The Sound of Laughter |
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Pages: 368 (Hardcover) ISBN: 1846051614 Pub: Century Pub date: 2006-10-02 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 6319 |
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Reader Reviews:
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!! (0/0 people found this helpful)
PICKED THIS UP AT MY LOCAL CHARITY SHOP, NOT NORMALLY INTO THIS TYPE OF BOOK BUT IT WAS THE BEST £1.20 I HAVE EVER SPENT. I LAUGHED UNTIL I NEARLY CHOKED AND THAT WAS THE ONLY REASON FOR PUTTING IT DOWN, MUCH TO MY FAMILIES ANNOYANCE. DEFINATLEY WORTH A READ.
From Bolton with love (0/0 people found this helpful)
Peter Kay's popular autobiography is really standard zero-to-hero comic froth but told with a little more warmth and considerably less ego than most. He does state within his book that he loathes writing and I could sense the dead hand of a ghost writer at times, especially on the occasions when fairly simple jokes had to be spelt out. The format is entirely anecdotal and peppered with references to his love of music and cinema but there is no mention of women (in the romantic sense), save the incident that led to his marriage. The early pages were a little slow off the mark but took off once young Peter's education was left to the mercy of Catholic nuns (an experience I shared, with profoundly less enthusiasm). This section contained the only (slightly) angry passage when he described how as a class of 11 year-olds they had been subjected to a graphic slide-show on abortion, complete with a life-size plastic foetus, an action elsewhere in society that would have resulted in prosecution, I'm sure. However, the tragicomic part of the book lay in his experiences in a series of heart-sinking, low-paid jobs while trying to complete a performing arts course and pass his driving test: in a service station, as a toilet roll packer, a card-crusher in Netto supermarket, a `customer care' assistant in a bingo hall, a mobile DJ and cinema usher. It is in this sad and hidden world of ordinary people going about their daily lives that there was such a wealth of hilarious material. What a relief it was to hear about eccentric and lunatic individuals in a country reduced in recent years to mind-numbing shopping mall uniformity. Then, a little rushed, university under false pretences, an HND in Media Performance, auditions, awards and fame. A clean-living, non-macho northern comedian, and brilliant comic actor, who fully deserves the accolades heaped upon him, Peter Kay has produced a feel good autobiography that will be loved by his fans, though it lacks the bite and the gusto of his performances. After I had finished, though, I couldn't help reflecting mournfully on those hapless multitudes that can't escape the drudgery and instead are condemned to a 45 year working life of card-crushing. Try and squeeze a laugh out of that.
A Self Made Man who Worships his Creator (0/0 people found this helpful)
Oh dear! I'm a fan of Phoenix Nights but not a fan of his working man's club style of stand up but after this I'll love the work but not the man. I wasn't expecting a deep exploration of his soul merely a bit of honesty and self criticism. Yes, he is a working class lad who has became a household name but to boast about himself achieving vocational qualifications years ago seems a bit petty from a multimillionaire. He happily mocks people from his past but if he showed his real insecurities and honestly discussed his inner demons the reader would feel more sympathetic towards him. Instead, it reads like the transcript of a boasting, boring self-made egomaniac. For all I know Kay is a lovely man but this book at least doesn't convey that at all. In fact, this a really boring book.
Boring, boring, boring (1/1 people found this helpful)
I thought this one of the most boring, ordinary books I have read. Nothing particularly interesting and it is one of the few books I have just given up on and not read to the end.
A great read - gentle, honest & very funny! (1/1 people found this helpful)
This is an honest book written how Peter Kay actually talks. You can almost hear him reading it to you! A very enjoyable read. I took the book on holiday and embarrassed myself several times by laughing heartily out loud in public! So the title is very apt indeed! Read the book & make your own mind up, but give it a chance!!!
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> General
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English