Stereotypes and cliches ahoy!

The narrative has some nice set pieces such as the Question Time episode but overall it’s laden with familiar cliched political figures from both the left and right with a plot that was ultimately unsatisfying.

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Laugh out loud expose of political activism

Such great fun. Maybe a little too self conscious at times, eg it actually includes a press report telling us that the central family is a metaphor for the divisions created by rancorous debate in our society (eg for Brexit), rather than letting us work it out for ourselves. However anyone who has ever been to a committee meeting, helped with a charity, or had any brush with political campaigning will find the narrative all too true to life. And beyond the many great comic situations and funny one liners, there is a serious message that maybe, just maybe there are more important things to life than politics.
Very enjoyable and great choice of narrator.

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Pitch perfect narration, slightly off-key story

I laughed out loud, especially at the beginning. But the story lagged and the humour flattened. The narration was superb however, and kept me going to the predictable ending.

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The humour

This is an extremely enjoyable book, due in large part to good writing and in no small part to great narrating. The humour rarely lets up, even, or especially, when it is making a serious insightful point, which it does on more than a few occasion. While some of the stereoryping may be occasionally jarring, it is difficult to work out whether this is because such stereotypes are useful for the effect of parodying the left, or god forbid, because there is more than a grain of truth to them.
The story is told through from the view of the wife and mother, a job which the male author appears to have managed to mostly pull off rather effortlessly, although not being a woman myself, this remains a mere presumption. But the effect is funny and thoughtful.

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A great read

A fun read that also encourages to think from other people’s perspectives, particularly those you judge to be immoral

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listened to this painting fences...laughing like a drain

Very funny as usual from John and great narration from Claudie. How did she read it without laughing?!

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Better than expected

I got off to a slow start and did not like the narrator until I was well into the book. Worth pursuing as it has some very funny episodes. In the end the narrator was a good choice for the book.

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Hilarious

Clever intellectual witt with amusing characters, read brilliantly which made me laugh out loud, loved it!

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Dull and not funny

I like O’Farrell’s books usually. But this one is his weakest. It’s not funny and it just doesn’t work.

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