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Funny Girl: A Novel
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Funny Girl: A Novel
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Funny Girl: A Novel
Audiobook10 hours

Funny Girl: A Novel

Written by Nick Hornby

Narrated by Emma Fielding

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

A brilliant novel from the bestselling author of High FidelityAbout a Boy, and A Long Way Down.

Set in 1960's London, Funny Girl is a lively account of the adventures of the intrepid young Sophie Straw as she navigates her transformation from provincial ingénue to television starlet amid a constellation of delightful characters. Insightful and humorous, Nick Hornby's latest does what he does best: endears us to a cast of characters who are funny if flawed, and forces us to examine ourselves in the process.

Editor's Note

Cultural junkies…

A celebration of entertainment — both of those who entertain, and of those who are entertained. It’s definitely a pleasure, but don’t call it a guilty one.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 3, 2015
ISBN9780698195653
Unavailable
Funny Girl: A Novel
Author

Nick Hornby

Nick Hornby (Maidenhead, 1957), licenciado por la Universidad de Cambridge, ha ejercido de profesor, periodista y guionista. En Anagrama se recuperaron sus tres extraordinarios primeros libros, Fiebre en las gradas: «Memorable» (José Martí Gómez, La Vanguardia); Alta fidelidad: «Con una importancia equiparable a lo que representaron para la juventud de su tiempo El guardián entre el centeno, de J. D. Salinger, o En el camino, de Jack Kerouac» (Enrique Blanc, Reforma); y Un gran chico: «Una lectura sumamente recomendable; un tipo que escribe de maravilla» (Jorge Casanova, La Voz de Galicia). Luego se ha ido publicando su obra posterior: Cómo ser buenos: «Un clásico de la literatura cómica. El humor y la mordacidad con los que Hornby se enfrenta a la historia no están reñidos con la penetración psicológica y la profundidad» (Ignacio Martínez de Pisón); 31 canciones: «Muy inteligente y ligero en el mejor sentido. Encantador también, ya lo creo» (Francisco Casavella); En picado: «Brillante novela coral de un autor de libros tan brillantes como modernos» (Mercedes Monmany, ABC); Todo por una chica: «Nick Hornby es capaz de levantar una de sus fábulas urbanas contemporáneas y de adornarla con la principal virtud de su literatura: el encanto» (Pablo Martínez Zarracina, El Norte de Castilla); Juliet, desnuda: «Dulce y amarga a la vez, muestra al mejor Hornby» (Amelia Castilla, El País); Funny Girl: «Fina, mordaz e inteligente... Una auténtica delicia» (Fran G. Matute, El Mundo), y Alguien como tú: «Encuentra su fuerza narrativa en la capacidad comunicativa de Hornby, en la calidez y la verdad con que retrata situaciones que todos hemos vivido o podríamos vivir» (Sergi Sánchez, El Periódico).

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Reviews for Funny Girl

Rating: 3.581846547619047 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

336 ratings33 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this so much. Admittedly, the early days of television in the UK is not something I know much about; also, I know very little about the American days as well. But what I do know about is the subject matter from the song "As Time Goes By:" The fundamental story, a fight for love and glory, a case of do or die..." and in this regard, this novel shines! Set in the swinging London of the mid-60's, there is added enjoyment when real life luminaries -- the Yardbirds Keith Relf, Lucille Ball, Harold Wilson, etc -- walk on to the pages...this would be a great summer read! (written on the first day of summer!).
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Disappointing for Hornby, unfortunately.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    For more reviews, gifs, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.I’d totally written Nick Hornby off in high school. See I made the mistake of going to see About a Boy in theaters when it came out. I think I was a freshman at that point. The movie might have been good, I’m not sure, but what I know definitively is that it was one of the most awkward films I’d ever seen. I spent the whole movie with my knees tucked up in front of me, trying to hide my face in horror. As an awkward teenager, watching other people be that level of awkward was physically painful. As a result, I determined that Nick Hornby’s writing probably wasn’t for me, mostly because thinking of him made me cringe in remembered awkwardness. In hindsight, that was rather silly. I finally decided it was time to give Hornby a shot, because British narrator, and it turns out that he’s rather talented, as people have been telling me all along.Barbara from Blackpool has always dreamed of being a comedienne. She wants to be on the telly and make people laugh like Lucille Ball did. What really puts the fire under her ass to get moving is her parents trying to convince her to stay by entering her in a beauty pageant. The moment she wins Miss Blackpool is the moment she realizes that she absolutely has to get out, turns over her sash and crown, and heads to London to pursue her dreams.In London, she changes her name to Sophie because Barbara is just too Blackpool. Though she suffers some setbacks, she gets incredibly lucky and finds her big break. She does so by telling off the writers about their shitty script for a potential new comedy, Married Bliss?. The BBC is against the casting of an unknown, but the writers and producer push for her so hard that they get to try the comedy against an audience for one episode, which turns out to be a major hit.I loved the view into British television in the 1960s, and I adored that the lens through which it was viewed was of a woman who dreams of being funny. Sophie’s gorgeous, and she loves that too, but it’s her ability to make people laugh that she’s really proud of. It’s also just so wonderful that she finds her niche, happens across the people who will appreciate her input and not hate her for it. With Clive, Bill, Tony, and Dennis, they formed the perfect team, accepting and supportive.Funny Girl tracks Sophie through everything in her life to do with the show, which ends up being titled Barbara (and Jim). Though most of the book is set during the run of the show, four long seasons (as opposed to the typical six episode seasons most BBC shows get), it ends with Sophie in her old age, as the cast comes together for a final reunion. There’s something a bit distancing about the overview, but in terms of the television process it’s fascinating.The team starts out inspired, excited, and innovative, but as the years pass unique ideas are harder to come by. No one will be surprised that I was thrilled the addition of baby into Barbara (and Jim) ended up being the first of many signs the show was going downhill. Babies might improve some actual people’s lives, but they do not make for good television in my opinion. Everything has its season and eventually Barbara (and Jim)‘s came to an end.The characters are fantastic. Sophie obviously was a delight, and, though Clive’s a bit of a shit, I really liked the way their relationship was handled. Sophie engages in guilt-free casual sex and is very much empowered in the choosing of her sexual partners, which I adore. Bill and Tony’s partnership gave me a lot of feels. Both are gay men, who took two very different paths with their lives, in a society that didn’t yet accept gay people. Dennis is so charmingly naive in a lot of ways, and I just want to pat him on the head.As someone who very much enjoys BBC comedies and television/film history, I thought Funny Girl was fantastic. I enjoyed the look into that world, and the characters and circumstances Hornby chose to do it. More Hornby novels are in my future.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I hadn't read a Hornby novel for a decade. I have kept up with his screenplays and his columns in The Believer, but I thought I was done with his novels. This was light and breezy with an extended and unnecessary coda, but it was also comfortingly small-screen both literally and figuratively.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Nick Hornby is one of those authors whose new books automatically get fast-tracked through my to-read list. And this one came out and I didn't realize it even existed for months! So it's like a surprise bonus Hornby book.

    This one really lands right in my wheelhouse, with the interesting, multi-faceted young woman protagonist, characters who are writers and actors, multiple narrators, very specific and therefore believable and resonant characters, and oh yes the SWINGING LONDON 1960s SETTING.

    Basically, it's great. I read it as an audiobook, and the narration is also lovely. Super recommend!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a deceptively simple novel in which there is a great deal of dialogue, which is fitting since scriptwriting is a major focus of the book. Slowly but surely your emotions are engaged by developments and by the end, you feel like you know the characters and care about their lives. Like life, some characters find success easy to attain while others struggle their entire lives without ever being successful (on their terms). In that way, the characters are as neurotic and self-defeating as people you know in the real world. Also important is the context: most of the action takes place in London in the mid-60s, when that city was the center of the creative world. However, "swinging London" passes many of these characters by; they typify more, the older values in Britain that are under attack by the counterculture. The lack of a strong narrative hurts the book, as does repetitiveness. But ultimately there are far more positives than negatives in this work and it becomes an enjoyable and memorable read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Maybe this book was based on the comedy of "Seinfeld" 'cause a whole lot of nothing was going on here. I kept waiting for the punchline, a gimmick, the meaning of it all, but alas nada. Hornby, you got a lot of 'splainin' to do!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Another reviewer described this book as "fictionalised biography", but I cannot agree with that given that it is to a large extent written in dialogue and I have never come across a biography written that way. To me it reads almost, but not quite as a novelised film or TV script, albeit one that would never actually get made. Hornsby has in the past made me laugh, cry, rage in indignation; but this book did none of these. It did make me smile a few times; and it was very easy to read, but in the end I was disappointed.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very enjoyable. Could easily believe any of these people truly existed. Just a good all round read
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    If this had been the first Nick Hornby novel I ever read, it would probably the last. Between a surprisingly boring plot and rather lifeless characters (despite their work in the early days of British television), this one just never had much of a chance. Disappointing.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A young woman breaks into TV and transforms her life as she changes others. I am not sure I figured out what the author was intending to do with this plot, but it had a few good moments.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    AS a teen I was more likely to prefer Valley of the Dolls for an inside look at modern adult career woman's life. Now it seems melodramatic. This seems rather more spot on. Charming and warm, but funny, and not coy.

    Library copy
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Entertaining quick read about early 1960's television. Young beauty queen from Blackpool wants nothing more than to be Lucille Ball. Leaving all behind, she heads to London where she quickly entrances a pair of writers, director and handsome lead casting a new sitcom. They quickly abandon the depressingly prosaic comedy and develop a sitcom based upon her and her spunky attitude. While this premise seems a little too twee, the comedy itself keeps one engaged. The last portion jumps ahead many decades, which some have found offputting. I liked it and felt it had the right amount of closure. My audiobook was nicely narrated by Emma Freud. Those who take the BBC and television seriously may quibble. The rest of us can just enjoy it as the delicious little send up it is.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There is always something special in a book by Nick Hornsby. I have enjoyed his previous books and was thrilled to have the chance to read his latest, "Funny Girl". Once again, I was amazed at his ability to create a great story around some amazing characters. It is a funny and captivating story about some young, talented but insecure Englanders working at the BBC in the 60's who put together a hit comedy television series. Their chemistry is intoxicating and each of them brings something special to their craft and the story. Before I knew it, I was hooked and really cared about what was happening to these people. I thought that the story portrayed the times and the setting very well. Mr. Hornsby has a real talent for making you feel at home with his characters. They are believable but not without flaws. They become friends, and I often felt like I was there with them. Clearly Barbara, who becomes Sophie, is the star of the TV series as well as the book. She brings life to the story and is the funny girl of the title. The book begins as she wins a beauty pageant in her small northern England town. Her sights are on London though, and she passes on the win to make the move to the city. Her idol is Lucille Ball, and she wants to make people laugh. Events bring about opportunities for her, but much of her success comes from her almost naive and brash belief in her dreams. The years bring change and success is not always easy, but Sophie remains true to her choices and those who are a part of her life.I would recommend "Funny Girl" to anyone who has enjoyed Mr. Hornsby's previous books or wants to read a book that will take them into a world that is fun and entertaining. Many thanks to Shelf Awareness, NetGalley, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    3-3.25 StarsThis novel begins well. The characters are likeable and few of them have depth. I enjoyed Tony and June's part of the storyline the most, but all the characters had an interesting scene or two. The writing flows easily, but somewhere in the middle, the story slows down. This was my first Nick Hornby read, but it left me feeling unsatisfied. Penguin First to Read Galley
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I never particularly wanted to go back to the 1960's, but did so, happily and willingly, through Nick Hornby's latest book Funny Girl. Don't be confused by the title -- it has nothing to do with Fanny Brice, but everything to do with Barbara, a young woman from Blackpool, who wants to be the next Lucille Ball. Through a series of somewhat improbable events, which start with a beauty pageant in Blackpool, and a name change to Sophie Straw (a last name that her agent chooses, because she's so pretty every man really wants to roll in the hay with her), Barbara gets a starring role in a BBC series. The cast of characters of the novel, most of whom are involved in the series production, writing, or acting, have Hornby's typical depth and interest. Though the book covers a span of 50 years, the characters, their insights, and actions, remain fresh. It also provided a nice glimpse into the BBC of the past, and a contrast to today's entertainment industry. Hornby also did a nice job of interweaving fiction with reality, making me wish I could see Sophie in action, in person.I received a copy of this book via Penguin's First to Read program. Though I had some difficulty getting this to load on my e-reader, and had to read on the laptop, it still was worth it! Thank you very much.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I tend to avoid Nick Hornby novels out of a (perhaps misplaced) aversion to chick-lit. But having read several quite heavy and difficult to follow novels recently, I thought this might provide some light relief. Unfortunately it didn't, though it didn't read like chick-lit. It read as though the author had spent an inordinate amount of time researching the making of sitcoms in the 1960s and wasn't prepared to waste one iota of it. We were subjected to pages and pages of analysis of this storyline or that storyline, often in the form of waspish bickering between the show's two gay scriptwriters which was probably supposed to be sparkling entertainment but which I mostly found dull as ditchwater. The novel's central character Sophie, Northern beauty queen who wants to be Britain's answer to Lucille Ball, seems to have it too easy. The section where she is living in a grotty flat with a dull flatmate and reduced to trying to seduce married men in order to watch their televisions, is all too brief. She enjoys startling luck in being cast in the starring role of a brand new sitcom (errr didn't she need an Equity card?), and from there things just go from good to better. Even when things go mildly wrong, it turns out our Sophie isn't that bothered, and with a shrug of her Northern shoulders she just marches on. A book of this length would seem to imply some twists and turns to the protagonist's fortunes, but there are none. It's a nonstop upward spiral.Then, as the book reaches its end, events are catapulted fifty or so years forward into the present day, and the characters take a look back. For me, the biographies provided at the start of that final section would have been enough to round the book off, but instead it hung around for another thirty pages of tedium - I assume this was to underline the fact that one of the major points of the book was the development of attitudes to sexuality over time (and obviously in the present day we have gay marriage so it rounded it off nicely). It couldn't round itself up quickly enough for me - I was practically speed-reading by the end. Now I have a whole new reason to avoid Nick Hornby novels.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Fun but unremarkable - and it does labour its points. Funny Girl is at its best when it feels like one of those BBC docudramas about how classic TV series were made.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Funny Girl is about an aspiring actress, Sophie Straw, who moves to London in the 1960s and finds herself the star of a BBC comedy series. We follow her, her co-star, and the writers and producers through the show's successful run. Sophie is a winning character and Hornby's humor comes through. This isn't my favorite of Hornby's books. (It's hard to beat Juliet Naked.) But it was an enjoyable audio book.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Well, I did buy this novel for half price from Tesco's, so I can't really complain, but I'm not sure where the punchy cover reviews like 'Simply unputdownable' and 'Hilarious' came from. For a story about a comedy actress from the 1960s, I didn't find any of the dialogue very funny, and I could indeed put the book down (mostly after falling asleep and hitting myself in the face with it). The first few chapters, introducing Barbara Parker, Miss Blackpool 1964 (for all of five minutes), were promising. But when Barbara changed her name to Sophie Straw, walked into her dream job of a starring role in a new Comedy Playhouse episode called Wedded Bliss and set about rewriting the thing because everybody instantly fell in love with her, then the rot started to set in. Male authors who can write convincing female characters are few and far between, and I think Nick Hornby is far too much of a 'lad lit' writer to even try. Sophie is a pneumatic blonde, superficially attractive to every man she meets, but also supposedly hilarious and confident to make female readers fall for her too - well, sorry, but she just got on my wick. This line sums the character up perfectly: 'She hasn't got any problems. That's what's so great about her. Everyone loves Sophie'. Plus, the old 'provincial lass makes good in Swinging London' is so weathered from constant overuse in family sagas that the gimmick should now only be employed in parodies. I would love to believe that Nick Hornby was being ironic throughout - referring to reality TV and lavatory humour, having his politically correct characters talk about political correctness - but I suspect not. Barbara dumps her beauty queen crown and her dad in Blackpool, sets off for the capital, becomes the new Lucille Ball after two weeks working on a cosmetics counter, achieves overnight success in a show that does not sound remotely funny, has flings with various actors before discovering Mr Right - then cut to the modern day, after a cutesy series of 'biographies'. Nothing happens and nothing is believable. Perhaps those who work in the media - or used to work in 'light entertainment' - will find Sophie's story 'highly entertaining', but I just wanted one character I could care about in and amongst all the clever insider humour. Bill and Tony, the writers based on Galton and Simpson who wrote Steptoe and Son, came close, but Sophie was still hogging too much of the limelight for them to gain equal billing.And oh, the 'humour'. Readers who go for the rambling irrelevancies of Hitchhiker's Guide might have to put down this unputdownable book to compose themselves, but otherwise the witticisms are mostly along the lines of: 'Tony and Bill used to be two different shades of chalk. Now Tony was turning into a variety of cheese. It wasn't a strong cheese, admittedly - he was probably closer in flavour to a cheese spread than to a seeping blue French thing riddled with maggots'. Huh, yeah. Era authentic, perhaps, but I'm just glad that comedy has moved on.A great sense of the sixties, bar the 'political correctness', but a less than 'hilarious' attempt at comic writing. And the illustrations of Sabrina, Galton and Simpson, Tom Sloan, Till Death Us Do Part, Harold Wilson and various mocked-up scripts and book covers took up space that would otherwise have required further dialogue, but really served no other useful purpose (bar saving me from Wiki'ing Sabrina). Not my bag.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    After reading far too many serious books of late, I truly enjoyed this. It's about Barbara from northern England who moves to London in the early 1960s to seek her fame and fortune in the entertainment industry. Her idol is Lucille Ball. She lands the star role in a new TV sit com called Barbara and Jim and changes her name to Sophie Straw The series is a huge hit and runs for four years. The story is funny because of the dialogue, the circumstances and the characters. I roared with laughter at the descriptions of the BBC types who see themselves as uber intellectuals. Nice ending forty years on when the group gets back together for a stage play.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    While I enjoyed this book, and especially Emma Fielding's narration of it, Hornby doesn't provide much of a story here. Barbara Parker, the beauty of Blackpool, forfeits her beauty queen crown and heads to London to pursue a career in 1960s BBC comedy television. Renamed 'Sophie Straw' by her agent, her unaffected honesty charms two disenchanted writers and a timid director during her first audition into rewriting a TV script just for her. 'Barbara (and Jim)' becomes a hit, due largely to Sophie's Lucille Ball-like abilities in wringing humor out of every word and situation. Hornby focuses less on what makes Sophie funny and more on what success does to ordinary people, including the writing duo, Tony and Bill, who struggle with their diverging career goals. The plot meanders through Sophie's career with a rather large jump toward the end. Don't expect a gripping plot, startling revelations, or in-depth character development. Hornby delivers a nice story with a few laughs, accentuated by Emma Fielding in the audiobook.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'm a Nick Hornby fan, and Funny Girl didn't change that fact. This is the story of Barbara/Sophie, who moves to the big city and realizes her dream of becoming a comedic actress. The story revolves around her, her co-star and the writers and director of the BBC sit-com they make.The characters are well developed. The dialogue is smart, often funny, and real. Thoroughly enjoyable read...as always.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Nick Hornby is one of my favorite authors. Many people know hime through "High Fidelity", About a Boy", and "Fever Pitch" which were all made into movies. His books combine very clever dialogue with funny, interesting characters. Funny Girl is set in the 60's and is about a BBC comedy series and the key people in it including the actors, writers, and producers. This book is interesting because it goes to the heart of Nick Hornby's contention(in interviews) that literature should be entertaining and good literature does not have to be difficult. Good writing is good writing but it is more fun when it is entertaining and this book is entertaining. It also gets into the social taboos of the mid 60's in England. For those who have not read Nick Hornby before, I would read "How to Be Good" as my first Nick Hornby novel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This felt kind of like a sweet story about the making of a situational comedy in England. It was a funny, smart read that I enjoyed. The characters were interesting and smart. I was expecting it to be more laugh out loud funny but it was a more subdued humor. Glad I finally read a Nick Hornby book and will definitely be giving a few more a try.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What an utterly charming novel this is. It's full of Nick Hornby's trademark combination of humor and deep human insight. The main character here is Sophie, a gorgeous 21-year-old blonde who--upon being named Miss Blackpool 1964--promptly rejects the crown and moves to London to try to make it as a comedienne. She succeeds beyond her wildest dreams, though she discovers that her real dreams are very different from what she imagined.In addition to a page-turning plot, _Funny Girl_ also delivers an intriguing history of England in the mid-60s, when it was emerging from the chrysalis of post-war austerity to become the center of cultural cool. Trouble is, the metamorphosis is happening so fast that Sophie and her friends can hardly keep up. Their hit sitcom, which is considered revolutionary when it first aired, is already considered tired and pedestrian by its third season, and the show's writers and actors are caught up in the winds of change. Although it's fiction, the book includes a number of photos of real people and places from the era, and there's some masterful overlapping of the fictional plot with real-life events in places--such as the competition between Sophie's show and the other cutting-edge sitcoms that follow in its wake, such as "Till Death Us Do Part," the BBC show that inspired "All In the Family."Horby works his usual magic with both the characters' interior lives and their relationships with each other. Although there are several romances along the way, the longest and most fraught relationship is between Tony and Bill, the two writers of Sophie's show. There's a present-day postscript at the end that's touching, but seems a little unnecessary--but then, I generally dislike the "where are they now?" ending, even though it seems to be inescapable these days. Favorite passage, describing the reaction of TV producer Dennis to being dragged onto the stage to dance after the West-End premiere of the musical "Hair": ""Perhaps he would wake up the next morning realizing that he'd made an utter ass of himself, but there were worse animals than the ass. And in London you saw asses wandering around everywhere. Nobody seemed to mind, much. Dennis had spent an awful lot of time not making an ass of himself, and he had nothing to show for it." :-)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I found this book to be pretty light-hearted. It's about a young girl in the early 60's in London, trying to make it as a comedienne, like her hero, Lucy Ball. Sophie Straw is actually quite funny and clever, it's just that it takes a while for people to see past her physical beauty. (Some reviewers of this book have found that to be unbelievable and even annoying, but I could understand how it would be frustrating to be intelligent AND blessed with beauty. Wanting to be appreciated for one's intellect is not a bad thing, in my opinion.) Sophie finds some success after stumbling upon a writing team working with a BBC producer and a voice actor who have all worked together before. They end up having a few years of memorable work together, and the majority of the book is spent going over those years. This is definitely light reading, nothing heavy, not too complex, definitely nothing dark or daring. But sometimes I appreciate light read. It wasn't quite what I would consider *fluff*. And the reader was fabulous, which helped!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Enjoyed this funny and fun-spirited tale about the life of a girl who wants more than just ordinary. Hornby does not disappoint.

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    ?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Funny Girl is a light, fun read about the production of a BBC comedy in the sixties. The focus is on the lives of the writers, producer, and actors of this fictional show: Barbara (and Jim). Very few scenes from the show are described, reminding me of the structure of the popular TV show 30 Rock. The main character in the novel is an actress named Barbara whose agent convinces her to change her name to Sophie and is then cast to play a character named Barbara. This name shift seems to tie in with the way the TV actors begin to confuse the lives of their characters with their own, off camera lives. When I first saw the name of this novel and discovered it is about an actress named Barbara, I thought it would be about Barbara Streisand. It's not, unless there are some additional parallels I didn't catch. Although Funny Girl is a light read, it touches on some serious subjects. Here's a quote from the wife of one of the writers, a bisexual man who is having some issues with his decision to lead a heterosexual life:“It's funny, sex,” she said. “It's a little thing, like a glass of water is a little thing, or something that falls off a car and only costs a couple of bob to replace. It's only a little thing, but nothing works without it.” One of the subplots of this novel is about the definition of success, specifically the difference between fame and serious art. I enjoyed Hornby's opinion on this subject and I agree with him, mostly.However, it is the characters that I enjoyed the most. Barbara/Sophie thinks in a simple way that makes a great deal of sense. I loved that about her and I loved her relationships with her family and with her coworkers.Steve Lindahl – author of Motherless Soul and White Horse Regressions