The only other Hornby I’ve read is High Fidelity (the film adaptation was meh). And I loved the film adaptation of About A Boy, so I wasn’t sure where this novel would go. I hadn’t planned on reading it, but one of my favorite podcasts, Pop Culture Happy Hour, announced they were going to do an episode a few months ago so I put it on hold and timed it almost perfectly to listen! (I missed the exact episode by a little less than week.)
I think the podcast hit the nail on the head when they talked about the story being more focused on “the show [Barabara (and Jim)] rather than the funny girl of the title, Barbara/Sophie. But what Hornby didn’t do, was show us the show; he only ever referred to specific gags, situations or dialogue. Someone on PCHH said it should’ve been called “The Show” and I can’t agree more. It would be a better title and I would definitely have chosen to read it if that were the title too!
This book ended better than it started, but wasn’t at all what I wanted. I hate having to write that, but it’s the truth! Even as I’m writing this I realize I’ll probably drop it from a three star to a two star rating on Goodreads when I post this, but I’m not sure – it’s probably a two-and-a-half star book. I was honestly relieved to see this was Wyler’s first novel as she shows a lot of potential and clearly I thought the story was an excellent creation, just the writing (or editing) needed a lot of work.
Apparently this was the perfect time to read this novel. If I would’ve read it any sooner I probably would’ve been upset or bothered by it, but I wasn’t and it was quite enjoyable.