Not funny and painful
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I love Adrian Mole and remember laughing to tears when reading his adventures (especially the Weapons of Mass Destruction) but this book left me cold and I even had to stop reading after 50 pages as I felt I was wasting my time.
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Dated - but very funny!
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I know this book was published years ago, but somehow I just never got around to reading it until now.
It is 1992, a Republican Government has got into power in Britain and The Queen and her family are ordered out of Buckingham Palace and forced to move onto one of the worst council estates in the Midlands.
This is such a funny read and although dated, it is still pretty relevant today - and shows the holes in our society. There is no major plot line and to be honest not a lot does happen in the book, but the observations of the Royals, the council estate dwellers and how they live together is fabulous. There are some really moving parts, some very funny parts and in places, it really makes you consider our society.
Prince Charles is on the run, wearing a shell suit and sporting a pony tail. Princess Anne is riding up and down the council estate on a gypsy horse that she keeps in a bright pink stable, Prince Phillip is totally crackers and William and Harry are fully-fledged hoodies.
A really witty, clever and poignant read - ideal for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
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How very funny! NOT!
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All those rave reviews here must have been written by the members of Sue Townsend's family and people from her publisher's office.
I'm really sorry, but there is nothing funny about this book. It's not `screamingly comical' as one reviewer put it. It's not even interesting as a story. It takes the writer 60 pages to convince us that the royals don't know how to make a cup of tea, boil water or shave. The story gets bogged down in details like this, moving in no direction whatsoever.
I gave up reading at that point. I'm really not interested in what's gonna happen to all those dull characters. And there are too many of them. All the royals take the front position and you don't know who to identify with, especially when they are two-dimensional cartoon characters.
Sue doesn't know how to write a joke or a scene gag because she doesn't include a single one. Certainly, she's never heard of a punchline. None of the chapters end with one, not even with a cliff hanger. Sometimes we get a feeble conclusion.
Frankly, the whole point of the book seems to be that if you take the royal family out of the palace, they are gonna be a bit clumsy. How very hilarious!
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surprisingly compassionate
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A funny and touchingly human portrait of the Royal Family in exile on a Midlands council estate. It says a lot about Britain in the 1990s without being heavy-handed about it. I loved Prince Charles' pony tail and shell suit.
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Wow
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Wow. That is an amazing book. So Funny!!!!!!!!!! One of my favourite books I have ever read. I don't normally read funny books but i got this for Christmas and read it and I am so pleased I read it. I am going to read her other books. Sue Townsend is a guniess!!!
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