What Did We Do on Our Holiday?

This was an unusual and amusing book. Only quite short, and written in diary form, it tells of Eric - just turned 45, and his family holiday to a trailer park in Skegness. The family consists of “trim and attractive” wife Kathleen, with an outsized libido, son Max, who is going through a ‘return to nature' phase, and daughter sally, who has embraced religion.

From issue to issue, crisis to crisis and problem to problem, Eric's holiday is many things, but normal and relaxed are two things it is not. As the events unfold in this dark comedy Eric calmly sets about, taking them in his stride, making the best of the situation, not mentioning many of the problems to his family - to allow them to enjoy their holiday, while carefully summarising them in his diary. Eventually, things become too much, and Eric has to deal with them.

So without spoiling plotlines, it is fair to say there is a lot of comedy, there is a downward spiral of sexual debauchery (involving insatiable Kathleen), and wanton violence. If the over descriptive nature of either of these things are not agreeable to you, perhaps leave this book aside.

This book is unusual - as I mentioned above, a dark comedy, but also absurdest. Eric is written as such a feeble and passive character for most of the book, and other characters are also drawn as extremes. There are some aspects to the book that didn't make sense - the planes which appear every so often to strafe the holiday park and some of the other character motivations.

Overall, a quick and amusing read. 3 stars.