Before I began reading this book, I was never a fan of old English styled literature. However, I chose Three Men in a Boat because I wanted to diversify the types of books I read. I actually quite enjoyed the voice the author portrayed throughout the novel. While in the midst of telling the story of the boat trip, Jerome would go off on another story that gave insight to the audience about he, himself, and the other characters in the book.
Jerome K. Jerome’s purpose before writing the book was to inform people of how to travel around the Thames. It tuned into more, though, when he wrote about his own life and even long lectures about life. These lectures are where I enjoyed the book the most. I found them interesting because the tips that Jerome would give about traveling directly correlated to life lessons that he would give later in the book.
One of my favorite parts of the book is when Jerome writes about a small china dog that he keeps in his bedroom. He doesn’t really like it but keeps it there just for mere decoration. Jerome then goes on to say that he would have much more appreciation for it, most likely, if it was 200 years from then. He writes, “We, in this age, do not see the beauty of that dog. We are too familiar with it. It is like the sunset and the stars; we are not awed by their loveliness because they are common to our eyes,”. Jerome means that we should open our eyes and appreciate what is around us because there is beauty in everything. This really struck me along with the many other lessons Jerome goes on to write.
A part of our AP Lang lessons became relevant in this book, as well. Jerome wrote about our appreciation for things around us but wrote that many things are just recreations of the past. He believed that objects that were common goods hundreds of years ago, were prized possessions now. This reminded me of Everything is a Remix and that nothing is trully new. I thought the connection between both was interesting.
