Brothel in Pimlico

Everyone knows that this is a very funny little book but I also see it as tremendously informative. Anyone interested in post-WWII life in London can glean a remarkable amount from this book. Brooks's comments about houses, their contents, their owners, the neighborhoods, and speculations about the future are all well worth reading. The fact that the book is often laugh-out-loud hilarious is a bonus. An odd little book but wekk worth the few bucks it costs.

This book's property reviews are startling in their candor. It's startling that one man dared be frank about the condition of the property he hoped to sell or rent--and hilarious that he included impressions of the former owners.I bought it excitedly after having heard about it on the radio. Then, when I finally got it, I realized I'd basically heard the best ones on the radio--but they're buried in there for you to fine. And the less-than-best are still quite more interesting than anything you'd find in circulation today. Mr. Brooks has a great vocabulary and a wonderful way of reducing many a dynastic saga to a column-inch.I have withheld the fifth star because of the printing rather than the "work". It seems the novelty of a narrowly shaped book was deemed necessary to further titillate the prospective reader-far more necessary than legibility. As other reviewers indicate, it's hard for the American reader to get some of the jokes unless she's spent some time in London and has a familiarity with the neighborhoods. Further, the abbreviations standard to a newspaper in another era, in another country in my case, are indecipherable. Each of these shortcomings could have been addressed with a map of the city and a key to the abbreviations and their meanings-either of which would be far preferred to the hasty and uninspired line drawings the publisher saw fit to include.

Since the real estate listings are so small they make perfect bathroom feeding fodder. I have this book on the back of the throne and break it out whenever I wish to spend a few minutes relaxing.The listings are generally quite funny (although the humor can be a bit tame). Some references are obscure for Americans (as the real estate listed in in London).Decent book if you like this sort of thing.