Mr Polly is a sparkier Kipps- a clever, word-drunk, little man who discovers- just before it's too late- that "if the world does not please you, you can change it." In many ways Polly anticipates the Chaplin persona- with the difference that the menace and slapstick violence of his world are as frightening as they're funny. When nasty Uncle Jim says "I'll kick you ugly" he absolutely means it.. This was Wells's favourite among his books- a comic romp with soul- and if not absolutely his masterpiece (that has to be Tono-Bungay) a book that displays him at the very top of his form.
