I chose this book on its reputation as being humorous. Reading this made me think long and hard about the definition of humour because I found it mostly unfunny.
Is the describing, or setting up, of a slapstick scene or pratfall funny in itself?
Is it the denouement, or your appreciation that this is all going to end badly ... the joke?
I concluded that what I find funny is the use of words in unexpected combinations or situations; Jane Austen being the high priestess of such art. This book offers but few such examples such as the thoughts of a thoroughly evil horse: “… a gelding who had never quite reconciled himself to a lifetime of celibacy …”, I thought hilarious. The Agnes character-transformation form dowdy to vamp, however was a delight.
The edition I read had an Afterword by Matteo Codignola. So it was *camp* humour; explains everything; of course (not).