Starter for ten - David Nicholls > Reviews > Life Starts Here

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?	Maybe
Story	Satisfactory
Characters	Good
Listenability	A good listen when you've got the time
How does it compare to similar audio books?	Very good
How does it compare to audio works by the same author?	Not applicable

Advantages:	You may be able to see yourself in the characters
Disadvantages:	Often more cringeworthy than amusing

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Going to university is often a life changing experience. For some it is a further step on the way to a chosen career that could last the rest of their lives. For others, it's a chance to expand their knowledge in a subject they may have enjoyed at school or never had the chance to study before. For even more, as it was for me, it's a lesson in life; a chance to live away from parents for the first time and to meet new people and new ideas.

This last is certainly true for Brian Jackson, keen to get away from his clingy widowed mother and their house in Southend. Feeling intelligent by the standards of his closest friends, it's also a chance for him to mix with people he can have a decent conversation with. But for Brian Jackson, university means one thing more than any other - the chance to make an appearance on "University Challenge".

Sadly, whilst Brian may be intelligent enough for a televised general knowledge quiz, he's sadly lacking in wisdom about the ways of the world. He's not cool enough to appeal to the beautiful and upper class Alice Harbinson, who Brian falls immediately in lust with and he can't fake being lower class well enough to impress the socialist Rebecca. While Brian's intelligence may be the path to making all his dreams come true, his lack of worldly wisdom could prove to be his downfall along the way.

Although many of the characters may seem a little clichéd, they are the kind of people you can often meet on any university campus around the country. Whilst I personally can't recall meeting people exactly like them, there are aspects of every character that I can put a name to from my university days. Perhaps most worryingly of all, I can identify quite well with Brian as being the person I was when I first went to university.

It is this familiarity, not just with the people but also the situations that gives this book a little touch of realism. There are bits you can almost reach out and touch, similar to the fanaticism for everything Arsenal in Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch", or the impending disaster of a landmark birthday such as in Mike Gayle's "Turning Thirty". It may not be something you've experienced personally, but it is something close enough to home and accurately portrayed that you can know someone who has. Suddenly, you're not reading a work of fiction; you're a part of the story. It's not quite "This is Your Life", but it's a life you know, at least in part.

But it's not just life, it's a funny life. Yes, in some parts Nicholls has taken the most extremes of behaviour to help keep the reader amused, but he mostly manages to present even the most mundane of situations in such a way that you can't help but laugh.

But laughter isn't the most frequent thing you'll be doing as you read "Starter For Ten". For Brian is so hopeless that you can't help but cringe and squirm with embarrassment at many of his mishaps, particularly early on in the story. This is even more so if you've made similar mistakes yourself. As Brian kept putting his foot in it, missing the obvious and digging an ever deeper hole for himself in trying to make things right, I kept wanting to shout at him not to say or do what he was about to and save himself further humiliation.

But apart from having to look away in shared embarrassment with the characters, or having my concentration interrupted by the sheer naivete of their behaviour, this is a thoroughly engrossing book. It's rare to find so much you can identify with in any work of fiction, which makes me wonder if it wasn't based, at least in part, on the author's own time at university.

If you've ever been to university, particularly if you were there in the 1980's, when Brian Jackson was there, you need to read "Starter For Ten". If you've ever enjoyed "University Challenge" and wondered what the competitors have to go through to get on the show, you need to read "Starter For Ten".

The good news is that it's not too expensive to find a copy. Although the Amazon price of £5.59 or £5.49 at Play.com is perhaps a little steep, copies can be found at Green Metropolis for £3.75. Copies have also been seen from 99p on eBay and less than 30p at the Amazon Marketplace, which is a good price to pay for something that will bring back memories, although they may be more embarrassing than happy ones. 

Pictures for the review

Display pictures

2004 printing