More a hagiography than a serious critique
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Reads like a fan-letter - not surprising, given the author is a good friend of the subject - hardly ideal for a biographer. Manages to capture the charm and entertainment value of Boris Johnson, but when portraying the other side - the ambition, egocentrism and affairs, - seeks only to see things from Boris' point of view.
If you like Boris, you'll like this book, but it's not a serious biography (to be fair to Gimson, Johnson hasn't really done anything yet to justify a serious biography) or nearly critical enough
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Amusing
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This book was good in the end. When I started reading it I thought it was going to be horribly sycophantic, and the author's rose-tinted view of his mate. It wasn't, and the analysis seems pretty believable (apart from the Boris being PM bit).
I was attracted to this book because Boris is an entertaining character, but clearly has a serious side. I think he can do well in journalism and politics, but I have a funny suspicion that it could unravel the more senior he becomes. Simply refusing to engage with awkward questions, to me, seems to be a major flaw that people will get tired of.
He's an amusing character, and the world of politics and journalism would be much poorer without him.
Well done to the author for getting something out there, as curiosity is bound to rise over the next year.
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Not really Mr.Nice Guy
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Boris Johnson is an enigma. One watches him on have I Got News For You and wonders is this man for real? Is it all a big act? Andrew Gimson writes well and gives us the answers. He knows this funny eccentric man very well. He shows us a brilliant scholar and journalist, a man who wants to be liked and is admired by many. It also shows an extremely ambitious politician whose one really dominating principle seems to be the promotion of Boris. He has not treated the women in his life with respect nor has he kept promises to others. Could he ever be entrusted with the leadership of his party? I think not. An entertaining informative book about an amazing man.
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Excellent fun
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Highly entertaining biography written in sprightly style and full of affection (sometimes too much) for its subject. I very much doubt Boris will ever become PM as the author thinks, but he deserves to achieve high office. This book made me realise how intelligent Boris actually is - he really is a bright spark beneath that bluster and shock of blond hair. He sounds like the perfect boss too.
Definitely worth reading, very enjoyable.
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Boo To Grown-Ups
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Boris Johnson; should be a perfectly risible proposition and yet isn't. In an age disproportionately populated with slithering spin-merchants, Johnson cuts a peculiarly refreshing figure (for a Tory). He is both iconoclastic and yet establishmental, erudite yet slipshod, candid yet elusive. Perhaps the fact that he appears so bored with everything underlies his appeal: he is a talented politician masquerading as a buffoon, and when surface tends to be of predominant concern for the current opposition, he is a reminder of what people, beyond the hubris and the makeover, are really after - flawed genius and an upper class twit with a feel for everyman.
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