La meraviglia delle piccole cose

English family life in the key of shrill. Ugh. This book seems to take as its premise that not only are teenagers constantly (and I mean constantly) at a fever pitch of screaming and hating their parents, but also that that emotional lability (screw you, Goodreads, that is too a word) and immaturity Leggi tutto

I had such high expectations for this book and I feel well and truly let down. I appreciate my expectations may have been too high. Dawn's autobiography was so funny and I couldn't put it down and this book was the complete opposite. Strange writing style, bizarre characters and no real story or poi Leggi tutto

I still don't understand how a book can be a 'No1 Besteller' before it has even been published and placed on shelves. There are so many No1 Bestsellers that you would thing people would call it a draw. In any case, I have not clue as to why this book managed to become one of the 'No1's'. It is ridic Leggi tutto

A thoroughly enjoyable novel - fun, witty and entertaining. I thought some of the teenage voices were a tad too much but in general it was a great read.

First thing to say is the title is misleading. It's not even a tiny bit marvellous. I have given it one star for effort, because Dawn French is a comedian who has tried to write a book. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. The story is told through four perspectives, like a series of talking heads. This i Leggi tutto

As a big fan of Dawn French, I wanted to see if her writing was as good as her performances, and in many ways I wasn't disappointed. The story follows certain events in the lives of Mo, who is about to turn 50 and hovering on the edge of an extra-marital affair with a younger man. Her husband whose

Dawn French is one of the very best TV Comedy writers of her generation. I love her TV work to bits. But sadly, transferring her skills to this format just doesn't work. This is the story of...what exactly? Nothing much happens for the first two thirds of the book - mum goes through a mid life crisis Leggi tutto

This book is a terrible match for me. It's squarely and unashamedly aimed at middle aged women, it's full of stereotyped characters and irritating text-speak, has a plot that's largely predictable from the blurb alone, and a "twist" that's both obvious and pointless. And yet... I found it really qui Leggi tutto

I had to read this book in order to review it for a publisher, but I couldn't finish it. I got within 100 pages of the end and I had to shut it and put it out of my mind. I am not usually interested in books in the comedy genre, although I do enjoy human interest stories. Well this book was far from Leggi tutto