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Undermajordomo Minor A Novel Patrick deWitt 9780062281203 Books

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Undermajordomo Minor A Novel Patrick deWitt 9780062281203 Books

A strange story and as a reader I felt that it was almost within the genre of a fairy story. I didn't really have a clue where the story was going and found it impossible to predict any part of it, which was in a way, a bit frustrating. Just when you thought you had a handle on it, something quite unexpected would happen, sometimes gruesome and often salacious. An interesting combination.

Lucien (Lucy) Minor is a seventeen year old who finds a position working as an Under Major Domo (a type of servant) in a castle a long way from home. There are strange happenings in the castle which he endeavours to resolve and is to some extent successful. But events both within and outside the castle are so cataclysmic and even horrific, that the hero at one stage is thought to be lost, vanished, completely deceased. The characters are well drawn and exotic and lurking in the background like a drum-roll from the gods is the sinister-sounding Very Large Hole into which things and people disappear never to be seen again. Something of a twist. However without giving the plot away, all is not as it appears and the fairy tale wanders on to the last page.

I felt that the author didn't know how to round off the story to a satisfying conclusion and is maybe working on a sequel. An interesting story that despite my initial reluctance to keep reading, hooked me in to the last page.


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Undermajordomo Minor A Novel Patrick deWitt 9780062281203 Books Reviews

It's hard to know what to make of this curious little novel by Patrick DeWitt. Undermajordomo Minor is unquestionably the strangest tale I've read in years—and I read a great deal of science fiction, much of which is surpassingly strange. (No, this is not science fiction.)

Here we have a young man named Lucien ("Lucy") Minor who lives unhappily in a village called Bury. To escape the boredom and ridicule of his contemporaries there, Lucy accepts a position as Undermajordomo at the castle of the Baron Von Aux far across the country. Traveling by train in a third-class cabin he encounters a thief named Memel. He soon discovers that Memel lives in the village below the Baron's castle—and he has a gorgeous young daughter named Klara. Lucy is smitten. Much of the action that follows after he joins the castle staff involves Lucy's pursuit of Klara. But so much else is going on that it's difficult to summarize. For one thing, a seesaw war is underway nearby between two factions for some undetermined and apparently senseless reason. A soldier in one of the two armies considers himself engaged to marry Klara. And Lucy quickly finds himself in a confrontation with the man.

Even days after Lucy's arrival, the Baron is nowhere to be seen. Lucy asks his boss, Mr. Olderglough, where he is to be found.

"The Baron goes where the Baron wishes. And often as not he wishes to go nowhere at all . . . Six days out of seven he won't even leave his room. Seven days out of seven."

"And what does he do in there, sir?"

"I suspect it involves a degree of brooding. But this is not your problem to ponder; it'll be months before you lay eyes on the man, if you lay eyes on him."

But Lucy does in fact encounter the Baron rather quickly. He discovers that the man is even stranger than his boss had implied. And what follows Lucy's discovery moves the tale out of the realm of strangeness and into surrealism.

Undermajordomo Minor is at times very, very funny. In that respect, it's reminiscent of DeWitt's earlier novel, The Sisters Brothers, a hilarious tale of criminals at work during the California Gold Rush. I loved that book. This one, not so much.
I kind of struggled with how I would rate this story. I really liked the story, but at the end (like many other reviewers on here), I found myself wondering what the purpose of the whole story was. The more I cogitate on this story, the more I find myself appreciating it. In the end, I believe DeWitt's message is this Life isn't about the what, when, where, or why of it. The important thing is that you just keep "being", and try to appreciate the moment you are in. DeWitt just chose to give us a bizarre fairytale like story to expound this message on us.
A strange story and as a reader I felt that it was almost within the genre of a fairy story. I didn't really have a clue where the story was going and found it impossible to predict any part of it, which was in a way, a bit frustrating. Just when you thought you had a handle on it, something quite unexpected would happen, sometimes gruesome and often salacious. An interesting combination.

Lucien (Lucy) Minor is a seventeen year old who finds a position working as an Under Major Domo (a type of servant) in a castle a long way from home. There are strange happenings in the castle which he endeavours to resolve and is to some extent successful. But events both within and outside the castle are so cataclysmic and even horrific, that the hero at one stage is thought to be lost, vanished, completely deceased. The characters are well drawn and exotic and lurking in the background like a drum-roll from the gods is the sinister-sounding Very Large Hole into which things and people disappear never to be seen again. Something of a twist. However without giving the plot away, all is not as it appears and the fairy tale wanders on to the last page.

I felt that the author didn't know how to round off the story to a satisfying conclusion and is maybe working on a sequel. An interesting story that despite my initial reluctance to keep reading, hooked me in to the last page.