A very clever, poetic and entertaining read

Have just finished audibling “Diary of a Somebody”. A fun, funny, clever and sometimes poignant book. Love the literary policemen, Mrs McNulty and of course the cat + new light shed on bin days. Highly recommended. Have now ordered the print version so I can see as well as hear the words.

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Trying so hard to be diary of a nobody

It's ok, but the parody songs were annoying and painful and I had to fast forward them. It was obvious that Ben Miller was finding them cringey too.
I think it lacked real depth and humour. Occasionally it skirted around those things but then pulled back. I think this author rates himself more highly than he actually deserves. Questions at the end were unnecessary too.

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"Doing tricks and all that stuff..."

Brian Bilston,, the poet Laureate of Twitter, is on a roll 'doing tricks and all that stuff', like the dog in his poem who spontaneously combusted with a final 'woof'. It's all great fun bursting with puns, word games, acrostics, spoofs wrapped around a straggly old plot that, like Brian, never quite gets anywhere but provides lots of real laughter along the way.

Brian (not the author's real name) is a hopeless loser - he's lost his job for being useless; his wife has left him for being useless; he makes pitifully useless attempts at getting somewhere with Liz at his poetry society but manages each attempt with such cringeworthy imbecility that you can hardly bear to listen. But it's all harmless and humorous as Brian puts his experiences into daily poems, the topics of which reach new depths of banality - mixing up the recycling and landfill bin collection days for example - but which somehow manage to be funny.

His spoofs of familiar and unfamiliar poems and songs from TSEliot, the Bible,to Dylan Thomas and Kate Bush and loads more are often extremely clever, whilst others remain the dross which Brian knows they are which actually makes them funny. A disadvantage of listening is that you can't see the acrostics or flick back to re-read a poem. I loved the spoof of vicious Icelandic children's stories with the evil Papa Pumplecheeks. The poem written to his one true friend, his cat, who, Brian finds, has ceased to breathe is genuinely moving with the grief sealed around Brian's heart, His relationship with his son Dylan, batted between his mum, her grotesque new guy, and his hopeless dad is tender. Nothing in Twitterland in all its madness escapes Brian's light-hearted but heartfelt scorn..

What makes the whole of this worthwhile - even if Brian's love of custard creams and other themes are over-done - is the humanity of Brian and the combination of serious empathy and feeling with apparent silliness. Think about the title 'Advice for Removing Keyboard Tearstains':and then read the poem: ' If you happen to notice / your keyboard is dirty / use a water spray can / and give it a SQWERTY' Brian's poetry society with the hideously pretentious Toby Salt and his ridiculously nonsensical but high-riding volume This Bridge no Hands shall cleave is great stuff. Brian's ability to pun, re-make; twist and conjure words is a constant delight. Having read the ad urging a company to 'monetise your followers', Brian tells us how he did so by painting them with waterlilies.

It's very well read - just how Brian should sound like. Brian (or Paul Millicheap or whoever he is) deserves his Twitter followers!

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6 people found this helpful

Clever, funny, gentle

I was amazed at how quickly I was
drawn into this brilliant book. It made me laugh and immediately share my favourite lines...it never goes in quite the expected direction! A must for anyone who loves cats, music and words.
Superbly performed by Ben Miller!!

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2 people found this helpful

Bilston-tastic

I love this book. So funny, so clever, so poignant. The narration is as good as it can possibly get. The stirring rendition of Do not go lentil into that good pie makes Dylan Thomas look uninspired. Can't recommend enough

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1 person found this helpful

Beautifully written and narrated

Brian Bilston has a wonderful, playful way with words. An absolute joy, and riveting throughout!

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Perfect performance

Ben Miller is the best choice to narrate this gently humourous tale, and does an astonishing job with Bilston's unique poetic flights of fancy. Excellent story too and ideal for fans of Bilston and Sue Townsend.

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1 person found this helpful

Clever and inexhaustible

With this type of book, the humour is in the details. Every word counts, so listen carefully and without interruption. Highly enjoyable.

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A very different listen

This is an amusing book stuffed full of very clever poetry. I found it got better and better after a slowish start.
The narration is excellent and I listened to it with great pleasure.

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Perfect for audio rather than a book

The narrator is fantastic, so I’m delighted I decided to listen to this rather than read it. I don’t think I’d have done justice to the comic verse in my head, whereas the narration just made it even more funny. This made me literally laugh out loud every time I listened. Loved it.

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4 people found this helpful