"This emotive and at times cutting satire sees the Baron of tall tales reflect on a modern US society. "
Available from www.rosssteinbooks.com
Before reading this I wasn’t familiar with Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Baron von Munchausen, so I carried out a quick internet search before starting. The historical context of Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Baron von Munchausen is of a figure who fought in the Russo-turkish war in the 18th century and became known for telling outlandish tales of his military career, which were then adapted into works of fiction. In The Further Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Ross Stein it is 2024, Munchausen is now 300 years old and is called away from his current home on the Moon to visit modern day America. Experiencing everything from immigration to the climate crisis, this is a relentless monologue from the self-proclaimed “ambassador of the irrational” about his findings.
As Munchausen regails his drinking companion with his stories many modern topical issues are explored in the way of all satire, with wit and some irreverence to draw attention to the real shortcomings at hand. As I was reading I felt like Muchausen was an anti Little Prince figure, sent to earth and cutting to the heart of the problems in modern society instead of finding the beauty there. I thought the way Munchausen adopted a social media profile and his short, snappy tweets throughout the book were wryly amusing and the style of the black and white illustrations sprinkled throughout put me in mind of editorial cartoons. I also liked the imagery around Munchausen himself, deteriorating as the story progressed like the Ghost of Christmas Present.
The Further Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a dry, witty and bang up to date piece of satire. The writing is quite fast paced, covering a great many of Munchausen’s adventures and with them current topics for discussion, while also still provoking thought. I think that the use of this historical character to reflect on the modern world in this way is really inventive and readers of satire will find plenty here to dissect.
Charlotte Walker, A LoveReading Ambassador
| Primary Genre | General Fiction |
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