Jonathan Gash

Lovejoy always provides a chaotic, fun romp through the world of antique dealers in East Anglia, England. Those flat, sea dominated landscapes are the backdrop for all the scheming. The most delectable part of this series is the Lovejoy stream of consciousness which throws up arcane after arcane tidbit from the world of fine arts, craftsmanship and, of course the 'fiddles' of those completely untrustworthy dealers. It's a wonder to contemplate where Gash finds all this in the pre-internet show more world. Lovejoy' friends fill out a stable of diverse, humorous characters. Gash also delivers a fine sense of locale as these villains and heroes dash about. If you need a break from the noir Gash and his Lovejoy may offer a chuckle filled interlude. show less

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-grail-tree-by-jonathan-gash/

This is the Lovejoy of Gash’s original conception, fanatically obsessed with antiques and fatally attractive to women, who he treats badly. In fact he hits one of his girlfriends on page 2 (though in fairness she hits him first). If you pick this up expecting the gentle humour of Ian Le Frenais’ writing and Ian McShane’s acting, well, you’ll be surprised.

At the same time, I think the writer is fully aware of Lovejoy’s show more flaws and shows us what a monster he is, through his own lack of self-perception. And the actual plot of the book is a murder mystery, where Lovejoy is motivated by righteous rage when a friend is killed and the police write it off as an accident. I found the actual mystery resolution a bit opaque, but there is a fantastically well written climactic scene in Colchester Castle, where Lovejoy and his charming newly hired apprentice Lydia take on the villain, Lydia making her first of many appearances here.

There’s also a fair bit of lore about the Holy Grail – this book was published in 1979, three years before The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, but after at least two of the three BBC documentaries that it drew on (from 1972, 1974 and 1979). Not to go into details, but it had me checking Wikipedia for the career of Hester Bateman, one woman for whom Lovejoy has the highest respect.

Anyway, the protagonist’s extreme sexism means that the book has aged very badly. show less

The positives: Good writing, action-filled and frequently amusing plot, many engaging characters and, above all, wonderful descriptions of antiques and the methods of antique dealers. The negatives: There's only one, really, which is the stereotyping of female characters. At first I thought this could be justified on the basis of Lovejoy himself, along with all sorts of other rat-baggery, being a sexist pig, but that would only work if the women didn't actually behave in stereotypical and show more degrading manners. They do. I've heard that in the first Lovejoy novel, published in 1977, he actually smacks around one of his lovers. Some readers said maybe that wasn't such an issue at the time when Jonathan Gash (terrible nom-de-plume) was writing it, but I have to disagree. I have read plenty of novels written anywhere from the late 19th century to the early 1970s, by both male & female authors, in which female characters were presented in a reasonable manner. It's a pity, but that one flaw left me with too much of a bad taste in my mouth to feel more positive about this book.

In summary, I may pick up Lovejoy novels, apart from the first one, (they are not novelizations, as the TV series was based on the books) if I happen to see them cheap, but will not seek them out. show less

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2000448.html

Lovejoy is at his most psychopathic here, gratuitously violent to bad guys and to women, and so utterly besotted with antiques as to be unaware of any other person's feelings. Gash redeems the novel as a reading experience with loving detail on Rome, on the Vatican and on Lovejoy's audacious plan to rip an exhibit from the tightly guarded city-state, and also by Lovejoy getting a mildly comical if emotionally improbable comeuppance at the end, after show more the bad guys have met their just deserts. But I think the narrator's sheer unpleasantness makes it a weaker entry in the series. show less