When even his friends refer to him as 'a balding, bug-eyed opportunist with the looks of a beach ball, the charisma of a glove-puppet and an ego the size of a Hercules supply plane,' the odds of Toby Young scoring - in any sense - appear to be slim. But then HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS, his memoir about failing to take Manhattan, becomes an international bestseller. Now Tinseltown beckons. After receiving a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from a Hollywood producer, Toby sets his sights anew on a high-flying career, this time on the West Coast. But it doesn't take long for Toby's self-sabotaging instincts to reassert themselves. On the home front, though, things are looking up: Toby persuades his girlfriend to marry him and move to Los Angeles - but then she decides to abandon her promising legal career in order to become a full-time housewife ...and mother. Toby's hapless attempts to pursue a glamorous showbiz career while buried in nappies will strike a chord with all modern fathers struggling to find the right work/life balance ...and with their exasperated wives. Failure - and fatherhood - have never been funnier.
The Sound of No Hands Clapping: A Memoir
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Review
'As a chronicle of ambition run amok it has no peer'
-- Sunday Tribune
'I liked it so much I sent Toby Young an e-mail congratulating
him' -- Telegraph
'Toby regales us with delicious drubbings, past and present,
delighting us with tales of his uproarious ineptitude ... unbelievably
humorous' -- Spectator
'Very funny ... we would all love to be as successful a failure as
he is' -- Sunday Express
'Young remains a solid comic writer with a winning awareness of
his own absurdity. I couldn't put it down' -- Time Out
`A fun and - if true - rather insightful account of the bitchy,
self-serving world of the London media set'
-- Metro
`If you like your reading to have a certain voyeurism, this is
probably a must'
-- Observer
`Only Young could have failed so spectacularly and turned the
experience into such a funny and addictively readable story' -- Evening Standard
`Side-splittingly funny. I laughed out loud several times in every
chapter' -- Daily Mail
`The doyen of Loser Lit is back, as bumptious as ever. And still
very, very funny' -- Sunday Times
-- Sunday Tribune
'I liked it so much I sent Toby Young an e-mail congratulating
him' -- Telegraph
'Toby regales us with delicious drubbings, past and present,
delighting us with tales of his uproarious ineptitude ... unbelievably
humorous' -- Spectator
'Very funny ... we would all love to be as successful a failure as
he is' -- Sunday Express
'Young remains a solid comic writer with a winning awareness of
his own absurdity. I couldn't put it down' -- Time Out
`A fun and - if true - rather insightful account of the bitchy,
self-serving world of the London media set'
-- Metro
`If you like your reading to have a certain voyeurism, this is
probably a must'
-- Observer
`Only Young could have failed so spectacularly and turned the
experience into such a funny and addictively readable story' -- Evening Standard
`Side-splittingly funny. I laughed out loud several times in every
chapter' -- Daily Mail
`The doyen of Loser Lit is back, as bumptious as ever. And still
very, very funny' -- Sunday Times
About the Author
Toby Young has been fired from a succession of prestigious newspapers and magazines, including The Times, Vanity Fair and the Mail on Sunday. He's currently working as a freelance. For more info see www.tobyyoung.co.uk
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Broom71
Format:Paperback
I loved How to Lose Friends, but this follow-up feels like his publisher has demanded a lucrative sequel before Toby Young has assembled enough material for it. The result is a rather lame collection of musings and set-pieces that try to sustain the manic self-destruction of the first volume but never really succeed. The lengthy digression on the birth of his child is especially egregious filler. Young is a talented writer but if he's going to carry on writing memoirs he'd be advised to introduce a bit more of a gap between volumes.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Storm
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed "How to Lose Friends...." and was keen to get the sequel. Although there are some laugh-out-loud funny paragraphs, I got to the end and realised that Mr Young had built the book around the premise of "Writer gets offered script deal-things don't really work out". I admired his achievement of basing a whole book around this and kind of puling it off, but still felt something was missing from the story. Like "How to Lose Friends.." it is very frank in places (it also updates the reader on which of his friends he really had lost by writing the first book)and moves on the story of his wife, who appears to be one of the most patient people known to humanity. Understandably, some readers will view this book as a story told by a privileged, arrogant, rather childish man. For me, however, this is where most of the humour lies.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Leonzos
Format:Paperback
I thought this book would be witty and erudite but really it represents a base form of humour.
The authors paucity of generosity, and pettiness towards his fellow men shine through.
The authors paucity of generosity, and pettiness towards his fellow men shine through.
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3.4 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Zounds!
Toby Young has come in for quite a bit of villification in recent years and at first I thought this book might be about the audience's response to his recent appearance on 'Any... Read more
Published 2 months ago by K. Hannay
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it
The Sound of No Hands Clapping: A Memoir
I loved this book even though I hadn't got around to watching How to Lose Friends. I read it in two sittings. Read more
I loved this book even though I hadn't got around to watching How to Lose Friends. I read it in two sittings. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2009 by book lover
1.0 out of 5 stars
self opinionated drivel
I was given this book free as a promotion, and all i can say is what a load of self opinionated drivel. Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2008 by Mieke
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a patch on his first offering
I thoroughly enjoyed Toby's first book, and looked forward to this one...
However, I just got the feeling he was looking for disasters to happen so that he could write... Read more
However, I just got the feeling he was looking for disasters to happen so that he could write... Read more
Published on 9 Feb 2008 by John Crawford
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Sound of My Hands Clapping
When I first read the excellent.. 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People,' I thought, how could you possibly top that.. Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2006 by Owain Bookdwyer
1.0 out of 5 stars
Narcissist-Egomaniac writes memoir....
That is all very well, but said Narcissist-Egomaniac must also DELIVER. This Toby Young never does..... Read more
Published on 2 Sep 2006 by Literature Fan
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