The Further Adventures of Narg...and how fabulous they are!
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If you have read Doonan's 'Wacky Chicks' you'll be familiar with Narg, his lobotomised grandmother. In 'Nasty', Narg is back and in full effect rampaging through the pages and what a joy she is to behold!
In 'Nasty' describes his early years in Reading, his move to London and eventually America. The joy of the book is that it is so camp and over the top that you can't help but smile. Early on, Doonan describes writing this autobiography as like having a 'psychological enema' and he lays even the most embarrassing details open for our enjoyment.
Delights include; Narg (of course); his mother's quest to get bigger and higher hair; the wine making attempts of his father (parsnip wine?? I don't think so); a joyous holiday at 1950's Butlins and Blind Aunt Phyllis's guide dog, Lassie, who guides Phyllis into an open grave.
A pure joy! Camp, delicious and just what the doctor ordered!
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Fabulously Tacky Anecdotes
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I have to admit that I was hoping Simon Doonan's memoirs would be less than fabulous. As a writer myself I have attempted to transcribe some of the more perculiar, psychotic episodes from my daily childhood journals but, as yet, have failed to create a cohesive and entertaining biography of my own. 'Nasty' is an often hilarious, lurid and unexpectedly poignant story about a small-town British boy who spent his life searching for the Beautiful People he found between the pages of glossy magazines and on the cinema screen. This is the kind of book I would have loved to have written myself but I fear that (something I have always suspected about myself) I lack the audacity and off-the-wall creativity that have shaped Mr. Doonan's illusive career and, ironically, transformed him in to one of the Beautiful People he so desperately wanted to meet.
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