Flight From Deathrow - Harry Hill

Many of you will know that Harry Hill is a stand-up comedian and a brilliant one at that. Many of you may not know that he has written a fictional novel and that it is probably the most surreal and humorous book in the whole world!!

I’ve been a huge fan of Harry Hill for ages, he leaves my stitches whenever I go and see his impressive live shows or whenever I re-watch one of his videos. You may have seen his programme on ITV1 ‘Harry ...
...weeks television offerings.

The surreal and absurd nature of the book begins on the front cover which shows a picture of a stunt motorcyclist jumping over 6 people, however, the motorcyclist is Harry Hill as are the six people on the floor. Each Harry Hill face is making an odd expression! But onto the contents in the book itself.

Just before the start the first chapter you’ll find a page which says ‘Please note’ this ... more

Many of you will know that Harry Hill is a stand-up comedian and a brilliant one at that. Many of you may not know that he has written a fictional novel and that it is probably the most surreal and humorous book in the whole world!!

I’ve been a huge fan of Harry Hill for ages, he leaves my stitches whenever I go and see his impressive live shows or whenever I re-watch one of his videos. You may have seen his programme on ITV1 ‘Harry Hills TV Burp’ where he routinely pokes fun at the weeks television offerings.

The surreal and absurd nature of the book begins on the front cover which shows a picture of a stunt motorcyclist jumping over 6 people, however, the motorcyclist is Harry Hill as are the six people on the floor. Each Harry Hill face is making an odd expression! But onto the contents in the book itself.

Just before the start the first chapter you’ll find a page which says ‘Please note’ this explains the typographical error on the front cover of the book saying it should be ‘Flight from Heathrow’ rather than ‘Flight from Deathrow’ and apologises for anyone thinking this was a book about someone waiting to die, it’s actually a book about a person waiting to fly! You’ve just entered the world of Harry Hill.

In most book reviews about normal novels you’ll have a detailed description of the plot and in depth analysis of a few of the main characters, this is no normal novel as there is no discernible plot and the main characters are in fact quite minor. The book is essentially made up of 52 short chapters these inter-weave with each other in a slightly confusing but ultimately very rewarding way. If you’ve ever seen Harry Hill whether it be on tv or live you’ll know that his jokes are somewhat unique. He’ll often start talking about something that at the time doesn’t seem that funny but later on maybe as much as 10-15mins later he’ll refer back to it with what you would traditionally say is the punchline but with Harry Hill it’s just another in the long line of laughs. This book has this feel to it, you think you’re being led to almost what seems like a story, even a slight plot, but then he’ll go off on a tangent and explain some bizarre happenings that happened to a character that he was talking about.

I don’t want to spoil the book for you but I want to give you a good idea of what you will be letting yourself into if you read this book. It’s a stream of consciousness that flows forth from Harry Hills pen onto the page and it’s a consciousness that knows no bounds of silliness and damn absurdity! Famous talking pigs, Alan Titchmarsh’s withered twin, an agent who gets mixed up with the Isle of Sheppey and the shop River Island and a myriad of famous to mildly famous people in ridiculous scenarios such as having Prince Edward as a lodger with 20 pygmies and Deng Xiao Ping coming to England mainly to get the latest Status Quo album plus he’s staying a B&B while here!

Throughout the book you’ll see Harry Hills own drawings interpreting the situations he is describing, they are just as bizarre as the book. He is obviously no great drawer but manages to get his maps of the areas he is drawing across to you in a child like simplicity. At the end of the book you’ll notice a complicated flow diagram which shows how all the people he has mentioned in the book inter-link with each other and you’ll be amazed that someone could think up this silliness and actually have it make some sense in relation to each other.

The best way to read this book is one chapter at a time due to the fact that one chapter does not necessarily follow on from the last. However, this is very hard as you just want to immerse yourself in Harry Hills brain for just that little bit longer and take you away from the mundane world around you. I found myself often laughing out loud and re-reading certain parts again as I found them so funny.

Of course, Harry Hill is not for everyone some people actually don’t get his humour or just don’t find him funny. If you are one of these people do not buy this book you won’t like it. If you are a great fan of Harry or you are curious as to how silly this book really or would just like an immensely funny book to read is I suggest you go out and buy it straight away. At £5.99 it’s a steal or just rent it from the library.

Sorted, respect due!
 

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