I was reading all the reviews written here about this book, and here is my 2-bit:
Three men in a Boat is an extremely humorous book. The USP of this book - of Jerome K Jerome, for that matter- is NOT funny plots. It is in presenting the everyday event as humorous.
I wouldn?t really compare Wodehouse and Jerome. Apples to oranges, I?d say. I love them both. PG Wodehouse wrote well woven, funny plots. The outline itself was funny. It was something you could make a sitcom out of!! No editing required.
But Jerome brought out the humor in everyday events. THAT is the beauty of his writing. So, I say, JKJ is funny in his own way. If you look at Three men in a Boat, the plot is this: Three Men and a dog go for an outing on the river. They get lost in a maze.... not funny, eh? But then, get into the book, and the way he describes mundane events, such as a guy carrying cheese (This scene had me rolling), would leave you in splits.
There are some scenic descriptions, as well as a bit of history thrown in - it IS a travel-account, remember? But it only works as a nice contrast to the humorous tone of the book. I have read and re-read the book many times, and loved it every time.
I read one of the chapters, ’’The Art of Packing’’ as a lesson in my schoolbook, and that drove me to read the rest of it. And I was amply rewarded ! Word-pictures, such as ’’..pretented that lemons were rats, and killed six of them before I got him with a frying pan’’, really tickle you to the bone.
The maze incident, the description of the boat they rented (’’..we told the boy to not carry the joke too far and take his mother’s washing tub back home’’), the cheese episode, the courting of Henry (’’...they went away to be pirates till they were married’’) are some of the favorites from the book. (The quotes are approximate, written from memory. )