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linesuponapage's review
3.0
This book was not as good as I just expected. I thought there would be more humor as I love British humor. I guess It just didn't have enough Brit humor for me. Billy sure was a glutton for punishment.
phillipjedwards's review
5.0
I invite you to enter the kingdom of Ambrosia - a fantasy land invented by its beloved President: Billy Fisher, in order to escape from the boring Yorkshire town of Stradhoughton in the 1950's.
Billy is a compulsive liar - no, that's too harsh, he's a compulsive fantasist. Not so much an angry young man, as a feckless one - and this book chronicles the events of one fateful Saturday during which all of Billy's lies begin to catch up with him.
As well as daydreaming the day away in his beloved Ambrosia, he spends most of his time thinking. Billy has two types of thinking: No.1 thinking which is deliberate, and controlled; and No.2 thinking which consists of obsessive speculation about all the what-if's of life, and to be avoided.
"You want to make up your mind what you do want to do" his mother tells him
(how many of us have heard that before!)
Of course, like all lazy sods, what he wants to be is a scriptwriter. And this dream is, supposedly, on the verge of being fulfilled - comedian Danny Boon has written to Billy offering him a job down in London. Yeah, right. The other one's got bells on Billy!
Billy is "just about thraiped wi' Stradhoughton" He tells everyone that he is off to London. But when he tries to resign from his job as an undertaker's clerk - a job he is dying to leave of course, there is a complication: the small matter of some calendars he was supposed to post nine months earlier. Like a lazy postmen hiding mail in his shed because he can't be bothered to do his rounds, Billy has stashed them all under his bed and embezzled the postage money. His hopeless attempts at getting rid of the calendars - by trying to flush them down the loo at work, for example - are comical.
And then there is his love life...
He manages to sabotage his engagement to Barbara (aka "The Witch") by borrowing her engagement ring, supposedly to take it to the jeweller's "to be adjusted", and giving it to his other girlfriend Rita! Oh, and then there's Liz as well...
His habitual embroidery of the truth, has left him tangled in a web of pointless lies. He has told:
- fiancee Barbara that his dad is a sea-captain.
- fiancee Rita that his dad is a cobbler (cobblers is he!)
- fiancee Barbara that he has a budgie called Roger.
- his pal Arthur's mother about his non-existent sister Sheila.
- his own mother that Arthur's mother has a broken leg.
Most of all I love the brilliantly realistic description of a northern working class family of the time, and it is riddled with those wonderfully colourful expressions that punctuated my own childhood, like:-
"Oo hark at Lord Muck!"
"If I come up there you'll know about it!"
"I'll clean shirt him round his bloody earhole!"
{Adapted from a review originally posted on dooyoo.co.uk on May 18th, 2001}
Billy is a compulsive liar - no, that's too harsh, he's a compulsive fantasist. Not so much an angry young man, as a feckless one - and this book chronicles the events of one fateful Saturday during which all of Billy's lies begin to catch up with him.
As well as daydreaming the day away in his beloved Ambrosia, he spends most of his time thinking. Billy has two types of thinking: No.1 thinking which is deliberate, and controlled; and No.2 thinking which consists of obsessive speculation about all the what-if's of life, and to be avoided.
"You want to make up your mind what you do want to do" his mother tells him
(how many of us have heard that before!)
Of course, like all lazy sods, what he wants to be is a scriptwriter. And this dream is, supposedly, on the verge of being fulfilled - comedian Danny Boon has written to Billy offering him a job down in London. Yeah, right. The other one's got bells on Billy!
Billy is "just about thraiped wi' Stradhoughton" He tells everyone that he is off to London. But when he tries to resign from his job as an undertaker's clerk - a job he is dying to leave of course, there is a complication: the small matter of some calendars he was supposed to post nine months earlier. Like a lazy postmen hiding mail in his shed because he can't be bothered to do his rounds, Billy has stashed them all under his bed and embezzled the postage money. His hopeless attempts at getting rid of the calendars - by trying to flush them down the loo at work, for example - are comical.
And then there is his love life...
He manages to sabotage his engagement to Barbara (aka "The Witch") by borrowing her engagement ring, supposedly to take it to the jeweller's "to be adjusted", and giving it to his other girlfriend Rita! Oh, and then there's Liz as well...
His habitual embroidery of the truth, has left him tangled in a web of pointless lies. He has told:
- fiancee Barbara that his dad is a sea-captain.
- fiancee Rita that his dad is a cobbler (cobblers is he!)
- fiancee Barbara that he has a budgie called Roger.
- his pal Arthur's mother about his non-existent sister Sheila.
- his own mother that Arthur's mother has a broken leg.
Most of all I love the brilliantly realistic description of a northern working class family of the time, and it is riddled with those wonderfully colourful expressions that punctuated my own childhood, like:-
"Oo hark at Lord Muck!"
"If I come up there you'll know about it!"
"I'll clean shirt him round his bloody earhole!"
{Adapted from a review originally posted on dooyoo.co.uk on May 18th, 2001}
charsiew21's review
4.0
Waterhouse is great at creating scene and character, and I felt like the book was dying to be made into a movie. Even the dramatic pacing of the writing was very cinematic.
captainyaht's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
cmcrockford's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The ache and heartbreak of the last fifteen pages is just perfect - what a book, warts and all. Wish I'd read this at 19.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Classism
ph1lb's review
3.0
I had looked forward to readng this after watching the tv series and the film many years ago.
The era in which it was written, the dialects and the north of England are familiar to me, although it is a little before my time.
The book was ok but I was a bit disappointed. I think it is better as a film.
The era in which it was written, the dialects and the north of England are familiar to me, although it is a little before my time.
The book was ok but I was a bit disappointed. I think it is better as a film.
pianissimoluce's review
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.75
cynthiak's review against another edition
3.0
There are some funny moments but it is a dark book about disillusioned dreams of advancement and being stuck in one's social condition. The entire book is filled with hopelessness, especially from the reader's point of view at the main character's constant denial of reality and unwillingness to do something about it. It was quite an upsetting read, but well written.
For the girl in the mousy hair, Liz' character portrayal, it gains an extra star.
For the girl in the mousy hair, Liz' character portrayal, it gains an extra star.
mxmarks's review
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kirkw1972's review against another edition
3.0
One of the 1001 books to read before you die. I liked it, it was ok. I won't read it again and I'm a bit unsure where the funny bits of this "comedy" were. Not bad