Monday, April 13, 2015

Funny Girl by Nick Hornby

Funny GirlFunny Girl by Nick Hornby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Barbara Parker doesn't want to be stuck in Blackpool, England, forever. She doesn't even stay long enough to wear her Miss Blackpool crown--she runs off to London. She's beautiful with a shape to die for so she doesn't stay working in a department store long. An agent snaps her up, but she doesn't work as a model like he wants her to. Instead, she wants to be a funny girl like Lucille Ball and act. Things fall into place for Barbara--she makes it big in a TV comedic sitcom in the 1960's on BBC.

This was an odd Hornby book. I loved High Fidelity and Slam, but this one was just off. The first quarter of the book is great--Barbara is funny and her experiences rising to fame are spot on. But then the plot stagnates just like the TV show Barbara (and Jim). I was bored. I had to force myself to finish the last half of the book, and the way Barbara is suddenly grown up and elderly at the end seemed really forced. I wish the entire book would have been her rise to fame--that was the fascinating part for me, along with her relationship to Dennis.

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