Reviews of...

Soiled Reputations © 1997 David Hobson

Jim St. Marie, garden columnist for "The Record" Kitchener, Ontario

A hilarious and highly readable story. I was riveted to this book by the clever comic dialogue that permeates this whole delightful look at two serious, but often bungling neighbours.

The East Coast Gardener October 1997

Review by Carla Allen

"It's easy to find a "How-to" book on gardening; there are thousands of them out there, all containing helpful information for a variety of purposes. Unless you possess a highly retentive memory, these weighty volumes must be referred to time and time again. It's a refreshing change when one discovers a gardening book that concentrates not on the mechanics of this subject, but rather provides an enjoyably light and comical view through the actions of its characters.

In Soiled Reputations, David Hobson introduces us to the "Tim the Toolman Taylor" of the gardening world. Meet Riley, a bumbling, sometimes conniving neighbour to Cynthia. Both are passionate gardeners with a well-rooted sense of competition. Over the garden gate, actually more often than not, through the garden fence, Riley finds himself in one misadventure after another as he tries to keep pace with Cynthia's grand plans for the garden. Throughout the book, Riley has to deal with a persistent pest -- Cynthia's 12-year-old nephew, Gneville.

A large percentage of Soiled Reputations is dialogue, a literary challenge that Hobson has handled very well. He portrays the emotions of both characters and the humour of each situation repeatedly, whether it be the battle of the big pumpkins, the hydroponics fiasco or the grand garden tour. Each of the ten chapters highlights situations which gardeners will find familiar; however the outcome of each is decidedly unconventional. Through it all, the relationship between Cynthia and Riley experiences spurts and setbacks. In the last chapter, my personal favourite, several scenes are described in hilarious detail. Surely the shared experiences of reciprocal wheelbarrow rides will cement the fragile bonds of this friendship and we can expect more escapades? Hobson prefers to leave the hole in the fence for that possibility".

Donna Dawson, I can Garden publisher

"A delightful read. Even though it's fiction, it could be true".

Janet M....  "I loved it. It was a hoot".

Jane D.... "I really enjoyed it".

Lynne...  "I almost fell out of my chair I laughed so hard"

Anne S.... "A wickedley funny book!

The title alone, Soiled Reputations, gives the reader an inkling of the puns, wit and humor to be unearthed in David Hobson's latest book.

The story is of a totally unscrupulous and conniving character called Riley and his relationship with Cynthia the next door neighbour.  Their mutual obsession is gardening; their passion is being at least one step ahead of the other in pursuit of the biggest and best.

Spoiled Reputations is a wonderfully humorous armchair read.  Each chapter is a peek into the mischievous antics and retaliations of these two avid gardeners and it takes the reader through seasons of collusion, complicity and competition.  The tales are linked by the delightful development of a relationship between this capricious couple, aphids and all.  And, splashed with the hues of other characters such as Back-hoe Bill the dubious topsoil dealer.