Comfort and Joy
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Review
Breathless, colourful, hilarious and honest; the dialogue is sitcom-snappy and the opening scenes in Oxford Street positively Joycean (Wendy Holden Daily Mail )
So kindly and funny and affectionate that you could probably warm your hands on it. Miraculously, this is a feel-good story that manages not to be saccharine. There are a great many good jokes here . . . but concealed amid the fun, like silver coins in a Christmas pudding, is a serious theme. This is a book you could safely give to practically anyone. Snap up plenty of copies to hand around under the tree (Spectator )
I loved Comfort and Joy, a hilarious, bawdy yet touching portrait of Christmas over three years (Jilly Cooper Guardian Books of the Year )
Fabulous. Laugh-out-loud funny, moving and as cuddly as Santa Claus, this is perfect for snuggling up with over the Christmas holidays (Cosmopolitan )
Touching...it will make you laugh, maybe make you cry and keep you reading past bedtime (Lauren Laverne Grazia )
A wickedly funny, painfully honest look at families, festivities and romantic love (Marie Claire )
Tender, tough, schmaltzy, witty and heart-warming all at once. Knight has a great comic touch - there are some wonderfully rude bits and a fantastic rant about the ridiculous expectations piled on 21st-century women to be perfect - and writes with a deceptive lightness. At the heart of this funny, affectionate novel is an acknowledgement that families, like love, come in odd shapes and sizes, and that both matter more than anything (Metro )
Witty enough to make you laugh out loud, but there are moments of real emotion that keep the book from being too light (Psychologies )
A superb ear for dialogue...wonderfully comic (Evening Standard )
Riotously high in laughs and glamour. I defy a festive grump not to be cheered by it (Independent Books of the Year )
Fast-paced and funny (Women & Home )
So kindly and funny and affectionate that you could probably warm your hands on it. Miraculously, this is a feel-good story that manages not to be saccharine. There are a great many good jokes here . . . but concealed amid the fun, like silver coins in a Christmas pudding, is a serious theme. This is a book you could safely give to practically anyone. Snap up plenty of copies to hand around under the tree (Spectator )
I loved Comfort and Joy, a hilarious, bawdy yet touching portrait of Christmas over three years (Jilly Cooper Guardian Books of the Year )
Fabulous. Laugh-out-loud funny, moving and as cuddly as Santa Claus, this is perfect for snuggling up with over the Christmas holidays (Cosmopolitan )
Touching...it will make you laugh, maybe make you cry and keep you reading past bedtime (Lauren Laverne Grazia )
A wickedly funny, painfully honest look at families, festivities and romantic love (Marie Claire )
Tender, tough, schmaltzy, witty and heart-warming all at once. Knight has a great comic touch - there are some wonderfully rude bits and a fantastic rant about the ridiculous expectations piled on 21st-century women to be perfect - and writes with a deceptive lightness. At the heart of this funny, affectionate novel is an acknowledgement that families, like love, come in odd shapes and sizes, and that both matter more than anything (Metro )
Witty enough to make you laugh out loud, but there are moments of real emotion that keep the book from being too light (Psychologies )
A superb ear for dialogue...wonderfully comic (Evening Standard )
Riotously high in laughs and glamour. I defy a festive grump not to be cheered by it (Independent Books of the Year )
Fast-paced and funny (Women & Home )
Review
Fabulous. Laugh-out-loud funny, moving and as cuddly as Santa Claus, this is perfect for snuggling up with over the Christmas holidays Cosmopolitan I loved Comfort and Joy, a hilarious, bawdy yet touching portrait of Christmas over three years -- Jilly Cooper Guardian Books of the Year So kindly and funny and affectionate that you could probably warm your hands on it. Miraculously, this is a feel-good story that manages not to be saccharine. There are a great many good jokes here ... but concealed amid the fun, like silver coins in a Christmas pudding, is a serious theme. This is a book you could safely give to practically anyone. Snap up plenty of copies to hand around under the tree Spectator Touching...it will make you laugh, maybe make you cry and keep you reading past bedtime -- Lauren Laverne Grazia A wickedly funny, painfully honest look at families, festivities and romantic love Marie Claire Witty enough to make you laugh out loud, but there are moments of real emotion that keep the book from being too light Psychologies Tender, tough, schmaltzy, witty and heart-warming all at once. Knight has a great comic touch - there are some wonderfully rude bits and a fantastic rant about the ridiculous expectations piled on 21st-century women to be perfect - and writes with a deceptive lightness. At the heart of this funny, affectionate novel is an acknowledgement that families, like love, come in odd shapes and sizes, and that both matter more than anything Metro A superb ear for dialogue...wonderfully comic Evening Standard Riotously high in laughs and glamour. I defy a festive grump not to be cheered by it Independent Books of the Year Fast-paced and funny Women & Home
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book for two people for Christmas on the back of gushing press reviews and now I've read it I actually feel embarrassed to have inflicted this novel on them. It reads as though it was written over a weekend, and the snobbishness running throughout is quite breathtakingly ugly. Not to mention the tone of self-congratulation - look at me, I have a squillion children (none of whom ever seem to misbehave or do anything child-like) and several ex husbands, all of whom love me, aren't I fabulous? I felt as though I was reading a bad episode of Ab Fab but didn't laugh once.
35 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've always loved India Knight's non-fiction writings - The Thrift Book (you end up spending more but never mind), The Shops, even the diet book where she never mentioned that she smoked, but never mind that either, her Sunday Times columns. But this book, which began well and promised much, quickly degenerated into a string of opinion-columns strung together. Thing is, I like reading her opinions so this was fine for me, for a while. Then I realized what different worlds we inhabit. I'm not talking about the amicable ex-husbands all coming for Christmas (don't they have commitments too? once again never mind) - that's all lovely - but the presentation of the creepily cold mother Kate as the norm and the warm and lovable mother-in-law Pat as the deviation was not so much offensive as baffling. And as for the two sisters, who seemed to be modelled on Jassy and Victoria in Love in a Cold Climate, I wouldn't give their silliness house room.
There are some lovely descriptions in the book. India Knight can certainly write. What a pity she can't find any interesting people to write about.
There are some lovely descriptions in the book. India Knight can certainly write. What a pity she can't find any interesting people to write about.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Like so many other reviewers, I have enjoyed many of India Knight's other novels and collections of writing, and so I was excited about this one, with the return of Clara (from "My Life on A Plate" - which is great fun) as the heroine. I am afraid that I was very disappointed: not only with the structure (which betrays Knight's journalist's origins too clearly, with a distinct sense of "copy" rather than "narrative"), but with the fact that the tone of the whole book is nasty and snobbish.
I've never had much sympathy for the idea that one must have likeable heroes in order to engage - where does that leave you with King Lear, Othello, Heathcliff or Emma? - but the Clara of this novel is so self-centred, so self-righteous, so dismissive of other people's feelings as she goes steam-rollering over them in the interest of instant gratification that she becomes a huge alienating force within the book, and the other elements just aren't strong enough to compensate.
I can't recommend it in any way: but do try "My Life on a Plate" for a bit of charming (and eventually, very moving) fun.
I've never had much sympathy for the idea that one must have likeable heroes in order to engage - where does that leave you with King Lear, Othello, Heathcliff or Emma? - but the Clara of this novel is so self-centred, so self-righteous, so dismissive of other people's feelings as she goes steam-rollering over them in the interest of instant gratification that she becomes a huge alienating force within the book, and the other elements just aren't strong enough to compensate.
I can't recommend it in any way: but do try "My Life on a Plate" for a bit of charming (and eventually, very moving) fun.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Comfortless, Joyless & Pointless
I was utterly disappointed with this book, so much so that I wanted to leave a review to prevent other readers from wasting their money. Read more
Published 2 months ago by LP
Read with increasing distaste and anger
I ,too, came to this novel with enthusiasm as I enjoyed India Knight's Sunday Times pieces. What a dreadful, smug , self satisfied load of rubbish Comfort and Joy turned out to be. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Stef L.
Fantastic read - laugh out loud material!
I have literally just finished this book and found it to be a fantastic read! I notice below reviewers disliked the book and thought it only fair to bring my thoughts forward. Read more
Published 4 months ago by LauraFrame
Poor writing...and offensive
Given the title and subject matter I wasn't expecting a thought-provoking book, just some light hearted fun. Read more
Published 4 months ago by LizzieB
Truly Horrible....
As the other reviewers I have been a great fan of India Knight's previous novels and columns. I really enjoyed 'Life on a Plate' and was so excited to see this follow on a decade... Read more
Published 4 months ago by KentishSun
Discomfort and a bit of Joy
Three Christmases in a row and Clara has to deal with each one of them. Mother issues, husband issues, children issues, friend issues, guest issues, present issues - it's a very... Read more
Published 5 months ago by M. J. Saxton
A struggle to read!
I like to read a light novel with a Christmas theme to get me in the mood for the festive season but this book totally failed to deliver. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Marilyn M
disappointing
what a shame. i loved my life on a plate so much, and looked forward to reading what had happened to clara et al afterwards. this is really disappointing. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Ms. SL Naylor
Snorts of Laughter!
I kept getting strange looks from my husband as I was reading India Knight's 'Comfort and Joy', because of the snorts of laughter that kept coming from my direction. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lincs Reader
No comfort and certainly no joy!!
I chose this book as I always like to have a Christmas read to get me into the festive spirit. I wish I hadn't bothered this year. Read more
Published 5 months ago by holiday_season
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