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Review
'It's not like other comedians' memoirs. It's funny.' (Guardian )
'As strange and fascinating as any fiction . . . This would be excellent even if it weren't by someone famous' (The Times )
'Sayle's book has charm and substance, both as memoir and history.' (Times Literary Supplement )
'As strange and fascinating as any fiction . . . This would be excellent even if it weren't by someone famous' (The Times )
'Fascinating and hugely entertaining'
(Telegraph )'Sayle's book has charm and substance, both as memoir and history.' (Times Literary Supplement )
'A great memoir of a strange childhood. "Just let me read you this bit" funny.'
(Frank Cottrell Boyce )'The brilliant satires on modern life of Alexei Sayle (the only comedian worth his salt as a novelist) are contemporary gems.'
(Tim Lott, Independent )'This touching, elegantly written memoir stands out... He looks back on his unconventional youth with comic bewilderment'
(Independent on Sunday )'A fascinating and entertaining memoir about growing up with parents who were staunch communists'
(Daily Telegraph )Review
'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 'Sayle's book has charm and substance, both as memoir and history.' -- TLS 20101119
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
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unique childhood presenting a first-hand close-up child's-eye view of the cold war and as such constitutes an important historical document.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 10 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.
4 of 4 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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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 3 months ago by Geoff
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 5 months ago by Ben
A great read
Alexei Sayle is a great writer, I have always found his books to be so easy to read - the type of book you stay up late to read more than you should. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Bluesboy
One Trick Pony
I had high hopes for this book, but I was sadly disappointed. The book has only one recurring theme and after a short while the totalitarian joke wears thin. Read more
Published 7 months ago by J. Hill
Interesting material let down by prose.
The raw material here is interesting - Alexei Sayle grew up in a city full of wit and culture, poised at the brink of post-industrialization in an oddball, amusing and committed... Read more
Published 8 months ago by D. Clarke
Funny, well written and very interesting.
What a great book, forget about Alexei Sayle and what he became (a superb comic writer of course!) this is the story of his interesting childhood, growing up with what sound like... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. M. J. Payne
Sample only - Amusing, strange and interesting
I've missed ol' Lexei since his great series Stuff, and apart from reading Train to Hell about 20yrs ago, have not heard much from him either. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Andrew Ives
My family and other Communists
An affectionate and surprisingly nostalgic tale of comedian Alexi Sayle's Liverpool upbringing by staunchly Communist parents in the 50s and 60s. Read more
Published 8 months ago by C. Young
Dull
I like Alexi's humour, I like autobiographies and I knew he'd have had an interesting background, so I had high hopes.
Unfortunately this is deadly dull. Read more
Unfortunately this is deadly dull. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Veryoldbill
Alexei Sayle
A really good read. Follow the extraordinary childhood of Sayle up to his teenage years. Very well written in the style one one expect from this superb comedian and if you enjoyed... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Andrew
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