The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom

The hero or antihero, as some harsh readers might say in our current cynical society, of the story of Count Fathom; travels with his mother an angel of mercy and camp follower (a dubious name). She kindly puts wounded soldiers out of their misery, with a sharp knife (don't call it murder!), and pick......more

The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom by Tobias Smollett – included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read List [URL not allowed] 7 out of 10 The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom was first published in 1753, which might mean that it is not for the tastes of readers fr......more

This was a hard one to get through but I really enjoyed it a lot and it's such an interesting and often funny portrait of 18 the century life. It's definitely a very uneven book though in the sense that the first half fairly zips along with incident as Count Fathom cheats, swindles and seduces person......more

A series of adventures following the anti-hero Fathom. A rake and scoundrel in the 18th century.......more

It's not bad. It does feel like Smollett is getting paid by the chapter though. Similar to how Dickens goes 25% longer than necessary, Smollett is more like 33% over in this one. Part "Canterbury Tales", part Shakespearian comedy, part "Dangerous Liaisons", part "Othello", part "Flashman", Smollett......more