Customer Reviews
Bitter and twisted in suburbia - By: Annabel Gaskell, 11 Aug 2008 
"This novel of suburban carryings on is not your standard chick lit - it's far too bitter & twisted for that - 'chick noir' is the new sub-genre apparently!
Setin an up & coming area of South London, it's a novel about growing up, suburbia & shagging - following the stories of two families with horrid kids who force themselves to become best friends - a potent recipe for disaster.
Written with acerbic wit & a sense of underlying darkness by one of the UK's best comediennes, this is a book, like her stand-up, which isn't afraid to make you emotional - anger, laughter & sadness are allin there; yet despite a cast of mainly unloveable characters, you do hope that they all make it through ..."
Clever but grim - By: Claire E, 10 Mar 2008 
I found this book terribly sad. What a bleak view of middle class lifein South London & the ageing process, & the hatred that mothers can feel for children who don't match their expectations. I did read itin a couple of days though, so it obviously had something - an exciting plot & some witty observations.
Refreshingly Non Chick Lit Territory - By: R. Harrison, 12 Jan 2008 
Clearly this book polarises people into two camps; love it or hate it. I was actually searching Jenny Eclair the authorin the hope that she'd written something else recently, so it clear which camp I fall in.
Camberwell Beauty is laugh out loud funny, observant, wry & refreshingly realistic. And hooray, for once, a book with an unexpected, breath taking ending. Perhaps the 'hate its' have overdosed on regular chicklit & are pining for the standard fare so here we go.
Good old Chris comes to Anna's rescue & stands by her, reducing her to grateful tears & she vows never to take him for granted again. Jo catches MRSA whilst at the hospital, loses three stone & Nigel finally fallsin love with her. They renew their wedding vows, & no one is more happy for them than Anna & Chris.
Is that better?
a good holiday read but you wouldn't read it twice - By: J. Kirk, 15 Aug 2007 
i find jenny eclair rather amsuing & her narrative style will be familiar to anybody who has seen her live on television or on stage.
i found myself laughing out loud once or twice which doesn't often happen during a novel.
however the ending is unexpected butin a disappointing way & the whole book is riddled with spelling mistakes. i must have counted cocoAnuts at least 12 times & no Irish person would spell their child's name SinAEd instead of SinEAd.
also during one nearly fatal accident Eclair forgets which children arein the danger zone & simply puts a childin the building that had no logical reason to be there.
the book also at 407 pages seemed to go on a bit too long & when i got to the last page i instinctively turned the page to read the next chapter only to find there wasn't one.
on the whole, a witty & interesting book that was spoilt by poor editing, carelessness & at least fifty pages too many.
The most joyless book I've ever read. - By: Little Miss Quirky, 13 Aug 2006 Still, I read itin a day, because you can't deny it's clever & shrewd. I must also warn you it's incredibly crude. But I wonder how a comedian can view life from such a dark & hopeless point. The book even made me a little bit depressed. I read her second book first, which was writtenin a similar style, & good up to a point, the ending was really a bodge jobin my opinion, looked like she got tired of her characters. The books are 'quality paperback' but I'm not touching her creations (if she writes another one) any more, they are too depressing.
