Alexei Sayle was born in Liverpool on the day egg rationing came to an end.
His family ate salad.
They read the Soviet Weekly.
They travelled on transcontinental trains, and in the back of futuristic limousines.
They saw Communism in action and ate strange smelling sausages.
His mother was very keen on boiled eggs and the Moscow State Circus.
Teachers were scared of her.
His father was a union leader who made friends wherever he went.
He thought he was fluent in Esperanto.
Alexei became a member of the CzechoslovakianYoung Pioneers.
Sometimes he was bored and other times confused.
He thought he might be a great athlete, or maybe a famous artist.
He spent a lot of time inventing complex explanations for the bizarre behaviour of grown-ups.
Slowly it dawned on him that telling stories was a good way of making sense of his perplexing world.
Stalin Ate My Homework
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Review
'A great memoir of a strange childhood. "Just let me read you this bit" funny.'
(Frank Cottrell Boyce )'Sayle shares with [Alan] Bennett the genius for making the mundane fascinating'
(The Times )'If the result is like his other books, it will have a moral centre, there'll be bleak bits - and it will be very funny indeed.' (Independent on Sunday )
'The brilliant satires on modern life of Alexei Sayle (the only comedian worth his salt as a novelist) are contemporary gems.'
(Tim Lott, Independent )'Being able to wrap up a big moral conundrum with the guise of a fizzing entertainment is a considerable gift...it is wonderfully entertaining and tells us a lot about what it is like to live in 21st century Britain.'
(Jonathan Coe, Guardian on Overtaken )'It's not like other comedians' memoirs. It's funny.'
(Guardian )'Sayle's book has charm and substance, both as memoir and history.' (TLS 20101119)
'this enormously clever comedian is already an established novelist and his childhood was as strange and fascinating as any fiction' (The Times 20101127)
About the Author
Born in Liverpool, the only child of Communist parents, Alexei moved to London in 1971 to attend Chelsea Art School. He became the first MC of the Comedy Store and later the Comic Strip. After years of stand-up, television, sitcoms, films and even a hit single, he published his first highly acclaimed collection of short stories. BARCELONA PLATES was followed by THE DOG CATCHER, two novels: OVERTAKEN and THE WEEPING WOMEN HOTEL and a novella, MISTER ROBERTS. This is his first work of non-fiction.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By Malcolm
Format:Hardcover
This is not a showbiz bio. It is a memoir of a unique childhood presenting a first-hand close-up child's-eye view of the cold war and as such constitutes an important historical document. It's also (almost incidentally) very, very funny. It's also written in a transparently elegant prose style that every writer since Evelyn Waugh would do well to study. It also tells you more about the crucial flaws in Sten gun design, and the useless beauty of 1950s East European limousines than you could ever have believed you wanted to know. It's also a page turner. I read it in two lengthy sessions while the world around continued to fall into hideous disrepair. Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it. Here's how.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Another great read from Alexi. Very enjoyable and entertaining learning about his unconventional childhood. The way he describes his summer holiday to Czechoslovakia had me laughing out loud. A very honest account of his younger years which shaped the man he was to become. Lets hope its not too long until he gives us the next installment. More stories please.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Alexei's memoir of his childhood and teenage days in Liverpool doesn't have the vitriol he was most known for in the 80s, but retains his surrealist-outsider stance - a collection of stories and anecdotes more than an autobiography, but still with laugh-aloud moments.
The only criticism I have of this book is its ending - the last anecdote finishes, then the book ends, with no epilogue, postscript or sense of what happens next. It's as if a second volume will follow soon and nobody wanted to spoil the surprises that'll be in that book.
The only criticism I have of this book is its ending - the last anecdote finishes, then the book ends, with no epilogue, postscript or sense of what happens next. It's as if a second volume will follow soon and nobody wanted to spoil the surprises that'll be in that book.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very funny book
I loved it. Laughed out loud! Wonderful similes. Ending was a just a tad abrupt. Nevertheless I'd recommend it without hesitation.
Published 9 days ago by agnes macgregor
5.0 out of 5 stars
LIVERPOOL CHILDHOOD IN THE 60'S &70'S.
I really enjoyed this book,it did not really matter or was important that this book was written by Alexei Sayle. Read more
Published 1 month ago by bibliophile
4.0 out of 5 stars
Laugh out loud funny
I have read 'funny' books before and been very disappointed. So often humour depends on verbal delivery and really does not work when written down. Read more
Published 1 month ago by KateRG31
5.0 out of 5 stars
loved it
i seemed to have had a similar up bringing and laughed all the way through this story. it helps to know what the character looks like and sounds. Great
Published 3 months ago by Junia Cleary
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good
A very interesting book which has given me the information I needed. It arrived on time and was well packaged.
Published 3 months ago by Kate
4.0 out of 5 stars
A jump to the left... a step to the right... and let's do the timewarp...
Lloyd Cole once sang "Must you tell me all your secrets/When it's hard enough to love you knowing nothing? Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ivan Zehdra-Maychayne
5.0 out of 5 stars
stalin ate my homework
have always found mr sayle an interesting and funny character, i therefore bought his book after hearing him being interviewed about it. a very good read and very funny
Published 4 months ago by rachel o'gorman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very funny!
I could not put this book down. Alexei Sayle writes with real warmth about his upbringing in Liverpool. Many laugh out loud moments. Highly recommend.
Published 4 months ago by alison mottram
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not what you might expect but a good read all the same
If, like me, you came at this expecting manic Alexei Sayle humour you might be disappointed but this is a really great autobiography of Mr Sayle's early life in a bizarre communist... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Geoff
2.0 out of 5 stars
Monotonous
Initially I found this book interesting as I knew very little about Alexei Sayle. I had bought the book due to the humorous title. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Ben
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