Flashman ~ George MacDonald Fraser

Ever met someone who seems to be able to access the best of things while doing not very much? Does that person also seem to be credited for things he/she did not accomplish? Do they seem to come off a uncaring and self-absorbed, and able to get away with the biggest taboos? I'm not certain if George MacDonald Fraser knew someone like this, but he had a clear understanding of what really makes this type of person 'tick'.



I suspect that Flashman may be one of those books that is either loved or loathed. The titular character Flashman is a scoundrel, a cad, a manipulator and unapologetic womaniser. Actually, he's quite unapologetic about everything he does, or in his cowardice - does not do. I posit that few would admit to a fondness for someone like this character, but MacDonald Fraser does something clever. He allows us to see two things that most people who are like this would be mortified that others know: a self-awareness of their random luck and skills at taking advantage of any situation despite how others are impacted; and the complete self-knowledge of alienation.

What makes Flashman such a loveable or despised character - depending on one's taste, is the honesty he portrays that lies within us. Sometimes we are brave/courageous/heroic in our own right, but we are equally wanting/manipulating/cowardly at times as well. It is how we move within these states that make us who we are and at which point we acknowledge things go from acceptable to disgraceful. We like him because he has an absolute awareness of his limits, faults, and aloneness, yet he makes the best of these things with a zest for life and a flair that seem to ease him in and out of the best and worst of circumstances. Not to mention, a few moments of sheer dumb luck.

Review originally appeared on the now defunct Paternoster Row Legacy blog.