Merrily Pun Along, Mate

by Colm O’Meara

Sinners All

by Bronson Platner
294 pages; $14.00.
Amazon Books

There are novels that click with readers from page one, some require more attempts to find the thread on the next page, or there‘s an aha! moment and the way is clear.

Sinners All is not one of these, but all of them. It is first of all humor. It approaches readers at obtuse angles which strike some head on while glancing off others. Platner has worked at this. A labor that is not made apparent before following the story through territory enough that personal cultural acquaintances allow the reader to feel comfortable enough to hop aboard for the ride.

Obsessive tweeters and texters may soon find the bog has sucked off their Wellies just a few paragraphs into this one. Monty Python, Henry Fielding, Fawlty Towers, a la Seinfeld are keywords for searching from whence the wind blows in Sinners All. The sign posts are there in the opening line. The story is set in the rural English village of Much Humping in a deep valley of the Sheepdip Hills. Yes there are roots in the culture of 1960’s England and America. At the time both countries were swapping traditions to produce the cultural new wave of practically everything that has come to identify the era.

The Python phenomenon breached the US border via Canada, where their North American television debut was cancelled by the CBC in 1970. A probable crossing was at Chicago, where they infiltrated Second City and spawned comedic clones on Saturday Night Live and American comedy right on through to Steve Martin and Seinfeld. A Reformation. Their stream of consciousness, surreal comedy and absurd theater style was a perfect antidote for those baffled by the laugh track mainstream comedic fare of the day.

But realistically this book may not be for everyone. The reader walking home with a copy of Sinners All stuffed into a bag looking forward to “chatting” about the “wonderful,” “fascinating” book they are reading at the next wine and cheese event will soon sadly realize they had misread the section sign at the bookstore.

Nothing would disappoint Monty Pythoners Feldman and Cleese more than to have their comedy described as fascinating. Absurd, surreal, yes, but not fascinating, “please.” Shattering convention is required for something truly new to emerge.

Sinners All is not revolutionary, but it is a humorous tale in the now tradition of surrealist/absurd comedy that continues to spawn new spins on shattered convention. Parts of this book read like a screen-play. It is not a stretch to say Sinners All has the potential to be the foundation for a late night “American Invasion” comedy hit from New York in the UK. I’d bet my life on it.

Colm O’Meara is an Irish journalist and novelist based in Dublin.

O’Meara was on assignment when the small plane he was piloting disappeared over the remote forested mountains of eastern Tajikistan on the Kyrgyzstan border in mid July, 2013. O’Meara’s most recent short novel, “Garrulous on the Gurney” was published in 2011.