Frost on my Moustache: The Arctic Exploits of a Lord and a Loafer - Hardcover

Moore, Timothy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312253192 ISBN 13: 9780312253196

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2000

Synopsis

Guided by the fastidious journals of an eminent Victorian adventurer by the name of Lord Dufferin, Time Moore sets off to prove his mettle in the most stunningly inhospitable place on Earth-the Arctic. Armed only with his searing wit, wicked humor, and seasickness pills, our pale suburbanite-wracked by second thoughts of tactical retreat-confronts mind-numbing cold, blood-thirsty polar bears, a convoy of born-again Vikings, and, perhaps most chilling of all, herring porridge. When he is not humiliating himself through displays of ignorance and incompetence, Moore casts a sharp eye on the local flora and fauna, immersing readers in the splendors and wonders of this treacherously beautiful region.

A deliciously and inexhaustibly funny book, Frost on My Moustache deserves to be placed alongside those by Evelyn Waugh, Eric Newby, and Bill Bryson.

About this title

About the Author

Tim Moore's writing has appeared in the The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Observer, and The Evening Standard. He lives in West London

Reviews

A Brit's mock-heroic Arctic adventure in the footsteps of a Victorian aristocrat. More is a journalist who writes for British Esquire, and the humor in this memoir-spoof will be best appreciated by those who like the understated, rather anal sensibility of British sitcoms and comedies of manners. Even dining etiquette provides entertainment, as an uneasy guest realizes that ``conversation was being marshalled in strict rotation.'' Moore revels in the follies of wealthy, clueless aristocrats; their gloriously futile expeditions to the polar ice cap; the 1972 ``Cod War'' in which proudly unwashed Icelanders from ``the furthest outcrop of Europe'' beat the British; Reykjavik's ``Legoland'' suburbs; Scandinavian pronunciations (like ``Oooshloo,'' Norway); and the many stops along his antiheroic retracing of Lord Dufferin's 1856 Arctic expedition. Informal Americans who respect talent more than lineage will not get all the humor here, but will still enjoy Moore the city boy mixing it up with tough Norwegians, dangerous polar bears, and treacherous weather. The target audience will be shocked and amused by human or animal excretion, the vomiting induced by seasickness and excessive alcohol consumption, the price of vodka in Lonyearbyen, and the endless toasting of Icelanders. When Moore describes them, even foghorns fart. More American-funny is the depiction of Icelandic girls as easy. Interrupting the constant wisecracks is some intriguing history of the North Pole and expeditions besides that of Lord Dufferin, whose words and works are often recalled, if not with reverence. After much social awkwardness and physical bouts with rough seas and permafrost, Moore reaches the North Pole, but wonders why anyone has bothered. ``I felt cheated: on top of the world, but with no creation to look down on.'' Instead of a nervous romance by Woody Allen, think of a nervous adventure by John Cleese. Despite the Arctic setting, the pace is never glacial. (9 line drawings, 1 map) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

When Moore, a writer for British Esquire, found a copy of Letters from High Latitudes (1856), Lord Dufferin's detailed, best-selling, 19th-century travel memoir of a trip to and from Iceland (on wooden schooner, horseback, and ship), he was so intrigued that he decided to retrace the journey. Instead of a schooner, Moore opted to take a freighter; instead of horseback, he road across Iceland on a mountain bike. Later, he joined a small-boat convoy that sailed from Norway back to Iceland. For the rest of the trip, he took commercial ferries. Moore is a talented writer with a keen wit and sarcastic sense of humor that is sometimes difficult to decipher amid all the contemporary British slang and allusions. There's also an introspective and dark edge to his humor not unlike Gregory Janes's in Come Hell or High Water (LJ 10/1/97). The result is an interesting travel diary--though still not as engaging as Dufferin's classic out-of-print work. For all public libraries.
-John Kenny, San Francisco P.L.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312253192
• ISBN 13: 9780312253196
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288