Three Men in a Boat is a fictional story written by Jerome K. Jerome and was first published in the year 1889. The first time the book was published, there was a lot of confusion among the critics who were unable to understand the exact genre of the book. Although the genre of the book is Humour, but many critics at that time took the book to be a travel guide. It was mostly because, during that time travel guides were usually written as a long and serious itinerary with descriptions and minute details. As more and more people read Three Men in a Boat, they were more and more engrossed with the comic side of the novel and soon Three Men in a Boat came to called as a comic frictional novel.
The story of Three Men in a Boat revolves round, more or less, the adventure of three men who decide to take a break from their monotonous life and take a boating vacation up the river Thames. The story is narrated by a certain Englishman named J. who embarks upon the journey along with his friends George and William Samuel Harris.
One day while the three friends were smoking in J.'s room and discussing about diseases and ailments they were suffering from, they finally came to the conclusion that they were in fact suffering due to overwork. All of them came to the conclusion that what they need is rest and change from their environment and everyday routine. Harris suggested that they should go on a sea trip, to which J. opposed saying a short sea trip is nothing more than a lot of discomfort if taken for a short time because of seasickness. J. also refers to the stories of certain people he knew who have had pretty awful time by taking weeklong seatrips.
Suggested by George, it was finally decided that they would go on a boating holiday up the river Thames. They came to the conclusion that with a boating trip, they will not only have change, but also plenty of exercise in the form of rowing and good amount of rest as well. Only Montmorency, J.'s lively fox terrier, did not like the plan and though it was nothing but foolishness.
Once they have finalised the plan, they start making preparations for the journey. Among other things, they plan to take along a cover for the boat that they can use when sleeping at night, in the boat. This way, they will not need to stay in inns. They also compile a list of other things they need to take along, but quickly decide that only the most important things should be packed.
At this point, they we get to know that though they are all friends, J. is not fond of Harris, and compares him to his incompetent uncle Podger. As part of their luggage, they bring a hamper of food, clothing, a cover for the boat and a methylated spirit stove and the cover for the boat. The three men are more or less unfit for the task as they keep forgetting something or the other when they pack.
Next morning, they wake up and see they have overslept and have trouble figuring out which train they are to take to go to Kingston. Eventually, they do board it. J. describes the local landmarks, which are inns where Queen Elizabeth dined in and Hampton Court. Harris also narrates a story of getting lost in the latter place.
Then, the men pass through the first lock, which is a section of the river where levels have been lowered or raised between the gates. George separates from the group to carry out some work for his employer in Shepperton. Harris proposes they visit a cemetery but J. rejects it, saying he finds cemeteries really depressing. Right after this, Harris falls into the hamper of food in his attempt to find whiskey.
J. and Harris stop for lunch on the riverbank and a man accuses them of trespassing. Harris, being a large man, makes the visitor go away and advises J. not to get intimidated by strangers, as many a time, they are not what they claim to be. At this juncture, they start sharing incidents from the past where they made a fool of themselves, at pretentious parties, by singing a comic song or trying to speak German. After this, J. describes some more locations of interest and then reunite with George at Shepperton.
J. and Harris convince George to tow the boat from the shore. Towing is an arduous task and can lead to various problems if the tower gets distracted. J. goes on to describe some incidents where similar occurrences happened.
The men have a good dinner and sleep in the boat. In the morning, once they wake up, George tells a story about starting his day at 3 a.m., only because his watch had not been wound. Later in the day, J. falls into the water while attempting to make scrambled eggs. They wonder what it must have been like, to be a peasant when Magna Carta was signed, while they pass Magna Charta Island during their journey.
When they pass Datchet, they think about an earlier trip, when they found every in to be full and the men had to sleep in a local's house. This time, they sleep at an inn Marlow. The terrier, Montmorency chases a cat, but is not bold enough to attack it. The following day they pass more historic landmarks, including Bisham Abbey. At some point, they run out of drinking water, and are thoroughly repelled by a local's suggestion to drink the river water. Harris falls off the edge of a gulch while he tries to eat his supper.
In the evening, they prepare Irish stew, while George plays the piano. But the music is anything but melodious and Harris and J. persuade him not to play again while they are on the trip. George and J. leave for the town of Henley for drinks, but get lost while coming back. When they do finally find the boat and Harris sleeping in it, he explains he had to move it as he was attacked by a flock of aggressive swans.
J. starts off with another set of accounts in which he describes the mishaps he and George faced, when they first learned how to row. In the meantime, the three men pass the town of Reading and J. offers a brief history of the town. As they are nearing Goring, they discover a woman's corpse floating in the water. They come to know that she drowned herself after she had a child out of wedlock and could not afford to support it.
The three men want to wash their clothes in the Thames, but the clothes end up coming out dirtier than ever. Later that night, They go to a pub in Wallingford, where there is a fish hanging on the wall, for drinks. George knocks over the fish that all patrons claim to have caught, which turns out to be made of Plaster of Paris.
The men head towards Oxford and they plan to turn around and row back to London. J. describes an account of a time when he and George went rowing and ruined a professional photographer's pictures, since they fell at the wrong place and moment. The attractions of Dorchester, Clifton and Abingdon, which include Roman ruins and the grave of the man who fathered 197 children.
Three men then finally manage to cross a difficult stretch in the river near Oxford and spend a couple of days there. J. takes a minute from the story to warn readers about the poor quality of boats rented in Oxford.
While on their way back, they meet very poor weather and end up being really cold and miserable. They decide to abandon the boat and take shelter in an inn. There, they have a delicious supper and toast the decision of abandoning the boat. Montmorency also barks, displaying his agreement and happiness.
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