Review: Whisky Galore

Whisky Galore by Compton Mackenzie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My late father was a fan, though the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that he was a fan of the film (which I haven't seen) rather than the book. If he'd liked the book, we probably would have had a copy, and I would have read it years ago.

I was not a fan of the book particularly. I listened to the abridged BBC version read by Stanley Baxter, who does an excellent job; other reviewers suggest that it needed abridgement, and I probably got a better version than the wordier original. I certainly didn't feel like it needed to be longer.

It's very slice-of-life. The first part consists of various people on a Scottish island during World War II moaning about how all of their problems would be solved if only there wasn't a shortage of whisky. Then a ship carrying whisky wrecks nearby (with no loss of life), the islanders "salvage" the cargo, and all their problems are, in fact, solved. The rabbity school principal, with a few drams on board, finally stands up to his mother, the English sergeant-major gets to have an engagement party and to fix his wedding date, and everyone else is, by Scottish standards at least, in a good and hopeful mood, apart from the man whose daughters tipped out all his whisky to hide it from the excise inspector.

I found it mildly amusing at best.

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