Diary of a Somebody

Product Information

The hero is one of life's ineffectual losers and he is by turns infuriating, embarrassing, pitiable and engaging and the reader shares his ups and (mostly) downs. Part tender love story, part murder mystery, part coruscating description of a wasted life, and interspersed with some of the funniest poems about the mundane and the profound, Diary of a Somebody is the most original novel you will read this year. With over 250,000 followers on social media, Brian has become truly beloved by the online community. The book picked up in excitement in the ninth month, but it was too late, and even though the book became more exciting, the main character never improved quite enough for you to feel too happy about any good coming his way. The repetition of Brian blowing each chance of intimacy with Liz, for example, becomes a sort of purgatory.

He has published two collections of poetry, You Took the Last Bus Home (Unbound, 2016) and Alexa, what is there to know about love?I simply cannot laugh at a pathetic nincompoop who deserves every bad thing that happens to him, maybe even more. I've never read poetry before, but this book has a story with a little poetry thrown in, that will make you laugh and make you cry. Liberally sprinkled with custard creams, Wittgenstein and book clubs, it is a wonderful, beautiful book. It has a sardonic edge that really appeals to my sense of humour and it's just a pleasure from start to finish.

I was looking forward to this book so much, and found it so compelling (with liberal splatterings of guffaw-out-loud) that I devoured it in a few sittings the first time, and then felt so bereft that I keep having to dip back into it. The Oldie * If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston -- Richard Osman Achingly funny. However, by the middle of the book the too-clever-by-half poems and incessant painting of Brian as a hapless Some mother's do 'ave 'em sad-sack began to pall.Bilston is a magician with words, but he’s no storyteller; the plot is on the level of a sitcom, as are its characters. Fragilities, lack of confidence and a serious custard cream habit conspire to make his life less than ideal, but along the way we see that human relationships are the important stuff of life. Photograph: Alamy View image in fullscreen Diary of a Somebody focuses on Brian, a 45-year-old sad sack with a yen for custard creams. Not halfway through the book and I just can't take anymore of this male Bridget Jones who reliably screws everything up and is deeply, inconsistently stupid (doesn´t know who Gaudi is! Read this novel in short bursts, pausing to savour its individual brilliancies * Guardian * Bilston is the greatest English anti-hero of our time.

Nobody must find out about this unique gem, because I’m giving it to EVERYONE, and I want to appear clever and discerning. Bilston’s book of poems, on the other hand, allows the reader to dip in at will; like Brian’s beloved custard creams, they are best consumed in twos or threes, rather than upending the whole packet at once. But there is an obstacle to his happiness in the form of Toby Salt, his arch nemesis in the Poetry Group and rival suitor to Liz, Brian’s new poetic inspiration.or Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim; or it may be lit up by a character of memorable monstrousness (Elizabeth Taylor’s Angel Deverell in Angel, Philip Roth’s Mickey Sabbath in Sabbath’s Theater … name your favourite). A really light-hearted read, comprising many humorous and clever poems and amusing day-to-day events as Brian tries to cope with his boring job, his mad next-door neighbour, the members of his poetry club and book club and his broken marriage.