Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
enchanting summer comedy, 8 May 2008
There are so many bad comic novels out on the shelves that a really good one deserves flagging up. This has the simplest of ideas - three unmarried men in their thirties have mothers who are all friends. Discussing their sons, and agreeing that something has gone wrong with their lives, they descend for one week to sort them out.
One son works on a lad mag called BALLS, obsessed with women's breasts and designer gadgets, and is living the life of an urban bachelor. His horrified mother discovers not just dust but kinky S&M gear under his bed, and not only sets about to cleaning the shag-pad but crashes a launch party of a new aftershave and tries to set him up with a nice girl instead of a teenager....Another son hasn't yet come out to his mum, and lives in a gay commune where he is outed within minutes....The third has moved to Edinburgh to try and get over Erin, the love of his life whom he lost by not wanting children. Yet the mothers all have some growing up of thier own to do, and it's in depicting them with sympathy and warmth that Sutcliffe's novel rises above the hilarity of his early work. He seems to understand much more than the preoccupations of his generation, and in consequence women in their fifties and sixties will I think get as many laughs and sighs of recognition as those of us with young sons.
I began reading this in a foul mood, with rain lashing down etc etc and by the first chapter it felt as if the sun had come out. Although it's mostly dialogue, the passages of descriptive writing are excellent, and the ending perfectly judged. It would make a lovely film.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Light but Insightful, 8 Jun 2009
'Whatever Makes You Happy' is an insightful look at the relationship between mothers and their sons. It is accurate, moving and above all, very funny.
There seems to be very little publisher promotion for this book, which considering the subject matter and how easy it is to read, I find surprising. It is a book, begging to be pushed into the topseller list, with a potentially huge audience. I think 'WMYH' is ideal holiday reading, for both mothers and their offspring. (Although possibly not if you are all holidaying together.) Wives will probably enjoy it too!
Some of the reviews here bemoan the lack of originality of the characters. For me, these reviews rather miss the point. The three men in the story are supposed to represent as much of 'man'kind as possible. This novel is not really about the characters, it's about their maternal relationships. Sutcliffe vividly portrays how thirty-something males feel about their mothers, but this for him would have been the easy bit. More remarkable is how accurately he describes the maternal conflict of wanting your son to be free, whilst still feeling you know what's best for him.
This is a brilliantly observed, witty and sensitive novel. I think any son who reads 'WHYH' will view their mother through fresh eyes, and will hopefully understand them a little bit better. As a final recommendation, I intend on purchasing copies for every man I know with a mother, and every mother I know with a son, starting with my own.
|
|
|
6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Funny in places..., 24 Jun 2008
I read this because it had been well reviewed and I had enjoyed Are You Experienced? It's a quick easy read, with some entertaining lines and scenes, but it's somehow not as satisfying as the earlier book. Most of the characters are stereotypical, there aren't many surprises or plot twists and it seems to me to be fairly forgettable.
My main comment, I think, is that someone should mention to the editorial team at Bloomsbury that 'bored of' is incorrect, it should be 'bored by' or 'bored with'. I'm surprised they don't already know this. It's what I remember most about this book!
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by William Sutcliffe
by William Sutcliffe
by Matt Beaumont
by William Sutcliffe
by William Sutcliffe
