A Tiny Bit Marvellous

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I had high hopes for this book, but found it sadly lacking in originality, laughs and an engaging story.

Combined with the fulfilment of a recklessly wonderful dream at the end, this left me warmly reaffirmed at the end. The story follows certain events in the lives of Mo, who is about to turn 50 and hovering on the edge of an extra-marital affair with a younger man. This book seems to take as its premise that not only are teenagers constantly (and I mean constantly) at a fever pitch of screaming and hating their parents, but also that that emotional lability (screw you, Goodreads, that is too a word) and immaturity and utter lack of self-awareness continues through everyone's entire lives. Their relationships with each other which can be warm, loving, frustrating, funny, annoying and angry either separately or all at once is typical of family confined to sharing the same living space.Written in diary format, with each chapter narrated by a different voice, this is a hilarious, sharp and utterly compelling novel about the ups and down of family, sibling rivalry and growing up. Peter (or Oscar as his chapters are named) is head over heels in love with Noel, Mo’s new assistant at work and has daily fantasies about the perfect smoking jacket. Der graue Alltag hat sie so sehr aufgesogen, dass kein Farbklecks mehr übrig blieb, an dem sie sich hätte erfreuen können. As a 19 year old myself, the way that French wrote the teenager really irritated me, having her concerned with very little else but, like, prom and like, her ex-boyfriend that she totally doesn't even want anymore but is actually, like, completely 100% in love with, FYI. I chose this book to take with me on holiday for the simple reasons that I wanted something light and humerous to read and that as a fan of Dawn French's comedic talent I was interested to see if this would extend to her writing.

She's also self-obsessed and instead of attending Dora's eighteenth birthday party, she takes off to a hotel to meet her would-be lover - who fortuitously doesn't turn up. This book makes you realise that every person is going through one thing or another and you can never say that ‘X’ or ‘Y’ or ‘Z’ has it easy. Well it does happen (don’t worry) but you will have to stay focused on the book and not give it up because I have seen some bad reviews and I wonder why people didn’t get to the real depth of the book.Dva tinejdžera od 17 i 16 godina se čude što baka još uvijek zemljom hoda, a za mamu (dječjeg psihologa) je ionako najbolje da crkne, uz pregršt "krasnih" epiteta koje ne želim ni ponoviti, a svaki ima predznak "jebeno", kao da je to jedina riječ naučena u školi. in the process of writing a survival manual for parents of teens as she remains completely clueless about and/or at loggerheads with her own. The story is about a family -- Dad, who remains voiceless and nameless until the final scenes, Mom/Mo, a surprisingly uninsightful child psychologist, Dora, her 17-year-old ditzy daughter who sounds a lot more like a 14-year-old, and Peter/Oscar, her 16-year-old son with an Oscar Wilde obsession. Provjerila sam malo ocjene drugih čitatelja na Goodreadsu, začuđujuće (ili ne) ima jako puno jedinica i najčešće nisu pročitane do kraja.

The teenage daughter is written in Vicky Pollard's voice and is tediously hateful and self-loathing.Dora has no idea what she is going to do post high school (academics are not her strong suit), she’s just been dumped by her first real boyfriend and she regularly employs a creative if rather rude string of adjectives to describe her mother.

At first I warmed to Mo, finding her narrative light hearted and amusing, a character I could find empathy with. The book is written entirely in first person, and each chapter is titled after the name and age of the person narrating.There’s a completely different set up and mood created in each character’s diary entry so it’s all really enjoyable.