Funny Girl

3.5

3.5
For most of the story I loved Barbra/Sophie, and then there were moments when that I felt she was flat or too ‘Sue'.

But I loved the time period, the look of London/England at that moment and Hornby's tying together of that collection of characters, even if it got muddled sometimes.

Like all Nick Hornby novels, Funny Girl was compulsively readable, and very funny in parts. I just don't think Hornby understands and creates female characters as well as he does male ones (which is understandable). As a result Barbara/Sophie wasn't as memorable as other Hornby creations, most notably Rob from High Fidelity and Will from About a Boy. In fact, my favorite characters in this novel were Tony and Bill, the gay script writers who dealt with their homosexuality in extremely different ways.

Overall a quick, fun read that shows changing society in late 20th century Britain through pop culture.

This quick take originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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How on earth could he love her? But he did, Or, at least, she made him feel sick, sad, and distracted. Perhaps there was another way of describing that unique and useless combination of feelings, but “love” would have to do for now.

The Hour

An Adventure in Space and Time

Barbara (and Jim)

Nick Hornby wasn't up to his usual self - this seemed to be published just for the sake of publishing, which is ironic, because some of the characters are writers who hate what they write for money.

Not my absolutely favorite, which is still High fidelity, followed closely by How to be good and Juliet, naked. But good, well written to the point that when I finished I had the same impulse as someone wrote int heir review of going online and checking if the facts had been true and what had been fiction, because there is so much that goes from one to the other.
Barbara, aka Sophie Straw, is a lovely character, strong and passionate. She wants to be a comedian, so she leaves her Miss Blackpool's tiara behind to pursue her dream and some time later, she is loved by many people who see that in her. But I must admit my favorite character was always Dennis. Inconspicuous and so sweet Dennis.