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Read The Antipope (1991)

The Antipope (1991)

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Rating
3.7 of 5 Votes: 5
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ISBN
055213841X (ISBN13: 9780552138413)
Language
English
Publisher
corgi books

The Antipope (1991) - Plot & Excerpts

I really enjoy Robert Rankin's work. He's a very funny and charismatic man; I've met him at book signings at least twice. The first time was when he sold me a copy of Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse and said if I was only pretending to be a fan to get a signed copy, I could sell it on ebay for £20. For me, HCBotA remains his best work. The Antipope is his first work. Does it smack of things to come?In some ways it does. The plot it silly. Two typically Rankin ne'er-do-wells lead a rather mundane West London life in Brentford, drinking, working and not much else. When one of these particular not very esteemed gentlemen sells his wife's car for some magic beans, all hell breaks loose - literally - when they grow into mythical homunculi. A tramp claiming to be Pope Alexander VI (the dastardly Rodrigo Borgia) is behind a plot to conquer the world and the beans are his way of doing it.Rankin's humour is typically manic and daft, full of references to pop culture, politics, social commentary and general weirdness and some stuff that is just out there. This is instantly recognisable as what we have come to expect with Rankin, but it doesn't all work. I'll be the first to admit I struggled with this. Rankin's style and tone is not to everybody's taste, and I personally find it very hit and miss. I'm afraid that this was one of his misses, but there's nothing to worry about - he was still finding his feet and as a first novel it's not all that bad.Most of all, I didn't find it all that funny. Rankin's work is often fully of witty one-liners and blink and you miss it tongue in cheek references. There didn't seem to be that many, what there was just seemed a little forced and a bit too out there. It felt quite slapstick and slapstick is rarely my thing. This is the first in the Brentford Trilogy (a trilogy that in typical silly style, consists of not three books but by now - about seven).Not bad but not great. I know that Rankin did better.See more book reviews at my blog

Mischief is afoot in Brentford. It starts out with just mischief, but moves on to full SEB* infestation. A tramp comes to town, but is more than he seems, and is getting stronger. The only thing standing between a resurgent Pope Alexander and an innocent world unprepared for his evil reign ... is a cadre of men who drink so much, I'm surprised they survive. Now, I've had a drink or five in my day - been deservedly sick - but the amount the people in this town put away boggles the mind. Incidental stories include the Hollow-Earth Theorist who thinks he has found the doors to the world beneath, the Western theme night at the local pub that turns humorously tragic, and the wife who trades her husband's car (which was only lacking wheels and an engine) for five magic beans. Brentford is populated with wall-to-wall characters, mostly male - I don't notice any particularly interesting women [reminding me of that Jon Scieska book where all the girls in all the books the boys read boil down to one generic Girl] - but maybe as the Brentford saga continues in other volumes, some interesting ones will crop up. There's the stock Irishman, the wise professor, the barman whose lack of authority in the running of the pub he makes up for by barring those who annoy him, the hapless husband who suspects he's a cuckold, the malaprop priest, and the faux Captain that runs the mission house by not allowing any guests.The narration (by the author) with actors voicing characters and sound effects was quite well done and made the horror well spooky, despite the humorous asides. *Supreme Evil Being, according to the Thursday Next chronicles.

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

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