I enjoyed The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman. It’s not perfect but it avoids most of the pitfalls which could have spoiled it and I found it readable, amusing and touching.
Let’s face it, it could have been dreadful: a twelve-year-old boy with psoriasis dreams of doing a comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe with his best friend (who is the funny one) but the best friend dies suddenly. His single mum and her very elderly friend decide to help him do a Fringe show anyway, and try to find out who his father is, to boot. It could be sloppy, sentimental, manipulative drivel and I’m not even sure why I tried it, to be honest – but I’m glad I did because it’s nothing of the kind.
Part of what makes it so good is the narrative voices of both Norman and his mum, Sadie. Both are convincing, insightful in their own ways and amusing, too. Norman’s slightly naive but thoughtful and often funny take on things (like the grief of losing your best and only friend) is both powerful and very engaging, as is Sadie’s angst-ridden parental outlook. Julietta Henderson manages to avoid sentimentality to a great extent (I was especially impressed with the way she dealt with the book’s climax of The Show itself) and shows us two people dealing with real difficulties and growing, while avoiding the trite, hammered-home Life Lessons which so often pollute books like this. The search for Norman’s dad is well done, I think, although the ending does get pretty ridiculous and perhaps just spills over into schmaltz a little – but I could forgive that because much of the book is so good.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It’s a very good, enjoyable read with some genuine content and I can recommend it.
(My thanks to Bantam Press for an ARC via NetGalley.)
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