Product Description

A satire about competitive, over-protective parents driving their children to tutors, to ballet, to insanity ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20529 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Synopsis
Alice never imagined that she would end up like this. Is she the only mother who feels so permanently panic-stricken at the terrors of the modern world - or is it normal to sit up in bed all night popping bubble wrap? She worries that too much gluten and dairy may be hindering her children's mental arithmetic. She frets that there are too many cars on the road to let them out of the 4x4. Finally she resolves to take control and tackle her biggest worry of all: her daughter is definitely not going to fail that crucial secondary school entrance exam. Because Alice has decided to take the test in her place...With his trademark comic eye for detail, John O'Farrell has produced a funny and provocative book that will make you laugh, cry and vow never to become that sort of parent. And then you can pass it on to your seven-year-old, because she really ought to be reading grown-up novels by now...

From the Back Cover
Alice never imagined that she would end up like this. Is she the only mother who feels so permanently panic-stricken at the terrors of the modern world – or is it normal to sit up in bed all night popping bubble wrap? She worries that too much gluten and dairy may be hindering her children’s mental arithmetic. She frets that there are too many cars on the road to let them out of the 4x4. Finally she resolves to take control and tackle her biggest worry of all: her daughter is definitely not going to fail that crucial secondary school entrance exam. Because Alice has decided to take the test in her place…

With his trademark comic eye for detail, John O’Farrell has produced a funny and provocative book that will make you laugh, cry and vow never to become that sort of parent. And then you can pass it on to your seven-year-old, because she really ought to be reading grown-up novels by now…

About the Author
John O'Farrell:
John O’Farrell is the author of two bestselling novels, THE BEST A MAN CAN GET and THIS IS YOUR LIFE, and the bestselling memoir THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER. His name has flashed past at the end of such productions as SPITTING IMAGE, HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU and CHICKEN RUN. He writes a weekly column in the Guardian and a collection of his journalism was recently published as GLOBAL VILLAGE IDIOT. He lives in London with his wife and two children.

Customer Reviews

Alternate
I found this novel highly unreal - therefore astonishing. It was very interesting to read these reviews. Generally I have to say I disagree with most of the other viewers, as I did not find it funny, I found it so unbelieveable I rather chuckled at it. It looks like it was a fiction but it is rather like a story resembling to Oz. And how could anyone suppose to get real-life characters out of an eerie tale? I don't deem the storyline to be as interesting as the world created by this novel. I don't think it's about school selection, as some people said, either. Just enter the creation of JOF and let it take you to a different reality. That's how I felt. Thanks, John.
Ps. And do not think school selection is not an issue in Hungary. I have to enroll my baby for his/her starting nursery right when he/she is born (so I know for sure his/her name). Otherwise when he/she becomes 2 years old there will be no empty place in the nursery. And this is just the beginning!

Wow!
I am only a child and I loved it! I picked it up one weekend when I was fiddling near the bookshelf. I had been totally bored until I began reading it. I could not put it down. It is hilariously funny and suprisingly accurate. I would reccomend it for people of any age, yes people, I'M ONLY 11 !!!!!!!! John O'farrell has written, in my opinion, a potential best-seller! GO JOHN!

Q: When is a novel not a novel? A: When it doesn't contain any characters
This fairly enjoyable comic novel may well contain nuts, but it doesn't contain any characters. I rattled through it in two days and even laughed OUT LOUD occasionally (the holy grail of comedy) but personally I prefer my novels with actual three-dimensional characters as opposed to paper-thin stereotypes. `May Contain Nuts' is basically one long, extended comedy sketch. If you want to know what it's about, think Catherine Tate as that uptight middle class mum who goes into meltdown when the breakfast eggs aren't organic.

True comedy has an undercurrent of intelligence sorely lacking here. If you actually need someone to point out to you that not all comprehensive schools are drug-fuelled dens of iniquity and not every black teenager is looking to mug you, then here's the book you've been waiting for. Well-paced and amusing but deeply, horribly patronizing.