Very unexpectedly funny book. Had no idea what to expect, although the cover had a certain whimsy and silly looking characters that made me chuckle. And the book did even more than that. Silly, pompous people interacting desperate to convince themselves of their own importance can only be funny in the hands of a good writer. I have many Powell books on the shelf and am even more excited now that i am aware of the subtle humor involved. What really clicked was the main character Lushington continually finding himself in the thick of ridiculous situations, most of which were not his doing - life just kept thrusting itself into his routine.....a situation i find myself in with too much regularity.......and i felt better knowing I may not be alone!!! ( )

A melancholy farce, set in the early 1930s in the diplomatic community of an unnamed Baltic country based on Estonia or Latvia. Similar in tone and treatment to early Evelyn Waugh. Uneven, but with some brilliant passages and astringent characterizations. Count Bobel: "In Russia we have an expression -- 'nitchevo.' It is difficult to render into another language. It is in reality untranslatable. It means 'nothing' or, more freely, 'what does it matter?' It is a very popular expression, characteristic, in a way, of our people. I tell you this because I think this is a moment when such a philosophy of life might be of value to you. Say to yourself 'nitchevo.'" ( )