Funny Girl: A Novel

For me, this really was a blast from the past. I suppose it is helpful to have been in one's twenties in the 1960's, and also to have worked in television at the same time. Luckily for Nick Hornby I worked for Granada television in Manchester between 1964 and 1969 and totally related to the premise of this book. Having been around and dated vain actors, and observed bearded, bespectacled writers (Vince Powell, Jack Rosenthal, et al) in the studio canteen - I absolutely felt at home as I read this wonderful book. Yes, it is dated - but it's supposed to be. I quite liked the pace of the book and how we were able to see Sophie and Clive in 2014 - still alive, still wanting to work, still attractive older people - just like me and many of my contemporaries from that era.Barbara/Sophie's rise to stardom seemed inordinately fast, but I guess those things did happen in the past. Usually, actresses climbed the ladder of hard work to success - and beauty was not necessarily all one needed to become a superstar -- but this is a book, and I must say I enjoyed every page. I have just finished the lengthy and beautifully written epic, "Shantaram which, although stunningly written took forever to get through. Conversely, Funny Girl was a jolly romp, delivering nostalgic memories of a time when television and theater were coming into their own after the bleakness and prudishness of the fifties. I must say I would have liked to have read more about Sophie and Dennis's marriage - the jump forwqrd in time took me by surprise, but all in all it was a good read. I look forward to more of Mr. Hornby's work and thank him for this amusing, yet telling, look into television and theater as it was back in the day. Valerie Byron - author of "No Ordinary Woman":

His best yet. As a 68 year-old male, (born and raised in London and Edinburgh, until moving to America in 1966), with a career in television production, this story resonated strongly and very immediately. Miss Blackpool 1964 leaves home for London, and a trip through the world of British television sitcoms, buoyed only by her resolve: to be like her idol...Lucille Ball. As always with Hornby, it is his perception: so minute, and his singular voice - except for the group of four different would-be roof-leapers in ATWD - so personal, so direct. BTW: This was the first Kindle book I'd actually read. I loved the "new" medium's intimacy; Hornby and the reader, one on one, sharing the absorbing, time-traveling, a-synchronous, self-paced saga. Thank you Mr. Hornby! I truly "lived" this jaunty story, in my iPhone, over about three weeks, everywhere, at a bar, at the dentist, etc. (I'd really like to see a Hypertext version, using the images, with snippets of video, etc.) Funny Girl is an immersive experience. The Reader becomes The User...

There's a lot to like about "Funny Girl". It's a charming, breezy backstage story about an independent young woman in the early sixties making her way in the world of television comedy. The subject alone is enough to sell me, plus Hornby perfectly captures the nostalgic details of the time period, pairing them with the struggles of a younger generation shedding their innocence and past restrictions to the frustration of the generation before.And yet, halfway through the book I began to realize that charm and nostalgia will get you just so far, and I worried there wasn't enough depth or conflict to sustain me to the last page. Worries that soon proved themselves valid.A lot of the responsibility for this lies with our heroine, the aforementioned "funny girl". Her name's Barbara, soon to become Sophie, and...1. She's gorgeous- you will read a lot about this in a lot of ways. .2. Every one loves her- you will also read a lot about this, in the form of characters (mostly men)thinking how bewitching she is.3. She's very talented and focused on her craft.4. She's nobody's fool.And...there's not much else to her really. Part of the charm of a character who wants to be funny rather than beautiful is the implication that while others are focused on surface and beauty, she cares about making people laugh, giving them joy in their struggles, answering a call to something more meaningful. And yet, Sophie is mostly surface, and seems just fine with that. And so are all the men bewitched by her. And no, this is presented with a sense of irony or a peek at another time, but instead one gets the sense that the writer himself is in love with Sophie and needs her to be nothing more than pretty and agreeable. But readers may want more. And they may find a growing distaste for a character who is not only shallow, but pretty cavalier about dating married men and struggles very little to achieve her dreams before they are plopped down before her (presumably because of points 1-4 above) completely depriving the reader of any chance to empathize with her.Interestingly enough, one of the main issues the book seems to address is whether or not entertainment needs to be relevant and somewhat thorny to have true value. But it's the men in the story who wrestle with this question. Sophie is merely their muse. The Princess they all swarm around and whose favor they fight to win. As a result, each character has a kind of mini-climax, and a minor arc, because all the weight is spread amongst them rather than giving the heft to the person who should have it, Sophie. When Sophie's climax does come it drops in with all the foreshadowing and impact of a sun shower.Maybe the movie adaptation will work better (indeed, much of this book is structured in such a way that it feels like an easy reformat and a capable actress may be able to provide the depth that Hornby doesn't) but while "Funny Girl" is a wonderful piece of nostalgic escapism, reading it is akin to eating a lovely looking piece of candy, the filling of which is mostly air.

I love Nick Hornby. His characters are so rich and entertaining and real at the same time. People you wish you'd meet in real life, even if only to slap them in the face sometimes! This book is no exception. I loved Sophie l found her smart and sassy and delightful. I liked all the men each in their own way. I even really appreciated the supporting character June. That being said, the book itself was not his absolute best. I really enjoyed it and read it quickly as always but something about "about a boy" and "a long way down" just had richer stories. Just a smudge better cuz this was really great.

As with all the Nick Hornby books that I’ve read I fall in love with the characters for not despite their flaws. Sweet and funny and a little bit heartbreaking. Couldn’t ask much more of a read before bed.

The book quality was not so clean and good seems like used

An easy read - nice to see a smart, funny and attractive heroine !

This isn't really the type of book I like, but it was sufficiently insightful and humorous to retain my interest. It is an clever exploration of England's 60's society through television. Hornby cleverly mixes real people (for example the actress Sabrina) and real sitcoms (the famous Till Death Us Do Part) with fictional ones. It is very well done.It is light and breezy, and reads like a sitcom.This was my first Hornby and I can see how the way his novels are based on British pop culture has made him a particular favourite with the young, in Britain and abroad.

Nick Hornbys letzter Roman liegt schon eine ganze Weile zurück. Auf "Funny Girl" habe ich mich deshalb sehr gefreut. Abgesehen von "About a Boy" hat mich zwar keins seiner Bücher vollends begeistert, aber gefallen haben sie mir doch alle - die einen mehr, die anderen weniger. Auch "Funny Girl" wird es nicht auf die Liste meiner Lieblingsbücher schaffen, aber ich habe es gern gelesen. 'Simply unputdownable', wie es vom Guardian auf dem Cover meiner Taschenbuchausgabe bezeichnet wird, fand ich es nicht; trotzdem waren die knapp 350 Seiten schnell gelesen. Am Ende war ich ein bisschen traurig, dass ich mich von Sophie und den anderen verabschieden musste. Ich mochte die Figuren, fand den Hintergrund - die Fernsehlandschaft in Großbritannien in den 1960er Jahren - sehr interessant, und Hornbys Schreibstil liebe ich sowieso.Im Mittelpunkt der Geschichte steht Barbara, die seit ihrer Kindheit von einer Karriere als Komikerin träumt. Mit Anfang 20 bricht sie von Blackpool auf nach London, um ihr Glück zu suchen. Und tatsächlich gelingt es ihr innerhalb kurzer Zeit, die Hauptrolle in einer Comedyserie der BBC zu ergattern. Aus Barbara wird Sophie, aus Miss Blackpool ein gefeierter Fernsehstar. "Funny Girl" begleitet sie und ihre Kollegen über mehrere Staffeln der Fernsehserie, gewährt Einblicke in das, was hinter den Kulissen einer Fernsehserie so vor sich geht und nimmt einen mit auf eine charmante Zeitreise in die Swinging Sixties. Das alles wirkt so authentisch, dass ich bei der Lektüre immer wieder den Verdacht hatte, die Geschichte basiere auf echten Personen. Zu gern hätte ich einige Folgen von "Barbara (and Jim)" gesehen. Für zusätzliche Authentizität sorgen Fotos aus der damaligen Zeit, von Stars, Fernsehschaffenden und Gebäuden. Auch einige Drehbuchausschnitte sind dabei.Ein 'typischer Hornby' war Funny Girl für mich nicht. Das lag vielleicht daran, dass er sich dieses Mal für eine weibliche Hauptfigur entschieden hat, die auf mich nicht ganz so echt und glaubhaft gewirkt hat wie verschrobene Typen wie Rob aus "High Fidelity" oder Will aus "About a Boy". Ich mochte Sophie - eine moderne junge Frau, die weiß, was sie will. Trotzdem wurde ich bis zum Schluss eine gewisse Distanz zu ihr nicht los. Ihre Geschichte hat mich interessiert, aber nicht so richtig berührt. Nichtsdestotrotz habe ich die Lektüre insgesamt genossen. Hornby gehört auch weiterhin zu den Autoren, von denen ich jeden neuen Roman vorbestellen werde, sobald ich von ihm erfahre.

Si vede che è usato perché le pagine sono un po' ingiallite ma a parte questo è un bellissimo libro, hornby è sempre grandioso