3.5 stars.

Quite different from Wells' science fiction classics. I found that I often saw the humor rather than felt it; certain aspects of Mr. Polly's character were clearly intended to be funny (such as his mistakes with words) but didn't really tickle my funny bone. The last 2 chapters were the best for me. ( )

Adrian Praetzellis did a fine job narrating but unfortunately, his voice and pacing weren't for me. I found it hard to focus on (especially in the car) and often ended up having to reread portions in the Kindle edition to find out what happened. ( )

4.5 stars

I had never heard of this book before I stumbled upon it in an antique store. I don't like antique stores, but my husband does, so while I wait for him to finish shopping, I check out the disorganized shelf or two of books you can usually find in these places.
Something about this book drew my eye—maybe the combination of an author I'd heard of and a title I hadn't. I read the introduction by Sinclair Lewis and decided I should probably buy the book, never mind that my to-read list is well over 200, and that I don't often buy books.
I'm very glad I picked it up, because it was a lovely way to find out that H.G. Wells is my kind of writer. I must get to know him better.
Mr. Polly isn't a particularly interesting character at first, aside from his propensity to mispronounce and make up words. He's not really admirable either. The first few decades of his life are lived passively, or as he puts it later

I've never really planned my life or set out to live. I happened; things happened to me.

Wells makes no apology for his protagonist, saying toward the end of the book

This is a history and not a glorification of Mr. Polly, and I tell things as they were with him.

There are 10 long chapters in this book. I think of them more as sections, and I admit I was not enamored of the story at the beginning as much as I was with the clever writing. The story gets better as it builds up steam, and I loved the 9th chapter, which I thought had the funniest passages. There were times the descriptions sounded a bit like P.G. Wodehouse, and I dearly love Wodehouse. This one is probably the best example-a description of ducklings in the garden.

They were piping about among the vegetables...and as he and the plump woman came down the garden path, the little creatures mobbed them, and ran over their boots and in between Mr. Polly's legs, and did their best to be trodden upon and killed after the manner of ducklings all the world over.

I'm curious about the author's motivation for writing a novel about a character like Mr. Polly. He never really reforms as much as finds a habitat that suits him. The character's path to achieving this must have been controversial back when this was written.
Regardless of what was behind it, this was a swell book, and I look forward to reading more by this author. ( )

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3752243.html

I have been curious about this book since I was ten. In the summer of 1977, Roy Castle did a series of children's programmes for the BBC on musicals, two of which particularly stuck with me: Salad Days, which had had a revival the previous year, and the last in the series, The History of Mr Polly. At the end of each episode, which was a synopsis of the plot with a few of the songs being performed, Roy Castle would tell us the production history of each musical's performances, except that in the case of Mr Polly, "There's only been one". Rather than in the West End, this was at the newly opened Churchill Theatre in Bromley, H.G. Wells' home town, starring Roy Castle himself in the title role and with some impressive firepower - script by (Lord) Ted Willis, music co-written by Ivor Slaney who did most of the Double Deckers music, directed by veteran TV director Wallace Douglas. But I don't think any of it survives beyond the printed programme leaflet, and apart from its being Wells' birthplace, Bromley, with all due respect, is an odd location for a stage show starring Roy Castle, then at the height of his powers.

Anyway, forty-four years on, I got the original novel. And I must say I was captivated. Very briefly, Mr Polly is a middle-class chap who makes bad choices in terms of career and marriage. At the start of the book he is consumed by frustration at his situation, and we spend the next few chapters exploring how precisely he got to where he is. He determines to burn down his own shop and commit suicide as it falls around him. But that does not go entirely according to plan, and he undergoes an improbable but really delightful redemption. I don't completely recommend it - I think Wells is laughing at his protagonist's pretensions a bit too much for my comfort - but I like this a lot more than Tono-Bungay, which is my only other non-sf Wells so far. ( )

Together with Monte Walsh one of my two absolute favourites - in both cases because, in addition to being brilliantly written, with moments happy and sad, funny and serious, everyday and exceptional, the lives of the main characters in many aspects resemble mine. ( )