What do You think about The Antipope (1991)?
Ah, Rankin... you weird bastard. Up there with Christopher Moore, Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, Robert Rankin scribbles out stories from a bizarre universe set in his semi-drunk, surrealist imagination. Some of his tales are placed in quite separate realms, like the hysterical "Hollow Chocolate Bunnies Of The Apocalypse," but a good deal of them circle around Brentford, England.This particular tale is the first book in the Brentford Series - a loose collection of stories surrounding the rogues, madmen, shysters, and others average citizens who frequent the local pub known as The Swan. We have a neurotic barkeep, a womanizing Irishman with a sentient bicycle named "Marchant," his best friend with a horrible gambling problem and too many get-rich-quick schemes, a scientific genius who runs the local tobacco shop, a martial arts master down the lane, a elderly professor who just might be immortal, and... oh, you get the idea.The humor is very straight-faced, except for when you have the screaming and the crying. Almost Monty Python-esque in its absurdity, the plot meanders around a bit, more interested in showcasing the utter silliness of Brentford in general. Eventually the bad guy is defeated, and everyone goes back to drinking in vast quantities once more.If you can warp your skull around the sheer nonsense presented in this book and enjoy it, you love the next few in the series. I believe I'm on the 5th one.
—Brian Steele
When John Baraldi signed Robert Rankin up as Writer in Residence at the Watermans Arts Centre little did he know that he was letting the world in for a madcap laugh that would last for two decades or more. This, the first in the Brentford Trilogy, appeared in the very early 1980s and introduces us to Rankin's half-real, half-illusory world, fed by Forteana and stand-up comedy (though he is a lot funnier than Ben Elton) and in particular the characters Jim Pooley and John Omally who must leave their comfy stools in the Flying Swan pub and do battle with the Antipope of the title. Unfortunately The Antipope was cut down for publication from a much longer original manuscript so there are jumps and strange juxtapositions here and there. Later in his career Rankin was more able to get away with what he originally wrote (like 'Sprout Mask Replica' which has no plot at all?). I first picked this book up in a second hand bookshop in Barcelona and I can quite honestly say that it changed my life. Not because of the book itself but because I tracked down Robert Rankin when I got back to England, started going to the Watermans, and made friends that I still have twenty years later. Well, maybe it made my fiction writing a little weirder, also.
—Chris Amies
The Antipope was the first Robert Rankin book I’d read. It’s the first instalment in his Brentford trilogy. I can see why some people have suggested that his work is a little like Marmite. You’ll either love it or hate it. And the less “English” your humour is the less you’ll like it.The meandering plot itself is pure madness. In fact, this genre hopping story is so crazy it’s hardly worth describing. It revolves around a couple of layabouts, a pub, magic beans, Pope Alexander VI and a plan to conquer the world. Before you know it the characters wrap themselves up in series of wacky misadventures and find themselves in any number of improbable situations.Rankin weaves in lots of references to pop culture, daftness, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, slapstick and general strangeness. Of course, in the end they defeat the baddie. This means the protagonists can retreat back into The Swan and continue drinking massive quantities of alcohol once again.Rankin’s writing style, humour and weirdness was as though Terry Pratchett was trying to write like Douglas Adams, with his brilliantly constructed sentences. One scene in particular was worth the price of the book: this was the build-up and execution of the cowboy party in The Swan. It was both inspired and insane.But the book is a little hit or miss. Some parts work well, others seem to be too “out there”. As this was Rankin’s first novel he can be forgiven. It’s not a bad book and it’s good enough to make me want to read more of his work. I suspect they’ll get better.So in summary, The Antipope is complete lunacy grounded in a version of the real world called Brentford. If you can bend your mind around the bizarre universe Rankin presents then you’ll enjoy it. I’m already looking forward to reading the next few books in the series.
—Rob Thompson
