Starter for ten - David Nicholls > Reviews > I challenge you not to laugh at this book

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?	Maybe
Story	Good
Characters	Good
Listenability	Once you start it, you won't be able to switch it off!
How does it compare to similar audio books?	Very good
How does it compare to audio works by the same author?	Not applicable

Advantages:	funny, realistic, real journey down memory lane
Disadvantages:	bit long winded, began to hate the main character

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

In my opinion university days are the happiest days of our lives not school days. However they can be problematic especially at first, as you deal with new freedoms, meeting new people who may or may not be similar to you and trying to work out who you are whilst trying so hard to be somebody else. Does this sound familiar? This was to an extent my experience of university as a Fresher and it must have been the same for Cold Feet writer David Nicholls. His debut novel Starter For 10 is a witty, insightful comedy about university life including that television institution University Challenge.

The year is 1985. Do you remember it? I sort of do. Brian Jackson our narrator and “hero” of the book certainly does. This was the year that the working class lad left behind his widowed Woolie's employee of a mum with his best friends from school Tone and Spencer back in f Southend to seek that powerful substance called knowledge. His destination is an unnamed university. From this a stony of unrequited love, pretentiousness, foot in mouth syndrome and a use for his useless general knowledge ensues, as he gets on the university Challenge team whilst trying to get off with his ideal woman Alice Harbinson.ha
Starter for Ten has a similar quality to the wonderful “The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets” in the fact that it is time specific and timeless at the same time. I say this as the period of the 1980s is very specific. Nicholl's evokes the era so well in his description of films, fashion, political issues and music. However as I have already mentioned if you have left home to go to university or college you will really warm to this book. I saw so much of Duskman and myself in Brian. There were so many scenes where I could take myself back 12 years and understand the situation completely. I remember arriving at university and meeting so many people that I ended up avoiding as I could not stand th sight of them. I remember dire themed hall parties and house mates I did not particularly like but I had to live with them. Nicholl's portrays these instances with realism and a good dose of comedy which made me laugh and remember what idiots we all were then as well as looking at the time with great fondness.

One of the more serious points that I empathised with was the split between home and university life and the not quite feeling right in your old world. At times I thought sorry for Brian as he struggled to understand what was happening in his old world. He finds a number of changes as his mother finds companionship elsewhere. I think these scenes along with the ones of him and his mates were particularly tender, poignant but perhaps a little bit difficult. Again I could empathise, as I found myself a bit of an outsider in my own family as my sister and mum got closer. That's what made this book a fairly good read to me.

Th characteristion is interesting. I got to know Brian fairly well as the book is told in the first person narrative so we are privy to all his personal thoughts and perceptions of the events that happen. Brian is the only character in fiction that I liked at the beginning of the book but began to dislike halfway through. At first he comes across as naive, a bit geeky but still one of the lads, however halfway through he begins to really annoy me due to his immaturity failings to see signals especially with his relationships with females which to everyone else including the reader stick out like a Christan Union Student in a riotous student party. You could see what was going to happen and you just wanted him to realise it. A lot of the situations were amusing but you felt you were laughing at Brian rather than with him as a lot of the scrapes he finds himself in are so cirngeworthy. I also found that these scrapes became monotonous after a while as I ploughed through pages of Brian loves Alice but does she love him? Due to this I felt a little bit restless in the middle of the book. iI really could have been at least 50 pages shorter than the 496 pages it was.

The other thing I noticed about the characters were how pretentious a lot of them were from the main characters to the bit parts such as Christ the gap year student and his tales of toilet habits in India. The one character I found likable but pretentious at the same time was Rebbecca Epstein, Brian's, friend, sparring partner and maybe love interest (when he was not idolisng Alice). We've all met a Rebeca at university. She is the right on. often socialist politics student with the social conscious who supports every single cause going. They often and up running for Student Union President then going on to other things. I can certainly think of a couple of Rebeccas from my time at university. However there was one thing that irked me about Rebecca. She was supposed to be Glaswegian but there was very little hint of an accent in Nicholl's writing apart from stating it was harsh, but later it is stated she is the daughter of a consultant paediatrician. I really could not place her voice at all due to the two conflicting pieces of information. I did like her as she was witty and sarcastic even if she was trying too hard.

One little touch I liked presentation wise was the way the chapter and section headings were formulated. Sections were known as rounds to emphasise the University Challenge theme whilst the chapters began with a University Challenge style question and the answer being linked to the events or theme of the chapter. I just think it was little details like that that made the book for me.

I could see Starter for Ten being read by both males and female equally. I see it as quite laddish in parts but with a hint of not too sloppy romance. I could see this appealing to Nick Hornby, Tony Parsons and Mike Gayle readers. It really is one for those in their twenties, thirties forties. It is definitely one for those who remember the 1980s vividly. I doubt a teenager would enjoy it as they would not be able to relate to it.

The book does have its faults. It is a bit predictable in parts and it could do with being a little shorter but all in all this was a funny, tender and insightful book which I found to be a very easy read. Read this and remember all those lousy alcohol fulled student parties and pretentious tutorials quoting a lot of waffle (arts students only). Thank you David Nicholls for taking me back twelve years to those halcyon years of Stirling University.

Start erfor Ten can be bought on Amazon for the bargain price of £1 at the moment