longer; we must bide our time according to Rose's plan, and since her people must have no inkling of it I would have to be treated as a prisoner, but she would send for me when the time was ripe. You may well say this series is not High Culture, but if it weren't for the adult themes I'd be willing to stake a high wager it was only a matter of time. quote:I was bustled away forthwith but it's my guess that Sher Khan, with that leery Pathan nose of his, guessed that all was not quite what it seemed, for he was a most solicitous jailer in the days that followed. He kept me well provisioned, bringing all my food and drink himself, seeing to it that I was comfortable as my little cell permitted, and showing me every sign of respect mind you, in view of my Afghan reputation, that might have been natural enough. If you believe she's just working him then you may get a very rare feeling of pity at his naivete. quote:As to the surrender well, she wasn't a fool. Here was a way out for her, with more credit and safety than she could have expected, under the wing of the adored Flashy, who she imagined would protect and cherish her happy ever after.. I was all for that for a few months, anyway, which was more than most females could expect from me. Mark you, I was famously taken with her (I still am, somehow) but I guessed I'd cool after a spell. Couldn't take her home, anyway she'd just have to reconcile herself to waving me good-bye when the time came, like all the others. And away we go...
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# ? Jun 9, 2021 04:55 |
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For anyone taking notes at home, this is how you portray an unreliable narrator. Its all in keeping with Flashys personality up until now, and he thinks hes getting one up on her. But like a good heist movie, if you know whats going on, everything takes on a different meaning
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# ? Jun 9, 2021 13:48 |
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I never put it together, the first time I read the book years and years ago. Love it!
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# ? Jun 9, 2021 18:07 |
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quote:I was about to call out, but to my astonishment Sher Kahn suddenly stooped beside me, there was a metallic snap, and he had a fetter clasped round my left leg. Before I could even protest, he was thrusting me towards a horse, snarling: "Up, husoor!" and I was no sooner in the saddle than he had passed a short ha in from my fetter under the beast's belly, and secured my other ankle, so that I was effectively shackled to the pony. Oh, Flashy... the other shoe's been there just waiting to drop for so long and if you'd only stop thinking with your dick for two seconds you'd look up and notice it. But let's face it: we're all waiting for the next time he gets hosed over. Let's see what the world (well, Fraser) does to him this time!
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# ? Jun 9, 2021 23:43 |
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quote:"What the hell's this?" I cried, and he chuckled as he swung aboard a horse beside me. Reality and the Rani are harsh mistresses. quote:How long we kept up that breakneck pace I don't know, or what direction we took I'd been through too much, my mind was just a welter of fear and bewilderment and rage and stark disbelief. I didn't know what to think she couldn't have sold me so cruelly, surely not after what she'd said, and the way she'd held my face and looked at me? But I knew she had my disbelief was just sheer hurt vanity. God, did I think I was the only sincere liar in the world? And here I was, humbugged to hell and beyond, being kidnapped in the train of this deceitful rebel bitch or was I wrong, was there some explanation after all? That's what I still wanted to believe, of course there's nothing like infatuation for stoking false hope. Serves him right. quote:You may say it served me right, and I can't disagree. If I weren't such a susceptible, trusting chap where pretty women are concerned, I daresay I'd have smelled a rat on the night when Lakshmibai rescued me from Ignatieff's rack and then flung herself all over me in her perfumed lair. A less warm-blooded fellow might have thought the lady was protesting rather too much, and been on his guard when she slobbered fondly over him, vowing undying love and accepting his proposal for her escape. He might or again, he mightn't. Gotta like what you do. quote:More than I enjoyed Gwalior, at any rate. That's a fearful place, a huge, rocky fortress of a city, bigger than Jhansi, and said to be the most powerful hold in India. I can speak with authority only about its dungeons, which were a shade worse than a Mexican jail, if you can imagine that. I spent the better part of two months in them, cooped in a bottle-shaped cell with my own filth and only rats, fleas and cockroaches for company, except when Sher Khan came to have a look at me, about once a week, to make sure I hadn't up and died on him. Amazingly he's not wrong. quote:I don't care to dwell on it, so I'll hurry along. While I was in that dungeon at Gwalior, waiting for I didn't know what, and half-believing that I'd rot there forever, or go mad first, the final innings of the Mutiny was being played out. Campbell was settling things north of the Jumnah, and Rose, having captured Jhansi, was pushing north after Tantia Tope and my ministering angel, Lakshmibai, who'd taken the field with him. Ignatieff and the Chapatti's notwithstanding, the book shows how improvised and zeitgeist based so much the revolt was. Even here, when the end is plainly here, the Majahara's portrayed as going with the flow of the moment. At least that's what I was about to say, instead it looks like the man engaged the rebels in the field unsuccessfully and then fled to Agra, as can be seen by him keeping his lands and title after it was all over. So, a rare minus one on the history score for Fraser. quote:I knew nothing of all this, of course; mouldering in my cell, with my beard sprouting and my hair matting, and my pandy uniform foul and stinking (for I'd never had it off since I put it on in Rose's camp), I might as well have been at the North Pole. Day followed day, and week followed week without a cheep from the outside world, for Sher Khan hardly said a word to me, although I raved and pleaded with him whenever he poked his face through the trap into my cell. That's the worst of that kind of imprisonment not knowing, and losing count of the days, and wondering whether you've been there a month to a year, and whether there is really a world outside at all, and doubting if you ever did more than dream that you were once a boy playing in the fields at Rugby, or a man who'd walked in the Park, or ridden by Albert Gate, saluting the ladies, or played billiards, or followed hounds, or gone up the Mississippi in a side-wheeler, or watched the moon rise over Kuching River, or you can wonder ii any of it ever existed, or if these greasy black walls are perhaps the only world that ever was, or will be that's when you start to go mad, unless you can find something to think about that you know is real. Well that's not healthy. And yes, Leicestershire is right next to Warwickshire which has Rugby School. quote:Perhaps because I'd been listing them I had a frightful dream one night in which I had to dance with all of them at a ball on the slave-deck of the Balliol College, with the demoniac Captain Spring conducting the music in a cocked hat and white gloves. They were all there Lola Montez and Josette and Judy (my guvnor's mistress, she was), and the Silk One and Susie from New Orleans and fat Baroness Pechmann and Nareeman the nautch, and all the others, and each one left her slave-fetters with me so that I must dance on loaded and clanking, crying out with exhaustion, but when I pleaded for rest Spring just rolled his eyes and made the music go faster, with the big drum booming. Elspeth and Palmerston waltzed by, and Pam gave me his false teeth and cried: "You'll need 'em for eating chapattis with your next partner, you know" and it was Lakshmibai, naked and glitter-eyed over her veil, and she seized me and whirled me round the floor, almost dead with fatigue and the cruel weight of the chains, while the drum went boom-boom-boom faster and faster and I was awake, gasping and clutching at my filthy straw with the sound of distant gunfire in my ears. Wow he's not kidding. quote:That was the first fact: the second was that they were retreating, and on the edge of rout. For the formations were moving towards us, and the road itself was choked with men and beasts and vehicles heading for Gwalior. A horse-artillery team was careering in, the gunners clinging to the limbers and their officer lashing at the beasts, a platoon of pandies was coming at the double-quick, their ranks ragged, their faces streaked with dust and sweat, and all along the road men were running or hobbling back, singly and in little groups: I'd seen the signs often enough, the gaping mouths, the wide eyes, the bloody bandages, the high-pitched voices, the half-ordered haste slipping into utter confusion, the abandoned muskets at the roadside, the exhausted men sitting or lying or crying out to those who passed by this was the first rush of a defeat, by gum! and Sher Khan was dragging me into it. One last meeting. quote:She was in the doorway of the tent, alone or perhaps I just don't remember any others. She was sipping a glass of sherbet as she turned to look at me, and believe it or not I was suddenly conscious of the dreadful, scarecrow figure I cut, in my rags and unkempt hair. She was in her white jodhpurs, with a mail jacket over her blouse, and a white cloak; her head was covered by a cap of polished steel like a Roman soldier's, with a white scarf wound round it and under her chin. She looked damned elegant, I know, and even when you noticed the shadows on that perfect coffee-coloured face, beneath the great eyes, she was still a vision to take your breath away. She frowned at sight of me, and snapped at Sher Khan: "What have you done to him?" And then Flashman loses his head. quote:I ran towards her and there must have been riders charging past me as I ran, but I don't remember them and then I stumbled and fell. As I scrambled up I saw she was writhing in the dust; her scarf and helmet were gone, she was kicking and clawing at her body, and her face was twisted and working in agony, with her hair half across it. It was hideous, and I could only crouch there, gazing horrified. Oh, if it were a novel I could tell you that I ran to her, and cradled her head against me and kissed her, while she looked up at me with a serene smile and murmured something before she closed her eyes, as lovely in death as she'd been in life but that ain't how people die, not even the Rani of Jhansi. She arched up once, still tearing at herself, and then she flopped over, face down, and I knew she was a goner. And that's the end of Flashman's fight in India. Tune in next time for the most impossibly suspenseful bit of fiction you'll ever read.
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# ? Jun 12, 2021 03:38 |
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Wow that was a ride.
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# ? Jun 12, 2021 05:56 |
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Next part is my favorite part.
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# ? Jun 12, 2021 06:03 |
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withak posted:Next part is my favorite part. it's actually the only part i can really remember from the book, goddam
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# ? Jun 12, 2021 08:16 |
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sebmojo posted:it's actually the only part i can really remember from the book, goddam
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# ? Jun 12, 2021 09:45 |
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withak posted:Next part is my favorite part. It is absolutely riveting!
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# ? Jun 12, 2021 09:57 |
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Genghis Cohen posted:It is absolutely riveting! i'm on tenterhooks
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# ? Jun 12, 2021 10:30 |
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Anyone been keeping track of times Flash has nearly died/been close to death/in mortal peril this book? It's well into the double digits; as many times as all the other books combined, practically. I'm trying to think of who's left in India who HASN'T taken a swing at him.
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# ? Jun 12, 2021 14:09 |
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sebmojo posted:it's actually the only part i can really remember from the book, goddam
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# ? Jun 12, 2021 21:44 |
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quote:I told you the worst was still to come, didn't I? Well, you've read my chronicle of the Great Mutiny, and if you've any humanity you're bound to admit that I'd had my share of sorrow already, and more even Campbell later said that I'd seen hard service, so there. But Rose himself declared that if he hadn't been told the circumstance of my awakening at Gwalior by an eyewitness, he wouldn't have believed it it was the most terrible thing, he said, that he had ever heard of in all his experience of war, or anybody else's, either. He wondered that I hadn't lost my reason. I agreed then, and I still do. This is what happened. Presented without interruption: quote:I came back to life, as is often the case, with my last waking moment clear in my mind. I had been on horse-back, riding hard, seeing a shot strike home in a sandy nullah so why, I wondered irritably, was I now standing up, leaning against something hard, with what seemed to be a polished table top in front of me? There was a shocking pain in my head, and a blinding glare of light burning my eyes, so I shut them quickly. I tried to move, but couldn't, because something was holding me; my ears were ringing, and there was a jumble of voices close by, but I couldn't make them out. Why the hell didn't they shut up, I wondered, and I tried to tell them to be quiet, but my voice wouldn't work I wanted to move, to get away from the thing that was pressing against my chest, so I tugged, and an unspeakable pain shot through my left arm and into my chest, a stabbing, searing pain so exquisite that I screamed aloud, and again, and again, at which a voice cried in English, apparently right in my ear. Arbite fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Jun 14, 2021 |
# ? Jun 14, 2021 01:38 |
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Jesus.
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 01:58 |
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It simply does not get closer than that. Tied over the muzzle of a gun with the _______ fuze lit !
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 04:45 |
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It shows how terrible Flashman is that I was surprised by him ordering the actual prisoners released.
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 05:37 |
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Jesus goddamn what the gently caress.
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 11:26 |
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Warden posted:Jesus goddamn what the gently caress. The pop culture image of the British as good natured, cheerful, stoic, cultured etc does a good job of obscuring just how monsterous the Empire was.
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 16:29 |
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TBF, the Mughals invented it. The other bad thing about it apart from the brutality is that it made it impossible to perform funeral rites
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 16:40 |
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sweet christmas - "Oh pip i'm writing home to mother about this"
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 17:17 |
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Not a particularly cruel method of execution, but certainly a...spectacle.
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 17:17 |
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quote:There isn't much more to tell. The Great Mutiny ended there, under the walls of Gwalior, where Rose broke the last rebel army, and Tantia Tope fled away. They caught him and hanged him in the end, but they never found Nana Sahib, and for the rest, a few bands of pandies roamed about like bandits for a month or two, but were gradually dispersed. Sadly neither of those incidents would be written about in the seven books left. quote:It was autumn before I was up and about again at Gwalior, and had received word from Campbell that I was released from my duties and might go home. I was ready for it, too, but before I left I found myself riding out on the road to Kota-ki-serai, to have a look at the spot where her people had made a little shrine to Lakshmibai, near the nullah they thought no end of her, you know, and still do. Indeed, indeed. quote:Well, I could understand that; I hadn't been indifferent myself, although it all seemed far past now, somehow They had cremated her, in the Hindoo fashion, but there was this little painted model temple, which I took to be her memorial, and withered flowers and wreaths and little pots round it, and I mooched about, scuffing the dust with my boots, while a few old n****** squatted under the thorns, watching me curiously, and the bullock-carts went by. There wasn't much sign of the skirmish where she'd died a few trifles of broken gear, a rusty stirrup, that sort of thing. I wondered why she'd done it all, and in spite of what she said to me at the last, I believe I did understand. As I'd said in my report to Pam, she didn't give up her Jhansi. That was what had mattered to her, more than life. As to what she may have thought or felt about me, truly and for that matter, what I'd really felt about her I couldn't make up my mind. It didn't matter now, anyway, but I could always make the best of it, and remember those eyes above the veil, and the soft lips brushing my cheek. Aye, well. Damned good-looking girl. Flashman always manages to be somewhat sincere while getting on well with reporters, as seen with Billy and later Blowitz. quote:It was a big, airy room, half office and half drawing-room, with a score of people standing at the far end, beyond the fine Afghan carpet, all looking in my direction, and it was sight of them that had checked me for there was Campbell, with his grizzled head and wrinkled Scotch face, and Mansfield smiling, very erect, toying with his dark whiskers, and Macdonald grinning openly, and Hope Grant, stern and straight. In the middle was a slim, elegant civilian in a white morning coat with a handsome woman smiling beside him; it took me a moment to realise that they were Lord and Lady Canning. And then somehow Fraser gets you to feel happy for the bastard. quote:There was no taking it in properly at the time, of course, or indeed in the hours that followed; they remain just a walking dream, with "Sir Harry Flashman, V.C." blazing in front of my eyes, through all the grinning faces and back-slapping and cheering and adulation all for the V.C., of course, for t'other thing was to remain a secret, Canning said, until I got home. There was a great dinner that evening, at the Fort, with booze galore and speeches and cheering, and chaps rolling under the table, and they poured me on to the Calcutta train that night in a shocking condition. I didn't wake up till noon the following day, with a fearful head; it took me another night to get right again, but on the next morning I had recovered, and ate a hearty breakfast, and felt in capital shape. Sir Harry Flashman, V.C. I could still hardly credit it. They'd be all over me at home, and Elspeth would go into the wildest ecstasies at being "My lady", and be insufferable to her friends and tradesmen, and adoringly grateful to me she might even stay faithful permanently, you never knew I fairly basked in my thoughts, grinning happily out at the disgusting Indian countryside in the sunrise, reflecting that with luck I'd never see or hear or smell it again, after this, and then to beguile the time I fished in my valise for something to read, and came on the book Cardigan had sent to Elspeth what could have possessed Jim the Bear, who detested me, to send me a present? Last time was the most suspenseful sequence, next time is the most hilarious. And also the conclusion! Arbite fucked around with this message at 12:34 on Jun 17, 2021 |
# ? Jun 16, 2021 07:53 |
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*waves little british flag*
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# ? Jun 16, 2021 08:06 |
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Well, he deserves it as much as any of the officers over there.
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# ? Jun 16, 2021 10:35 |
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Arbite posted:
Other than the first book in the series, this book is my favorite specifically because of how well he covers the Mutiny and also the highs and lows in it. I don't think any other has quite as many excellent set pieces as this.
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# ? Jun 16, 2021 16:34 |
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Cobalt-60 posted:Well, he deserves it as much as any of the officers over there. in the same way, you could say that he deserved more than any rebel to get executed by cannon
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# ? Jun 16, 2021 18:38 |
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Arbite posted:I knew what he meant, blast him. Arbite posted:In GMF's excellent WWII memoir, Quartered Safe Out Here,, the reader is, well, just listen to the sample. He then voices GMF's squadmates with strong Northern accents but the handful of times when Fraser gave himself dialogue instead of narration you get a sudden and shocking dose of Glaswegian. Xander77 fucked around with this message at 07:16 on Jun 17, 2021 |
# ? Jun 16, 2021 19:11 |
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Cobalt-60 posted:Not a particularly cruel method of execution, but certainly a...spectacle. Its instant and hard to gently caress up. Actually quite humane compared to hanging, really.
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# ? Jun 16, 2021 23:33 |
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quote:I opened it at random, idly turning the pages and then my eye lit on a paragraph, and it was as though a bucket of icy water had been dashed over me as I read the words: And with that one last lurch of fortune the fifth and perhaps greatest volume of the Flashman Papers roars to a close. There are two appendices and footnotes. I'll include the former before wrapping up. quote:Appendix 1: The Indian Mutiny "And one should beware of fashionable judgements" is a beautiful phrase that can easily be used for ill. quote:Appendix II: The Rani of Jhansi Now that's an angle I wouldn't have been inclined to explore on my own: How long the Indian leaders had known each other. They are presented fully formed in the text but of course they should have known each other for much of their lives. Quite the journey from Balmoral, wasn't it? About the halfway mark in the book when the mutiny at Meerut kicked off I asked the thread their feelings on the portrayal of the people and events so far. Now the bloody business has drawn to a close and I'm just as curious what their feelings are about the back end. The first time I read this my knowledge of the whole business was limited to knowing it had happened and who had won. As seen with 'Flashman's' mistake regarding the Maharaja of Gwailor's allegiance, the history contained is not flawless but so far as I've learned that is one of if not the only uncontested facts regarding the conflict that it gets glaringly wrong. While viewed through the lens of a right bastard as written by a middle aged late 20th century Scotsman, the key people and events are shown. So, pretty good history, marvelous writing, what could be wrong? Well, if anything, the book's too good at presenting information to the reader. Because of the variety of perspectives and breadth of the journey the reader can set the book down feeling that they've been given the whole story and not see any need to build on their knowledge. I can easily picture this being someone's only source when discussing the whole affair with feelings of authority at some dinner party. Needless to say, the conflict may only have lasted a year and a half but a 336 page novel does not tell the whole story, however brilliantly economical it is with words. Just because the book makes note of the British reprisals and betrayals, as just one example, doesn't mean they're their full weight. And if there is one significant perspective the book wholly neglects it is the Indian leadership who stayed with the British throughout the conflict. One can't imagine GMF being bothered if his books were to be thoroughly crossreferenced by historians or if they were the starting point of someone's interest in a topic, but that may not happen often enough. Still, drat good read, wasn't it? Arbite fucked around with this message at 09:25 on Jun 18, 2021 |
# ? Jun 18, 2021 07:04 |
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Thanks for keeping it going Arbite. What a bizarre and timeless pile of lovable lies.
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# ? Jun 18, 2021 08:32 |
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Arbite posted:
Thanks for the Let's Read, I enjoyed it a lot. I'm still bummed out for Ilderim. But then again, I guess that was the whole point of having him get killed anti-climatically off-screen.
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# ? Jun 18, 2021 10:46 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 10:32 |
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I feel like this book marked a key point in the softening of Flashman as a character. He's more romantic, more competent, more capable of acts of basic decency, and less frequent and extreme in his acts of cruelty to people who really don't deserve it. Compare him to the Flashman of Afghanistan, and this one generally seems significantly less objectionable.
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# ? Jun 18, 2021 13:10 |