Nick Hornby

Intrepid young Sophie Straw navigates her transformation from provincial ingénue to television starlet amid a constellation of eccentric characters in 1960s London. By the best-selling author of About a Boy.

Funny Girl

Cindy Lieberman

Charming, sweet and funny. The serious business of TV comedy.

A brilliant novel from the bestselling author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, and A Long Way Down. Set in 1960's London, Funny Girl is a lively account of the adventures of the intrepid young Sophie Straw as she navigates her transformation from provincial ingénue to television starlet amid a constellation of delightful characters. Insightful and humorous, Nick Hornby's latest does what he does best: endears us to a cast of characters who are funny if flawed, and forces us to examine ourselves in the process. From the Hardcover edition.

A Novel

Lauren Attaway

Usually when I hear a novel described as a "romp" a part of me sideeyes the rest of the review, but this novel is going to make me recant my own sarcasm. I really enjoyed `the light, breezy feeling of this novel. It felt like the ideal summer read, with just enough of an edge to the proceedings to keep my attention.

*I have to add that I did listen to this, so perhaps that impacted my review, as the voice of the narrator was so pleasant!

Chelsea White

** spoiler alert **
           For all the hype surrounding this book, I was pretty excited when I finally got through to the top of my library's hold list for it. I finally checked it out, and started slogging through the first few chapters waiting for the classic Nick Hornby feeling to take over me while reading. It alluded me until the end of the book and still seems a bit out of my grasp. I just didn't connect with any characters (although Barbara/Sophie made a good run for it) and the premise that Sophie had wanted to become a comedian seemed to be shucked as soon as she got on TV, which given the ferocity with which she took London, left me disappointed. Both Bill and Todd lament the loss of that spark they had when they first met Sophie and rewrote their series, yet instead of looking to Sophie for inspiration and help with her character and story (which seemed like the logical thing to me) they instead stayed stuck, sulking, and dispassionate, while fighting about the direction the show was going. I appreciated catching glimpses of every character's life throughout the series, and did a happy dance when Dennis and Sophie finally got together, but given that that plot point happened late in the book, I was essentially just reading to see if they would, in fact, end up together, which is not a good enough reason to have continued to read. Some books you like, some books you don't, and this was one of the latter, unfortunately.

Ben Nathan

This book is exactly why I love Nick Hornby. Fun, funny, charming, real. Far from perfect, but a great light read that will leave you smiling. Not to mention all of the sitcom talk that makes any sitcom fan happy.

Caitlin Berger

It started out super promising but didn't turn out as great as I was hoping. Still worth the read though!

Michael Hessling

Not as good as High Fidelity, but still a good read.

Suso

Crystal L

Kei demand 

Jeff James

A brilliant novel from the bestselling author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, and A Long Way Down. Set in 1960's London, Funny Girl is a lively account of the adventures of the intrepid young Sophie Straw as she navigates her transformation from provincial ingénue to television starlet amid a constellation of delightful characters. Insightful and humorous, Nick Hornby's latest does what he does best: endears us to a cast of characters who are funny if flawed, and forces us to examine ourselves in the process.

Sara Piteira 

Haley

John Elbing

Phil James

Marjan Westbroek

Ana Cob

Steffen Fagerström Christensen

Lewis Smith

"From the bestselling author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, and A Long Way Down comes a highly anticipated new novel. Set in 1960's London, Funny Girl is a lively account of the adventures of the intrepid young Sophie Straw as she navigates her transformation from provincial ingenue to television starlet amid a constellation of delightful characters. Insightful and humorous, Nick Hornby's latest does what he does best: endears us to a cast of characters who are funny if flawed, and forces us to examine ourselves in the process."--

Funny Girl

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