Description
"Lucien (Lucy) Minor is the resident odd duck in the bucolic hamlet of Bury. Friendless and loveless, young and aimless, Lucy is a compulsive liar, a sickly weakling in a town famous for producing brutish giants. Then Lucy accepts employment assisting the Majordomo of the remote, foreboding Castle Von Aux. While tending to his new post as Undermajordomo, Lucy soon discovers the place harbors many dark secrets, not least of which is the whereabouts of the castle's master, Baron Von Aux. He also encounters the colorful people of the local village--thieves, madmen, aristocrats, and Klara, a delicate beauty whose love he must compete for with the exceptionally handsome soldier, Adolphus. Thus begins a tale of polite theft, bitter heartbreak, domestic mystery, and cold-blooded murder in which every aspect of human behavior is laid bare for our hero to observe" --… (more)
Genres
Collection
Publication
Ecco (2016), Edition: Reprint, 336 pages
Media reviews
DeWitt’s narrative doesn’t quite have that nimbleness. About two-thirds of the way in, the reader’s alarm bells should go off. Closing a book, the baroness says to Lucy, “I for one find it an annoyance when a story doesn’t do what it’s meant to do. . . . Would you not find yourself
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resentful at the promise of an entertainment unfulfilled?”Is this the author coaching us as to what’s not coming? Maybe. By the end, there is death and rebirth, more death and the opening of a quest, but also a striking lack of consequence. I think the events do indeed shape Lucy, but his emotional core becomes too inaccessible to judge. More than one important thread vanishes without a gesture toward resolution. The story ends with a beautiful epitaph seemingly meant to bookend the Walser epigraph, but that doesn’t quite fulfill the story we’ve just read.That said, the world deWitt gives us is generous, and the protagonist is someone we’re happy to follow. The novel proposes somewhat gently that the pursuit of a painful thing might just be the point, rather than the moment the quest is over — and deWitt illustrates that sweetly. The trip then might be enough for us: funny, sad, violent and illuminated by a minor light. Show Less
From its pitch-perfect opening onwards, it's clear from the unusual atmosphere and droll narration that deWitt has created a unique fictional universe....This novel is funny but it won't necessarily make you laugh out loud. Instead, suppressed mirth ripples through deWitt's prose....he challenge
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for the reader is to resist the temptation to devour a novel which should be savoured. Show Less
The Canadian writer Patrick deWitt has nerve. In the much-loved Booker-shortlisted The Sisters Brothers, he memorably reinvented the western in a poignant comic drama of greed, grit and ruthlessness starring a pair of contract killers. In Undermajordomo Minor, his rickety, occasionally shambolic
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but engaging new flight of fancy, he riffs on the folk tale, transporting the reader into a gothic Europe which, like its California-set predecessor, is not only free of morals and moralising but positively allergic to the very thought of them. DeWitt’s characters are never either truly good or fully bad. Instead, and more interestingly, they are specimens of flawed but game humanity, baffled souls struggling in a Petri dish, oddly touching to watch.....if Undermajordomo Minor occasionally lacks the heft and panache of The Sisters Brothers, it only proves the rule that great acts are murderously hard to follow. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Perednia
Perhaps it’s the topsy turvy real world right now, but sometimes an odd duck of a book is exactly the right one to read.
Such was the case with Patrick deWitt’s Undermajordomo Minor.
It’s a fable-like story of Lucy Minor, a young man who, just when his hapless situation may evoke pity, does
Lucy doesn't fit in at home or in his village, which is aptly named Bury. It's the kind of place that seems lovely. The places he goes are darker on the surface but have lightness at their core. The core of Bury is empty -- walking to the train station to a new job, he meets a stranger who asks about his new landlord. That turns out to be Lucy's mother, who wasted no time renting out his room.
Just when it looks like the reader might feel sorry for Lucy, he lies to a young lady who once was his lover, but who left him for another. It's a silly lie that could be easily disproven, about her new love, but the callous maliciousness with which Lucy delivers it shows he is not sinned against more than sinning.
His new home is the dark, mysterious Castle Van Aux, nestled between mountains and a village that houses people like the pickpocketing pair who meet Lucy on the train. One of them is father to the beautiful Klara, who brings out the best in Lucy. He, of course, has to compete for her but now that he's been dealing with the oddness at the castle, he doesn't take the same tack he did back home. He's got to compete like a grown-up.
And, oh, how odd things are at the castle. His boss, the majordomo who has definite preferences about his tea and routine, and the cook, who puts only horrible-tasting food on the plates, are the only two people who appear to be around. Where's the baron? What about the baronness? And, was Lucy better off when they weren't around? Part of the aristocratic storyline is gothic, grotesque and downright Eyes Wide Shut.
What this description does not do is show the tone of deWitt's novel. And that is crucial. There is never the sense that the darkness will overwhelm. Instead, there is a matter-of-fact quality to the storytelling voice that provides the sense of "Oh. That was different. Now let's see what else is down the road." It reminds me of my earliest readings of fairy tales and folklore.
And it is a crucial factor to continue to the most important part of the novel. Lucy ends up on a strange pilgrimage with new companions who see no point in trying. Without a big speech, without fanfare, Lucy tries. And because of his journey, we see there was a point to go on.
Even when things go bad, it’s worth going on.
Such was the case with Patrick deWitt’s Undermajordomo Minor.
It’s a fable-like story of Lucy Minor, a young man who, just when his hapless situation may evoke pity, does
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something rather rotten himself. However, he’s not an anti-hero. He’s a main character who doesn’t become the protagonist until he takes charge of his own destiny and reaches out to others.Lucy doesn't fit in at home or in his village, which is aptly named Bury. It's the kind of place that seems lovely. The places he goes are darker on the surface but have lightness at their core. The core of Bury is empty -- walking to the train station to a new job, he meets a stranger who asks about his new landlord. That turns out to be Lucy's mother, who wasted no time renting out his room.
Just when it looks like the reader might feel sorry for Lucy, he lies to a young lady who once was his lover, but who left him for another. It's a silly lie that could be easily disproven, about her new love, but the callous maliciousness with which Lucy delivers it shows he is not sinned against more than sinning.
His new home is the dark, mysterious Castle Van Aux, nestled between mountains and a village that houses people like the pickpocketing pair who meet Lucy on the train. One of them is father to the beautiful Klara, who brings out the best in Lucy. He, of course, has to compete for her but now that he's been dealing with the oddness at the castle, he doesn't take the same tack he did back home. He's got to compete like a grown-up.
And, oh, how odd things are at the castle. His boss, the majordomo who has definite preferences about his tea and routine, and the cook, who puts only horrible-tasting food on the plates, are the only two people who appear to be around. Where's the baron? What about the baronness? And, was Lucy better off when they weren't around? Part of the aristocratic storyline is gothic, grotesque and downright Eyes Wide Shut.
What this description does not do is show the tone of deWitt's novel. And that is crucial. There is never the sense that the darkness will overwhelm. Instead, there is a matter-of-fact quality to the storytelling voice that provides the sense of "Oh. That was different. Now let's see what else is down the road." It reminds me of my earliest readings of fairy tales and folklore.
And it is a crucial factor to continue to the most important part of the novel. Lucy ends up on a strange pilgrimage with new companions who see no point in trying. Without a big speech, without fanfare, Lucy tries. And because of his journey, we see there was a point to go on.
Even when things go bad, it’s worth going on.
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LibraryThing member lisapeet
I liked this quite a bit, though I think it suffers a little from not knowing exactly what kind of book it wants to be. Is it a fractured fairy tale? gritty magical realism? a Calvino fable? I'm actually OK with all of the above, though there were a few slightly jarring frames of Eyes Wide Shut,
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but mostly the melange worked with, really, only a few parts that felt truly tacked on. That said, I think deWitt totally stuck the landing, and I loved the ending, corny as it may be. Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe
Lucien Minor isn’t having such a good life. A severe illness has him on death’s door but his father walks through it in his stead. The love of his life (so far) is engaged to another, someone considerably larger than Lucy. And his self-serving lie that might have sown discord between them has
Patrick DeWitt writes with a beguilingly simple style. His dialogue borders on Beckett. The absurdist comedy that permeates the book is a thin surface over sadness and disappointment, love found and lost, and the veil between thought and violence. The reader might easily feel lost in this unnamed country and time. But the lilting style pulls you along and you find, in no time, that you’ve completed the book. All is not right with the world, but at least Lucy has a direction and a clue as to where his happiness lies. I enjoyed the book much more than I expected to and that’s enough warrant to gently recommend it to others.
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backfired. It’s a good thing he is leaving town soon to take up the position of Undermajordomo at the nearby castle of Baron Von Aux. Unfortunately the Baron is mad, which has its dangers. And even when he isn’t mad, he and his friends are substantially depraved. It hardly seems likely that Lucy will find happiness in his new surroundings. But he does. For a time.Patrick DeWitt writes with a beguilingly simple style. His dialogue borders on Beckett. The absurdist comedy that permeates the book is a thin surface over sadness and disappointment, love found and lost, and the veil between thought and violence. The reader might easily feel lost in this unnamed country and time. But the lilting style pulls you along and you find, in no time, that you’ve completed the book. All is not right with the world, but at least Lucy has a direction and a clue as to where his happiness lies. I enjoyed the book much more than I expected to and that’s enough warrant to gently recommend it to others.
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LibraryThing member hardlyhardy
Patrick DeWitt's 2015 novel “ Undermajordomo Minor” suits its title. It's cute, charming, unconventional and fun. Except for the train that passes through the novel regularly, the story could take place at any time in the past thousand years or so. It all feels like a fable or fairy tale, like
Lucien Minor, called Lucy, is a young man who feels out of place in his own hometown, so he accepts a position at a baron's castle as an undermajordomo, without having a clue about what the job entails.
It turns out that the baron is quite mad, given to roaming the castle at night and eating live rats. Yet each day he writes a love letter to the baroness, who left him, and it becomes Lucy's job to hand that letter to the engineer as the train flies by each morning. That is, until one day the engineer carries a reply: the baroness is returning home. That means restoring both the castle and its baron to dignity and respectability.
Meanwhile Lucy finds his own true love, Klara, a lovely girl who also happens to be pursued by a giant warrior, whose own true love happens to be fighting a nonsensical, never-ending war. When separated from Klara. Lucy begins to understand what happens to the baron when the baroness is away.
Hardly anyone in the story can talk in a straight line, which becomes frustrating for Lucy but delightful for the reader. The conversations are great fun even if they often go nowhere. Lucy witnesses an orgy, confronts the giant and falls into a Very Large Hole. Anyone who loves “The Princess Bride,” which is just about everybody, should love DeWitt's novel.
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something from the Dark Ages.Lucien Minor, called Lucy, is a young man who feels out of place in his own hometown, so he accepts a position at a baron's castle as an undermajordomo, without having a clue about what the job entails.
It turns out that the baron is quite mad, given to roaming the castle at night and eating live rats. Yet each day he writes a love letter to the baroness, who left him, and it becomes Lucy's job to hand that letter to the engineer as the train flies by each morning. That is, until one day the engineer carries a reply: the baroness is returning home. That means restoring both the castle and its baron to dignity and respectability.
Meanwhile Lucy finds his own true love, Klara, a lovely girl who also happens to be pursued by a giant warrior, whose own true love happens to be fighting a nonsensical, never-ending war. When separated from Klara. Lucy begins to understand what happens to the baron when the baroness is away.
Hardly anyone in the story can talk in a straight line, which becomes frustrating for Lucy but delightful for the reader. The conversations are great fun even if they often go nowhere. Lucy witnesses an orgy, confronts the giant and falls into a Very Large Hole. Anyone who loves “The Princess Bride,” which is just about everybody, should love DeWitt's novel.
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LibraryThing member bookappeal
What a difficult book to describe! Patrick deWitt's style of writing is unlike any other author's. This novel struck me as more humorous than The Sisters Brothers but the plot is really strange. In essence, a young man starts a new job at a castle but the inhabitants of the castle as well as the
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entire village range from just a little bit "off" to WAY off. The main character isn't exactly your ordinary Joe either. Parts adventure, love story, and inventive humor but with deWitt's formal, mannered sense of dialog and description and plot twists you will never see coming because they're so utterly weird! A quite enjoyable read if you're game. Show Less
LibraryThing member jillrhudy
A twisted fairy tale, with a little bit of everything and dozens of literary influences in evidence. I liked the black humor and the ending, and was engrossed with the way the whole fable played out. There isn't a boring page in the book, and much of the dialogue is darkly or ironically hilarious.
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Unlike other reviewers, I didn't feel that any part of the story was forced; the narrative flow of it all made perfect sense. The only thing I felt it lacked was a more engaging protagonist. I was okay with Lucy being a liar, a coward, and deeply flawed in various respects, but I wasn't okay with him being rather flat. Especially given the denouement of the novel, in which the Lucy makes his epic journey and finds his ultimate truth, had he been a hero or antihero that the reader could root for, this would have sent the book from merely good to stunning. Show Less
LibraryThing member joyceclark
This is an odd book. Dewitt tells the story of Lucien (Lucy) Minor, who gets a job at a castle as an apprentice majordomo (undermajordomo).
Parts of the story are sweet, such as his romance with a local woman. Parts make very little sense. Parts are downright disgusting, and almost seem to have
Parts of the story are sweet, such as his romance with a local woman. Parts make very little sense. Parts are downright disgusting, and almost seem to have
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been inserted from another book. I kept trying to make sense of the plot, but then the book ended. Definitely going into the "donate" pile! Show Less
LibraryThing member DougJ110
Really a children's fable, save a few pages, though an interesting and enjoyable one for adults. An easy, light, fast read.
LibraryThing member PrimosParadise
Charmingly off-kilter. Think of it as if someone took the Princess Bride and then twisted it around and then added some little Monty Python bits. This book starts out in a very amiable manner; things happen slowly; the dialogue is witty and economical; and then things just continue to get weird,
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sometimes even grotesque...But wow! What fun! This is not the Sisters Brothers by any stretch, but it is extremely likeable. If there is some moral or underlying message here, I totally missed it...but I really don't care. Again, much fun! Show Less
LibraryThing member horomnizon
I really love the way deWitt tells a story. I had liked The Brothers Sisters, so when I saw he had a new tale out, I got it as quickly as I could and devoured it in only a few days. There's just a sense of humor to it without being too obvious and the narrator's voice is enjoyable, even when
This seemed to me a fairy tale of sorts - a romance, yes, and a bit of an adventure story - but really a commentary on things like war and riches without being too overt. Overall, just a really enjoyable tale with unusual characters. deWitt's books are an intelligent type of humor yet with an underlying slapstick element...kind of like watching the best of The Carol Burnett Show. Certainly not everybody's taste, but I really liked it.
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talking about rather bawdy topics. This seemed to me a fairy tale of sorts - a romance, yes, and a bit of an adventure story - but really a commentary on things like war and riches without being too overt. Overall, just a really enjoyable tale with unusual characters. deWitt's books are an intelligent type of humor yet with an underlying slapstick element...kind of like watching the best of The Carol Burnett Show. Certainly not everybody's taste, but I really liked it.
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LibraryThing member ozzer
DeWitt’s disappointing follow-up to the much-acclaimed “The Sisters Brothers” seems to be all style with little substance. The published reviews were encouraging, but, alas, proved to be overly enthusiastic. With the exception of the title character — Lucy Minor — there was little
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character development or attention to coherent plotting in this messy attempt at genre bending. On the surface, it was a gothic fairy tale with notes of adventure, romance and touches of magical realism, but most of the plot was just silly and too fragmented to take seriously as literature. Most of the action was contrived and telegraphed long before it occurred. Lucy — I had a chronic problem visualizing a person with this name as male — was naïve, deceitful and flippant, making him difficult to really care about. The other characters were quite eccentric, which made them somewhat interesting, but so superficial that they seemed like cartoon characters included to add a backdrop for Lucy to show off his cleverness. Rationales for their actions and beliefs were almost totally absent from the narrative. The baroness sums up my reaction to this novel when she tells Lucy: “I for one find it an annoyance when a story doesn’t do what it’s meant to do. Would you not find yourself resentful at the promise of an entertainment unfulfilled?” Yes, definitely! Show Less
LibraryThing member ardvisoor
I had a tough time giving a rating to this book as I really don't know If I liked it or not finally. But.. But for sure it was an interesting read. A dark world with dark and strange people, more strange than dark and it has a slight humor flowing in the story.
LibraryThing member TooBusyReading
I couldn't wait to read this book because I so much enjoyed the author's book The Sisters Brothers, and wanted another fun read, another dark comedy.
This one let me down. It started out fine, and the protagonist, Undermajordomo Minor, was likable if clueless. Most of the other characters didn't
This one let me down. It started out fine, and the protagonist, Undermajordomo Minor, was likable if clueless. Most of the other characters didn't
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much impress me. Still, it was an enjoyable read until I got to the “party.” That part was disgusting to me. Depraved, too graphic, disturbing, and certainly not fun to read. What a miserable collection of people. I slogged on through the rest of the book, and did finish it, but it never got its mojo back. I'm not giving up on the author because The Sisters Brothers was great, but I don't want to read any more books like this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dreesie
I loved The Sisters Brothers, though I found it a bit too violent. I really did not think he could do it again, as that book was so unusual.
But DeWitt has a very unique voice�óîhis worlds are normal historical fiction worlds, only they are not. Color is so important, as is texture. You think
Though the end of this novel is unresolved and thus not a 5-star read for me, I feel like DeWitt has an amazing 5-star novel in him.
But DeWitt has a very unique voice�óîhis worlds are normal historical fiction worlds, only they are not. Color is so important, as is texture. You think
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you know what is happening, only you don't exactly. His language is fun, his place and personal names fun, and it makes you want to visit. As with The Sisters Brothers, I want to see this on screen. And I am not a movie watcher. I wonder what kind of a screenplay he could write?Though the end of this novel is unresolved and thus not a 5-star read for me, I feel like DeWitt has an amazing 5-star novel in him.
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LibraryThing member mhanlon
This book was a ton of fun. You have a protagonist who surely shares DNA with Candide in Lucy Minor, who strikes out, oblivious to his own place in the world and in the hearts of even his family (his mother has his room rented before he finishes walking down the garden path). And Patrick de Witt is
As the book went on it grew deeper than simply a series of pratfalls for our hapless hero and, for me, it rates only just behind The Sisters Brothers.
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very good at setting up those little surreal scenes where Lucy will blunder in headlong. The book has a lighter undercurrent and seems (just slightly) less tightly wound than his earlier book, The Sisters Brothers, but with very similar humor.As the book went on it grew deeper than simply a series of pratfalls for our hapless hero and, for me, it rates only just behind The Sisters Brothers.
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LibraryThing member porch_reader
I loved The Sisters Brothers, so I was looking forward to deWitt's new novel Undermajordomo Minor. As you might guess from the title, this is another slightly quirky book. It is described as an adventure, a love story, and a fairy tale, and it is all of that. But for me, the story rests on the
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somewhat capable shoulders of Lucien (Lucy) Minor, a lonely young man who leaves his home in the village of Bury to become the assistant to the Major Domo (the undermajordomo, if you will) of Castle Von Aux, far from his home. The book starts slowly, as deWitt gives us a sense for Lucy's many layers, but when he reaches Castle Von Aux, it becomes clear that the residents of the castle and the surrounding village have some secrets. But they also have some room in their hearts for Lucy, who becomes a more likeable fellow as the story unfolds. There is one incredibly odd scene near the end of the book that seemed somewhat out of place, but overall, I enjoyed this story. Show Less
LibraryThing member celerydog
Enjoyable coming of age parable in a Gothic setting. Lucy was likeable character. The ballroom scene jarred, as it came from nowhere and left me having bizarre dreams, unwantedly.
LibraryThing member BefuddledPanda
What a weird and bizarre book. It is a roller coaster ride! I enjoyed it for what it is. I'm okay with not having all the answers at the end. It's probably better that way. I do wonder what inspired the author to write this book. I'll need to do some searching on that.
LibraryThing member Gwendydd
Throughout reading this book, I kept changing my mind about whether I was enjoying or not. There are moments where it is charming, funny, and even tender despite the dark humor. But then there are moments that are just so far out of left field that I wasn't even sure what to make of them, and
I listened to the audiobook, read by Simon Prebble, one of my favorite narrators.
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moments that are downright sickening. I would have enjoyed it more if I felt like the overall story had a point, but it didn't really. I don't regret reading it, but I don't think I would have missed anything if I hadn't read it.I listened to the audiobook, read by Simon Prebble, one of my favorite narrators.
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LibraryThing member breic
I really enjoyed "The Sisters Brothers," but even though this book is similar in some ways, especially in its quirky humor, I never connected with it.
> "What?" "He's died. They've exploded him." "Who has?" "They have." "What does that mean, exploded him?" "It means that he is no longer of a
> "What?" "He's died. They've exploded him." "Who has?" "They have." "What does that mean, exploded him?" "It means that he is no longer of a
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piece." "Where is he?" "Here and there—that's what I'm telling you." Show Less
LibraryThing member Cail_Judy
Dark, hilarious and at turns brilliant, this novel is everything deWitt set it out to be - his own unique take on a European folk tale.
This book saved me while I was stuck in a Costa Rica airport. Very cool seeing deWitt read from this at the Vancouver Writer's Fest.
This book saved me while I was stuck in a Costa Rica airport. Very cool seeing deWitt read from this at the Vancouver Writer's Fest.
LibraryThing member ChristopherSwann
What a beautiful tale. And I defy you not to be at least somewhat moved by the ending.
LibraryThing member Paul_S
(Slightly) humorous.
LibraryThing member Castlelass
This book tells a picaresque tale in the manner of a dark fairy tale or fable. I can picture it as the equivalent of a ghost story being told around a campfire, complete with gothic elements, castle, journey, illness, death, rats, and a mysterious Very Large Hole. It is set in eastern Europe.
Patrick deWitt is one of my favorite authors. This book contains the author’s trademark storytelling infused with dark humor, but I think it loses its way in the second half and the ending is rather unsatisfying. This book is more farcical or bizarre than scary, but it was scary enough for me to count it for my annual Halloween-themed read.
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Protagonist Lucien Minor is, at the outset, leading a directionless life. He contracts pneumonia, nearly dies, and is offered a chance for a job at the remote castle of Baron von Aux, working for a majordomo, where he becomes an “undermajordomo” (of the tongue-in-cheek title). He meets a cast of eccentric characters and embarks on a number of adventures. Patrick deWitt is one of my favorite authors. This book contains the author’s trademark storytelling infused with dark humor, but I think it loses its way in the second half and the ending is rather unsatisfying. This book is more farcical or bizarre than scary, but it was scary enough for me to count it for my annual Halloween-themed read.
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LibraryThing member martialalex92
The style was very Catch-22, but lacked the powerful overarching theme of that book, instead focusing more on the development of the principal character. Still a good read despite the weird cheese fevre dream and summer sausage surprise scene
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2017)
Governor General's Literary Award (Finalist — Translation — 2017)
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award (Winner — 2016)
Scotiabank Giller Prize (Longlist — 2015)
NPR: Books We Love (2015)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2015-09-15