McAuslan in the Rough by George MacDonald Fraser

McAuslan in the Rough by George MacDonald Fraser

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"Not that he was a bad sort, in his leprous way...", September 11, 2007

McAuslan in the Rough', a collection of seven short stories, recounts tales of service in a Scottish Highland regiment after WW II in North Africa and later back home awaiting demobilization.

The narrator is a young subaltern by the name of Dand MacNeill who has the dread luck to suffer McAuslan's presence in his platoon. To explain the extent of this misfortune, I can do no better than offer three short excerpts that paint the picture. Turning up to caddy in a match against a set of English officers, McAuslan's "grey-white shirt was open to the waist, revealing what was either his skin or an old vest, you couldn't tell which. His hair was tangled and his mouth hung open; altogether he looked as though he'd just completed a bell-ringing stint at Notre dame." (McAuslan in the Rough).

Later McAuslan "demonstrated yet again his carelessness, negligence, and indiscipline, and at the same time his fine adherence to principle." (His Majesty says good-day).

"Not that he was a bad sort, in his leprous way, but he was sure disaster in any enterprise to which he set his grimy hand." (Bo Geesty).

The McAuslan stories appear to be at least semi-autobiographical both with regard to MacNeill and McAuslan. According to Wikipedia, Fraser was busted back to private from Lance Corporal on three occasions, once for losing a tea urn, but later achieved a commission and served as a lieutenant in the Gordon Highlanders. Fraser also wrote an actual autobiography, Quartered Safe Out Here: A Recollection of the War in Burma.

Fans of Flashman (Flashman: A Novel (Flashman)) will be thrilled to learn that there are more Fraser's works to be read. Mawe no mistake, McAuslan is no Harry Flashman. Nonetheless, McAuslan does grow on the reader, but MacNeill would probably say it's a fungus that may not be easily cured and should be looked after right away.

Highly recommended.