Never before has the time-worn critic's trope "Show, don't tell" been more utterly ignored than by Nick Hornby and his ambitious, yet thoroughly lackluster (and curiously unfunny) novel about British televised comedy in the 1960's-'70s, Funny Girl.I admire Hornby's vision here; his drive to present something fresh and new. His recounting the meteoric rise of fame and fortune of "I Love Lucy" worshipping, aspiring starlet from Blackpool, Barbara Parker, as she escapes her mundane life at home to [...]

Speaking at a college campus a few years ago, I joked about feeling like Lucy in the chocolate factory, and an undergraduate asked me when Lucy Hale worked in a chocolate factory. It was one of those moments when you suddenly picture yourself stooped and holding an ear trumpet.As a child, I watched the black-and-white reruns of “I Love Lucy” till I knew every frame. Vitameatavegamin, the grape-stomping brawl, the expanding bread loaf — are any family memories more vivid than those immortal [...]

Being funny is a serious business, and in his latest novel Nick Hornby gets to demonstrate that making people laugh is just as valid and fullfilling a life choice as curing diseases or educating the masses or studying history, philosophy, economics. I’m mentioning these fields because the novel is about the BBC as a national institution that spends money from taxes on creating educative programs, and some people grumble about expenses on trivial, even offensively vulgar pursuits. The key passa [...]

I'm such a big fan of Nick Hornby and this book is such a disappointment. I'd almost prefer not to provide a review. I have looked forward to this book for months now and received it from Penguin's First to Read. Perhaps the problem is with the narrator providing such distance from the characters that ultimately none of them are either believable or likable. Hornby has done so well in earlier works with believable characters that become likable in spite of their faults. In this book, it was all [...]

How he does it, I don’t know, but Nick Hornby creates interesting characters and turns them into human beings we actually care about. In Funny Girl, he does it while successfully evoking a whole era – early sixties London on the cusp of change, from a dour post-war Britain to a world where anything is possible for those with youth and talent on their side. It’s no coincidence that The Beatles were on my iPod throughout this past week.In Nick Hornby novels, it’s always the humanity that s [...]

You know how there's that cliche question of "If you could have dinner with anyone at all, dead or alive, who would you choose?" and then your answer is supposed to establish a whole bunch of things about who you are or your compatibility with someone or something? Well, my fantasy dinner guest has been Nick Hornby for as long as I can remember. Of course, if we're allowed to choose fictional people for this question then I might have to choose The Doctor, but it might be best not to go there As [...]

“What was he doing with her? How on earth could he love her? But he did. Or, at least, she made him feel sick, sad and distracted. Perhaps there was another way of describing that unique and useless combination of feelings, but ‘love’ would have to do for now”Funny Girl is the sixth full-length novel by British author, Nick Hornby. Set, for the most part, in the mid-to-late 1960s, Hornby’s latest novel gives the reader an intimate look at the making of a TV comedy series. His TV show, [...]

Meant to be an easy, breezy, affectionate nod to the 60's - but I found it bland. Like creme brulee without the sugar topping - just no snap to it. I couldn't wait to be finished. Sorry, Nick Hornby fans - think this one is a bit of a miss.

High Fidelity is one of my favorite movies ever so when I saw that Funny Girl was written by the same person I decided to give it a try. This ended up being a meh story for me. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. It just seems that the characters that I had the most interest in weren’t the main character Sophie (formerly Barbara) or else I might have liked it a little more.I don’t have a lot of experience with the sixties but it seems like an unusual time where people didn’t [...]

Funny TitleMaybe the rest of the world is just slow to keep up with Nick Hornby, but if we're not all mistaken, there is already a story out there about a perky young girl crashing the gates of showbiz; and it is also called Funny Girl. Maybe that (stage musical, movie, original cast album, videotape, dvd, karaoke selections etc) didn't quite make it to the UK ? Just wondering.HodgepodgeLet's be honest-- this is an effervescent novel, a patchouli-scented paisley-printed mini-skirted er, 'romp' [...]

Barbara has always had one dream, to be the next Lucille Ball. Moving from Blackpool to London as soon as she possibly can and changing her name to Sophie Straw, she hits the ground running. As luck would have it, an early audition has her in front of one of her favourite radio writing teams who happen to find her charming and her ideas an inspiration. So begins the journey of what will turn into one of Britain's most popular sitcoms and the careers of those behind the scenes.What a disappointme [...]

This book was one that I wished I had stopped reading a quarter of the way through but I kept hoping it would get better. It didn't. The author's characters were so underdeveloped that I truly didn't care what happened to them. This was basically a story about. I found it very boring.

Ich kann nicht glauben, dass ich einem Nick Hornby Buch wirklich 5 Sterne gebe. Ich bin absolut kein Fan von ihmVollständige Rezension folgt eventuell

Out of five Hornby’s books I've read, I found this least interesting. I still like the way he writes, I like the dialogue, I like the characters, the tiny little things that happen and what people say to each other. Reading it was enjoyable and I also liked the idea of writing simultaneously about two realities – the real reality and the reality and life of TV characters. However, the story itself was not as fascinating as the other ones have been. It was simply kind of ordinary, things that [...]

Great book! The nostalgia of the 60's setting, the extremely good writing capturing both the time and the place so well it plays like a movie in your head, the great dialogue-driven humor and the bitter-sweetness showing through are all 5-star ingredients and makes for a great reading experience. The middle of the book, though, stalls severely. Not catastrophic in a short book, but it's there. The story and developments are also very dialogue based and we might have gotten to know the characters [...]

I am a Nick Hornby Believer, get it? If you do, then you will understand why I don't like Funny Girl. It fell flat, as if Hornby has to let the reader in on the joke. Queue the laugh track, the sad musicybe this was intentional as the story depicts the making of an I Love Lucy BBC type sitcom. Hornby's strength is his wit and ability to reveal vulnerabilities and foibles while still allowing us to laugh at ourselves. This didn't happen for me. But, I'm still a believerahI knowd music.Provided by [...]

This was a funny and whimsical story about Barbara, a very beautiful blonde who wants to make people laugh. It's a story about her journey from Blackpool to London - a journey for independence. "Funny Girl" is also about a sitcom in 1960s London because Barbara gets to be the star of this sitcom. We get behind the scenes and hear about her work and her relationship with the other actors, writers and producers who are all very interesting characters! What I loved the most about this book is that [...]

Hornby’s seventh novel is an inside look at 1960s British popular culture, as one young woman tries to make it big in television comedy. Despite the title, this is one of his less humorous novels; it has a more bittersweet, reflective tone overall. For me, Tony’s was the most meaningful and noteworthy story, more so than Sophie’s well-trodden rags-to-riches trajectory. With its focus away from contemporary times, this might not be vintage Hornby, but it is a memorable evocation, neverthele [...]

I am a Nick Hornby fan and have been since I read High Fidelity over a decade ago. But I also admit that his recent work often leaves me cold. I had mixed feelings on How to Be Good and couldn't get past the second chapter of A Long Way Down. I'm happy to report that with Funny Girl Hornby returns to form. This book is more like his former work, including Fever Pitch, High Fidelity, and About a Boy. It's not his peak, but it's delightful and a fun read.While it's set in "London in the Swinging 6 [...]

Barbara Parker is a beautiful Blackpool girl who escapes to London in the 60s hoping to become a comedienne. She adores 'I Love Lucy' and badly wants to get into theatre or TV, however her strong accent is seen as a major problem for the conservative English audiences used to more mellow tones. Changing her name to Sophie Straw she unexpectedly lands a major role in a new TV show where the writers are looking for someone 'different' and her career is launched.Nick Hornby is such a good writer of [...]

What a great book to start off a new year of reading. I love Nick Hornby so I was predisposed to enjoy this book but what's not to like? I love the setting of behind the scenes at the BBC in 1960's London. I love the photos he added to anchor the fictional story in with the real events of that time. Barbara/Sophie was a perfect blend of small town roots and big city aspirations. Hornby shows us the changing values in society as they are reflected back to us in the television shows of that time w [...]

Man, what a disappointment.I'm going to get a little spoilery here, so fair warning if you don't want to know anything about the final scenes.Anyway, Funny Girl. Nick Hornby might be my favorite non-genre author, if not my favorite author outright, so I've been waiting for the United States version of this for a while. Granted, I've been reading a lot of other things while picking away at this, but I almost certainly would have given up on this very quickly had it been written by someone else. I [...]

3.5 stars This is the first Nick Hornby book I've read. I did watch both the movie and the TV series "It's about a Boy" and liked both of them very much so I thought I'd give this a go. It's a funny book but it's not a book that stays with you. It's like eating popcorn for dinner. It's fun but it doesn't really fuel you. I will have to say that it may appeal to people in the UK as they will get more of the references than I did. I didn't know a lot of the shows and some of the famous people they [...]

I love Nick Hornby he is a brilliant quick witted man . I got this book when I attended a meet and greet here where I live. I had not previously read any of his work but I loved the movie An Education that he wrote the screen play for, so I thought it would be fun to attend. As soon as he started talking and telling stories and engaging with us , I knew I was going to love this book and I did. I think the whole point of the Funny Girl was that life isn't always funny and I wished more had been w [...]

Oh dear. Almost everything I love about Nick Hornby is missing from this book. It's not offbeat or funny, I don't care what happens, and it doesn't say much about anything, and what it does say has already been said better by other writers. It feels like he thought, "Hmmmtime to write another book, let's seeI know! I have all these old photos.* I'll just toss them in the air and write a story that fits with how they land."*This book really is illustrated with old photos.

I just saw Wild, which was probably one of my favorite movies of the year, that he wrote. I almost drove 2 hours to see Nick do a reading and to buy this book. This book was my most anticipated read in recent memory. I purchased it in hardback from a brick and mortar retail store. Expectation! The genderless parent of resentment.A fluffy, breezy, easy read. The most fleshed out characters are really the two writers of the fictional tv show in the book. And the BBC in the 60's. The most graphic s [...]

All Barbara wants to do is grow up and be the next Lucille Ball. Fascinated by the world of comedy, she heads to London to pursue fame, fortune and a career in comedy. At first, she struggles to find acting work and toils away at her day job. Then one day, she goes to an audition, ends up charming the producers and helps to co-create a hit British sit-com about a couple of complete opposites who attract and get married.Changing her name to Sophie Straw (ironically, her character on the show is n [...]

A lighthearted romp from Nick Hornby that feels a bit like binging on your favorite sweets. It goes all too quickly and it's lovely at the moment, but it somehow leaves you feeling a bit over-saturated and wanting at the ending. That's not to say that anyone has ever expected to find the meaning of life in a Hornby book, nor should they - he's not that kind of writer, and a reader should know not to go into his works expecting that. I loved Sophie, but everyone else sort of blurred together, and [...]

It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did I loved it. It's the story of a young woman from Blackpool who wins the town beauty title in 1964, but gives it up to go to London and become a comic actress a la her idol, Lucille Ball. She changes her name to Sophie Straw and becomes a great success. She develops relationships with the writers and producer of a BBC comedy show, and the book sails from that point. The book is quite funny at times, but as you read on you discover a serious [...]

Izvini, Hornbi, ali ja stvarno ne mogu da prihvatim da neko toliko tupav kao Sofi/Barbara može da bude ujedno i užasno duhovit (funny girl, jelte) i harizmatičan. Pravih primera njenog smisla za humor u knjizi ni nema, tako da moramo da ti verujemo na reč, zar ne? Kad smo već tu, nije mi jasno ni zašto se knjiga zove Funny girl i time jasno ukazuje na Sofi kao glavnu junakinju, kad ona to nije. Potpuno bleda i neubedljiva, a u romanu ima daleko zanimljivih likova, poput Bila i Tonija (pisa [...]