“Adrian Mole meets Billy Liar with a running Holden Caulfield joke. Surprisingly funny.”
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
I heard about Ben’s book when it very deservedly won “BBC Radio 4 Book of the Year”. It’s the diary of Jay Golden a misunderstood teenager who makes a career of getting himself sacked.
These pieces had me laughing out loud at his misfortune and his hilarious antics, which get him into enormous trouble with his always stressed father.
There is also a serious side to this book, which had my mascara running, as I felt myself empathising with Jay, whose Mother is dying of cancer. The relationships between Jay and his family are all very relatable to everyone, I especially loved his relationship with his younger brother, who looks to his hapless older sibling for support at a difficult time in their lives.
