A Tiny Bit Marvellous
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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 (The Stylist )
Fresh, extremely funny (Sunday Times )
Has she cracked it with her first novel? Yes. Engaging from the first page (Heat )
Really enjoyable and highly recommended. Dawn French is a wonderful writer - witty, wise and poignant (Daily Mail )
A hilarious and compelling read (Good Housekeeping )
Hilarious. Chortle-out-loud turns of phrase, razor-sharp observations (The Stylist )
Fresh, extremely funny (Sunday Times )
Has she cracked it with her first novel? Yes. Engaging from the first page (Heat )
Really enjoyable and highly recommended. Dawn French is a wonderful writer - witty, wise and poignant (Daily Mail )
A hilarious and compelling read (Good Housekeeping )
Review
Beautifully observed. Makes you laugh on every page The Times Hilarious. Chortle-out-loud turns of phrase, razor-sharp observations The Stylist Fresh, extremely funny Sunday Times Has she cracked it with her first novel? Yes. Engaging from the first page Heat Really enjoyable and highly recommended. Dawn French is a wonderful writer - witty, wise and poignant Daily Mail A hilarious and compelling read Good Housekeeping
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
68 of 76 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
[Reviewed by Mrs O']
I wanted to really like this book by Dawn French, as I like her as a comedian very much, but I'm afraid this book leaves a lot to be desired - sorry Dawn! The book is about the Battle family who unsurprisingly live up to their title. The characters are all loudly drawn caricatures and leave no room for imagination by the reader. There is a foul-mouthed sulky angry teenage daughter (Dora), an intelligent eccentric gay son (Peter/Oscar) and Mum (Mo), a child-psychologist who obviously has problems with her own children but can solve other parents' children's issues and has a mid-life crisis to boot. So the stage is set in a predictable way that sadly plays out until the end. The book itself I found to be a bit schizophrenic, not knowing who it was really supposed to appeal to. In my opinion it tries a bit too hard to be 'hip' by its use of shocking language from the outset, which did nothing but annoy me right from the very beginning. Additionally the use of modern day teenage 'isms' pitched it at a younger audience, who I feel were probably not the majority audience for a book by Dawn French. Sadly, this book is a 'miss' from me and I suggest you don't read it on the train if you're concerned about people reading over your shoulder, as the level of swearing and foul-mouthed ranting on the pages could cause early morning commuters to have a funny turn!
I wanted to really like this book by Dawn French, as I like her as a comedian very much, but I'm afraid this book leaves a lot to be desired - sorry Dawn! The book is about the Battle family who unsurprisingly live up to their title. The characters are all loudly drawn caricatures and leave no room for imagination by the reader. There is a foul-mouthed sulky angry teenage daughter (Dora), an intelligent eccentric gay son (Peter/Oscar) and Mum (Mo), a child-psychologist who obviously has problems with her own children but can solve other parents' children's issues and has a mid-life crisis to boot. So the stage is set in a predictable way that sadly plays out until the end. The book itself I found to be a bit schizophrenic, not knowing who it was really supposed to appeal to. In my opinion it tries a bit too hard to be 'hip' by its use of shocking language from the outset, which did nothing but annoy me right from the very beginning. Additionally the use of modern day teenage 'isms' pitched it at a younger audience, who I feel were probably not the majority audience for a book by Dawn French. Sadly, this book is a 'miss' from me and I suggest you don't read it on the train if you're concerned about people reading over your shoulder, as the level of swearing and foul-mouthed ranting on the pages could cause early morning commuters to have a funny turn!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Well, I've tried but today I am giving up. I am just over half way through this book and to be honest it's rubbish. This is the first time I have bought a book by a 'celebrity' author and it will be the last. I will stick to established authors in the future - how they must be tearing their hair out at this influx of celebrity writers. Dawn - stick to what you are good at and leave the proper writers to it. I agree with a previous reveiwer - this only got published because of who wrote it. A case of the Emperor's new clothes I think with this one. Very disappointing as I love Dawn French.
85 of 98 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a big fan of Dawn French as a comic actress, my expectations for this book were very high. And I have to say that I haven't been disappointed.
Having been written in a diary format, it could have been tricky to portray the personalities of each of the characters in the prose style itself, but Dawn has done this to much success! It was great to be reading each chapter and have each one be very different to the one before. This really helped to break up the book into manageable sections, rather than the story dragging on for ages without much going on.
As for the story itself, I really enjoyed reading about the interactions between the members of this family from the point of view of everyone, including their opinions on the minutiae of everyday life.
Being easy to read made me want to keep going and discover more about each family member as the chapters went by. It was easy to compare myself and people I know, with the Battles! This book has exceeded my expectations. I knew it was going to be an entertaining read right from the first sentence.
I won a copy of this book (through another website) before publication and this review comes from my review on that website.
Having been written in a diary format, it could have been tricky to portray the personalities of each of the characters in the prose style itself, but Dawn has done this to much success! It was great to be reading each chapter and have each one be very different to the one before. This really helped to break up the book into manageable sections, rather than the story dragging on for ages without much going on.
As for the story itself, I really enjoyed reading about the interactions between the members of this family from the point of view of everyone, including their opinions on the minutiae of everyday life.
Being easy to read made me want to keep going and discover more about each family member as the chapters went by. It was easy to compare myself and people I know, with the Battles! This book has exceeded my expectations. I knew it was going to be an entertaining read right from the first sentence.
I won a copy of this book (through another website) before publication and this review comes from my review on that website.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A delight! Can't believe it has such mixed reviews
Reviews on Amazon rarely surprise me. From showers of praise to buckets full of grievances - most reviews have a fair mixture - and that's all down to personal opinion. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Pottercl01
Funny and clever
Enjoyed this greatly - I can hear Dawn French's voice a little too loudly in the daughter's part, but other than that I loved it!
Published 18 days ago by glosmum74
A tiny bit marvellous
am quite excited to read this book, but havent yet. but having read the reviews hopefully i wont be disappointed. Read more
Published 21 days ago by catherine
Slow moving but worth the journey
I found the beginning slow and didn't really feel it was a page turner til the second half. Having teenagers myself I could relate to the family life as described and thought the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Caroline+Kats
Tiny bit not marvellous
Could not get into this at all. Arguments, name calling just for sake of it. Then the word 'mong' just finished me off. Less than half way. Not for me!
Published 1 month ago by CMH
book
bought this book for myself i have not finished it yet but i am enjoying it very much but i love dawn french
Published 1 month ago by tanya
very disappointing
I had good expectations of this book, Dawn French is a very funny woman & I have greatly admired her TV work. Read more
Published 1 month ago by T. Andrews
Fabulous story
I brilliant story about the busy family life and how they all interact with each other and look out for each other even if they don't want it.
Published 1 month ago by Dre
Tiny bit irritating
Love Dawn French and really was looking forward to reading this book but found it so annoying,especially the teenage daughter's chapters. Read more
Published 1 month ago by greeneye18
Parallel process, cleverly portrayed.
I had to persuade my self to carry on with this, as the writing style was at times a little off putting. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mme Kathryn Gower
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