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A review by jenbsbooks
The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman by Julietta Henderson
funny
inspiring
4.75
I can't remember for sure if I heard about this book in a FB group. I found a hard copy at a library sale, and saw the good reviews, so I figured I'd give it a go. I really liked this.
My main complaint is about the narration in the audio version - narrated by Katherine Parkinson (Jen, in the TV series IT Crowd, which is a family favorite). She does a good job, BUT, this is 1st person from two different perspectives, a mother and her 12-year old son. Even though the narration switched up the voice slightly, I needed a BOY to narrate the part of the young boy. Not Jen from IT Crowd. I feel like perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I'd read it on my own, just because of that.
The POV was listed at the start of each chapter ... Sadie or Norman. I wish it had also been noted in the Table of Contents (it didn't alternate exactly every other chapter, sometimes we'd get a few Sadie chapters in a row, a few Norman chapters in a row). Of course, the physical copy doesn't even have a TOC at all (par for the course for most physical books these days. A TOC with the POV WOULD be be helpful in my opinion).
Despite my irks with the narration and TOC ... this story touched me. Very easy, conversational tone. From the blurb, it's indicated (and early on in the text, although still a bit obscure at the beginning) that the young boy Norman's best friend Jax died recently. Both mother and son are still struggling with the aftermath. Norman and Jax had planned to perform a comedy show ... can that still happen now, with Norman alone?
That's one part of the storyline. Then, there's a bit of a Mamma Mia premise. Who is Norman's father? It could be one of four different men ...
Then, like some of the books out there like [book:Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting|59836844] or [book:Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers|61827543], we have a character (older in those examples) who ends up making a collection of friends from all walks of life. Here, that circles around Norman and his mom. Quite a few adventures.
I had this in all three formats, but pretty much went with the audio (as I have so much more ear time than eye time). I likely would have made some notes/highlights had I been reading on my own. There would be several items for discussion if this were to be used as a bookclub selection (although no questions were included, I really love when they are).
I really liked the "Notes for Next Year's Fringe" ... an unlabeled epilogue.
This had some proFanity (x12) which might keep me from recommending it to some people, but if that's not an issue, it is one I give a thumbs up - give it a go!
My main complaint is about the narration in the audio version - narrated by Katherine Parkinson (Jen, in the TV series IT Crowd, which is a family favorite). She does a good job, BUT, this is 1st person from two different perspectives, a mother and her 12-year old son. Even though the narration switched up the voice slightly, I needed a BOY to narrate the part of the young boy. Not Jen from IT Crowd. I feel like perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I'd read it on my own, just because of that.
The POV was listed at the start of each chapter ... Sadie or Norman. I wish it had also been noted in the Table of Contents (it didn't alternate exactly every other chapter, sometimes we'd get a few Sadie chapters in a row, a few Norman chapters in a row). Of course, the physical copy doesn't even have a TOC at all (par for the course for most physical books these days. A TOC with the POV WOULD be be helpful in my opinion).
Despite my irks with the narration and TOC ... this story touched me. Very easy, conversational tone. From the blurb, it's indicated (and early on in the text, although still a bit obscure at the beginning) that the young boy Norman's best friend Jax died recently. Both mother and son are still struggling with the aftermath. Norman and Jax had planned to perform a comedy show ... can that still happen now, with Norman alone?
That's one part of the storyline. Then, there's a bit of a Mamma Mia premise. Who is Norman's father? It could be one of four different men ...
Then, like some of the books out there like [book:Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting|59836844] or [book:Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers|61827543], we have a character (older in those examples) who ends up making a collection of friends from all walks of life. Here, that circles around Norman and his mom. Quite a few adventures.
I had this in all three formats, but pretty much went with the audio (as I have so much more ear time than eye time). I likely would have made some notes/highlights had I been reading on my own. There would be several items for discussion if this were to be used as a bookclub selection (although no questions were included, I really love when they are).
I really liked the "Notes for Next Year's Fringe" ... an unlabeled epilogue.
This had some proFanity (x12) which might keep me from recommending it to some people, but if that's not an issue, it is one I give a thumbs up - give it a go!