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Funny Girl

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Funny Girl

By: Nick Hornby
Narrated by: Emma Fielding
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER SOON TO BE A TV SERIES STARRING GEMMA ARTERTON AND RUPERT EVERETT

Make them laugh, and they're yours forever....

Barbara Parker is Miss Blackpool of 1964, but she doesn't want to be a beauty queen. She wants to make people laugh.

So she leaves her hometown behind, takes herself to London, and overnight she becomes the lead in a new BBC comedy, Sophie Straw: charming, gorgeous, destined to win the nation's hearts.

Funny Girl is the story of a smash-hit TV show and the people behind the scenes. But when life starts imitating art, they all face a choice. How long can they keep going before it's time to change the channel?

©2014 Nick Hornby (P)2014 Penguin Audio Literature & Fiction Comedy Heartfelt Funny

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Critic reviews

"Simply unputdownable." (Guardian)

"Hilarious." (Daily Telegraph)

"Warm, funny, touching...winningly perceptive about human relationships and changing social trends." (Daily Telegraph)

All stars
Most relevant  

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely, especially to someone who experienced the 1960's, as I did, and remember those 'must-stay-in-nights' when a TV programme was not to be missed.

What did you like best about this story?

The believable characterisations of the protagonists and the addition of real personalities to those of Mr Hornby's imagination.

Which character – as performed by Emma Fielding – was your favourite?

Sophie/Barbara, of course!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Brilliantly read by Emma Fielding. Perhaps there was a lack of a darker side to the story but then again perhaps that is what made it so enjoyable and non-angst ridden.

An everyday story of television folk

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Has been among my favourite authors for some time now. I really wanted to love this book. Parts of it made me chuckle, but largely I Found it a bit ponderous. Disappointed.

Nick Hornby

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A great book. Not as funny as Hornby's other stuff but very well observed and I even shed a tear at one point. Narrator is excellent.

Hornby Fans Won't be Disappointed

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Didn’t match up to the reviews or summary. Very disappointing as was expensive and I just can’t listen to any more….

Couldn’t finish…

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Any additional comments?

This ranks in the top 5 of the hundreds of audiobooks I have listed to. Emma Fielding's performance is exquisite. The way she creates the voices for the characters let me go deep into the story. Nick Hornby's story is charming, moving very funny and as someone who grew up in the 60's was a wonderful journey into the times. I have already recommended this book to various friends.

A complete delight!

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A typical Nick Hornby book - funny, poignant and romantic, surprising in places, slight unbelievable in others but overall very good.

Really enjoyable

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I very entertaining listen from Mr Hornby, the story line rang like an autobiography, so much so I had to google it to make sure, The character were real and engaging, and very well read, highly recommended

So good I thought it was true

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What did you like best about Funny Girl? What did you like least?

The characters and the dialogue between the characters. My fear that the story was descending into a typical love story where everybody would end up happy ever after.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I would have gone with Bill's suggestion of describing a non typical family cell in 70's England.

What about Emma Fielding’s performance did you like?

Thought it was excellent.

Any additional comments?

Good book and very easy read. Not as good as How to be good or slam but still worth the 10 hour investment.

Good read. Not one of his best.

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Reading “Funny Girl” was like meeting an old friend and being reminded all over again why you liked them so much in the first place. With wit, optimism and gentle compassion, Nick Hornby summons up the zeitgeist of Britain in the 1960s and 70s through the medium of TV comedy on the BBC.

Like Hornby himself, I was a child in the 1960s, so I missed some of then nuances of BBC comedy, failing to see what was daring and subversive but still understanding what was truly funny.

Hornby helped me to remember what it was like at the start of the 60s when we had only two TV channels in England,the BBC and ITV. EVERYBODY watched the same programs and discussed them the next day because those were the only programs available. I was seven when BBC 2 went on air in 1964 but I couldn’t watch it because we didn’t have a telly that could cope with the fancy 625 line UHF transmission. We were still watching a small box with a big tube that used the much lower definition 405 line VHF transmission. Of course, back then, everything was in glorious black and white. Even so, programs like the BBC’s Comedy Playhouse attracted huge audiences and launched series that EVERYONE watched (Steptoe and Son, launched by the Comedy Playhouse, attracted audiences of up to 28 million – about half of the population of the UK at the time).

“Funny Girl” tells the story of Barbara, a young woman from “up North” who declines to accept the title of Miss Blackpool and moves south to London to follow in the footsteps of her idol, Lucille Ball and become a comedian. She clicks with the writers of a new show for the BBC, they re-write the show as showcase for her and her career takes off.

As we follow Barbara’s career from ingénue through comic star to redoubtable Dame of British Television, Nick Hornby helped me understand the transitions that Britain was going through and the role comedy played in helping audiences to understand themselves.

I was deeply impressed by Nick Hornby’s ability to write a novel that often made me laugh but which is centred around very believable, very human characters, with strengths and flaws and personality quirks, who he describes with a compassion that comes very close to love and which generates a possibility of hope that I found very affecting.

This well written book was made even better in audio by a superb performance by Emma Fielding who got every voice and every accent absolutely right and amplified the value of every page.

Gentle, funny, compassionate book

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What did you like most about Funny Girl?

Certainly not the narration!

Probably the banter which Barbara shared with the sitcom writers, director and actors. That added real humour.

I also appreciated all the details and locations in London and it brought back some lovely memories when I spoke to my parents about this.

What other book might you compare Funny Girl to, and why?

Rather unique really.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Couldn't really engage with the narrator. Despite thoroughly enjoying this book the lack of feeling and emotion from the narrator dragged this one down. Towards the end my attention was wandering.. Didn't do justice to a great book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Sadly not.

Any additional comments?

For me this didn't quite hit the mark and this was purely due to the performance and delivery.

Magical story - poor narration,

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