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Oh Dear Silvia [Hardcover]

Dawn French
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (319 customer reviews)
RRP: £18.99
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Book Description

25 Oct 2012

Dawn French, number one bestelling author of A Tiny Bit Marvellous and one of Britain's best loved comic writers, returns with Oh Dear Silvia, a darkly comic pageturner that will have you hanging on her every word.

Who is in Coma Suite Number 5?

A matchless lover? A supreme egotist? A selfless martyr? A bad mother? A cherished sister? A selfish wife?

All of these. For this is Silvia Shute who has always done exactly what she wants. Until now, when her life suddenly, shockingly stops.

Her past holds a dark and terrible secret, and now that she is unconscious in a hospital bed, her constant stream of visitors are set to uncover the mystery of her broken life. And she must lie there, victim of the beloveds, the borings, the babblings and the plain bonkers.

Like it or not, the truth is about to pay Silvia a visit. Again, and again and again...

Oh Dear Silvia is the brand new novel from one of Britain's most loved comic writers and the number one bestselling author of A Tiny Bit Marvellous.

Praise for Dawn French:

'Extremely funny' Sunday Times

'A fantastic slam-dunk pageturner' Mail on Sunday

Dawn French has been making people laugh for thirty years. On purpose. As a writer, comedian and actor, she has appeared in some of this country's most long running, cherished and celebrated shows, including French and Saunders, The Comic Strip Presents. . ., Murder Most Horrid, The Vicar of Dibley, Jam and Jerusalem, Lark Rise to Candleford, and more recently, Roger and Val Have Just Got In.

Her bestselling memoir, Dear Fatty, was published to critical acclaim in 2008. Her first novel, A Tiny Bit Marvellous, was also a great success, going straight to No.1.


Frequently Bought Together

Oh Dear Silvia + A Tiny Bit Marvellous + Dear Fatty
Price For All Three: £20.08

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  • A Tiny Bit Marvellous £5.59
  • Dear Fatty £5.99


Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Michael Joseph (25 Oct 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0718156064
  • ISBN-13: 978-0718156060
  • Product Dimensions: 22 x 16 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (319 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Beautifully observed. Makes you laugh on every page (The Times)

Hilarious. Chortle-out-loud turns of phrase, razor-sharp observations (Stylist)

Really enjoyable and highly recommended. Dawn French is a wonderful writer - witty, wise and poignant (Daily Mail) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Dawn French has been making people laugh for thirty years. As a writer, comedian and actor, she has appeared in some of this country's most long running and celebrated shows, including French and Saunders, The Vicar of Dibley, Jam and Jerusalem, and more recently, Roger and Val Have Just Got In.

Her bestselling memoir, Dear Fatty, was published to critical acclaim in 2008. Her first novel, A Tiny Bit Marvellous, was also a great success, going straight to No.1.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
69 of 74 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Who Was Silvia? 25 Oct 2012
By ACB (swansea) TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This second novel by Dawn French is easy to read but in the early parts difficult to interweave the various contributions of the narrators into a cohesive piece of work. Persevere, it is worth it. Silvia Shute has fallen three floors from a balcony. She is in intensive care in a coma on life-support including mechanical ventilation. She is the younger sister of the eccentric Jo. They lost their mother at a young age and their army-trained father went off the rails. Sylvia divorced dependable Ed after showing little love for him or their two children, Jamie and Cassie who after leaving home had no love or respect for their mother.

This background is the canvas on which the author paints the past and mysteries of Silvia through a series of monologues delivered by family and friends. She is inert and unresponsive 'like a marble sarcophagus'. The content of the monologues alternate between love and hatred, sibling rivalry and jealousy with Ed in particular, 'dead inside'. The prose jumps from straight dialogue to charming descriptions particularly of the woods where Silvia and Ed spent much of their courtship. The dismal outlook and depressing medical predicament of this tragedy are broken by episodes of humour. The Indonesian Tia (Silvia's cleaner) spends her moments relating the contents of current gossip magazines in an amusing format. Jo refuses to give up hope and reality of waking her 'frozen sister' with a series of bizarre, funny and hilarious attempts to stimulate some response.

The novel is held together by Silvia's Jamaican nurse, Winnie. She treats Silvia with the repect she gives all her patients and is the only one with no axe to grind, no anger, hate or questions but only wishes good things for Silvia. She is a totally professional caring person.

There are some subplots, some improbable and others rather repetitive. The circumstances surrounding the ill-tempered, violent, possessive Irish Cat (a GP),are an important part of the novel, yet do have some improbable features. The descriptions of her native Connemara are attractively portrayed.

I enjoyed the book. I felt although the narrators were speaking individually, they were able, at last, to express their true emotions withought the worries of feedback. Almost a stage-play situation. Dawn French then pulls it all together with the unexpected and surprising revelations, explaining the secrets of the protagonists' lives. Well-worth reading and well-written.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Audio is better! 15 Nov 2012
By Ladybug
Format:Hardcover
For those who didn't enjoy the reading the book, listen to it as an audio book. The characters come to life and the whole plot makes more sense, I did this with dawns last book and it was much nicer to listen to her reading it and playing the parts. I thought the story it self was interesting in parts, clever with letting us realise who Sylvia really is/was and in some places dam right hilarious! I had some funny looks at work listening to this!
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Not for me but maybe for others. 2 Nov 2012
By Dave VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
By giving this book only 2 stars I am not trying to imply it is a bad book but it was not to my taste. Maybe it is my fault for buying a book that is outside of my normal genre but I wanted to try it as it was by Dawn French who I do like a lot on the telly.

I only got up to page 60 odd before giving up but later thought it would be fairer to the author to give it another go. I got to page 100ish before giving up again and passing the book to my missus.

Basically this is a book that revolves around the thoughts and feelings of the friends and family of Sylvia. Unfortunately Sylvia is in a coma and cannot answer back and these thoughts and feelings are expressed at visiting times at the hospital. I just thought that the mundane thoughts of Sylvia's visitors was quite boring and I had no desire to carry on.

I am sure that when the missus reads it she will have much better views than mine.

One thing I did not like was the authors habit of underling words quite frequently. I thought that this indicated that Ms French has not got the confidence in her readers to understand the book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars French for beginners (and others)
My Wife and I like Dawn French (to a greater or lesser degree) and having not read any of her fictional work, decided to give this one a try. Read more
Published 19 hours ago by S. Jones
2.0 out of 5 stars Naaa
Not as good as her first novel I'm afraid. Sorry Dawn, you're great but this was not your best work.
Published 1 day ago by Michelle Mapstone
2.0 out of 5 stars nothing to add
I had read A Tiny Bit Marvellous and had loved it and found myself laughing a lot and I had beedn looking forward to reading this book so much. Read more
Published 2 days ago by A. Rehling
4.0 out of 5 stars Stay with it
I had two attempts at reading this book, the first time I just didn't get it, I could not get into the format and found it hard to like the characters as you jump from one to the... Read more
Published 5 days ago by amanda boulter
4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable lightweight read.
I'm never too sure about reading novels by celebrities, it's a bit of a hit and miss affair. 'Oh Dear Silvia' is thankfully more hit than miss. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Fiona Mccaw
3.0 out of 5 stars Oh Dear Silvia
Having loved Dawn Frenchs other novels I was looking forward to this one. The premise is great, good story, good characters but to be honest the ending is rather a let down.
Published 10 days ago by LittleBev
2.0 out of 5 stars Dead as a Doornail
Dawn French has a great concept. Silvia lies in hospital in a coma. Her family and 'friends' come to visit her and, whilst sitting with her, recall old memories and reveal their... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Carl Spencer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read.
What a great book ! The story pivots around Silvia but keeps panning out and out again. Definitely will recommend to friends.
Published 14 days ago by Mrs. P. Buckley
3.0 out of 5 stars GOOD read that keeps you safe in the pages from start to finish.
Great read that engages you from the start. You know there`s a secret but you can't quite figure it out. Read more
Published 17 days ago by Tereasa
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read!
I bought this for my mum for Christmas and she absolutely loves it. She has read a number of Dawn French books and loves them all. They are funny and easy reading.
Published 21 days ago by missh87
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