Dolly Alderton/Pandora Sykes

[Mbella]

I read the free Kindle sample of Dolly's book. She is a good writer (with a tendency to over-describe things) but I don't have a sense of who Nina is other than a food writer (yawn) who loves her dad and has various wry observations about her friends.

Also Bromley gets another knock - what is it with her and Bromley? It was Penge in her last book; now another dig at the borough, or the town itself - who knows? It's probably all the same to her

We learn that Nina used to be a teacher who transitioned to freelance writing - now, that would be a more interesting story to tell, but I expect Dolly just dropped in this detail to make Nina sound less privileged.

These are just my niggles though. It seems fine, if you're interested in reading about freelancers who grew up in a comfortable middle-class setting. I'm one of those, and I'm not.

I expect it will get loads of massively over-the-top praise.

 

[Cloak]

I’m reading it now and it is an engaging read. She is a good writer for sure, way more talent in her little finger than her contemporaries (do we include Laura Jane Williams in there? Feels wrong to give LJW that much credit). I very much enjoyed the first date scene, possibly as I am also a north London dweller and it is very “relatable” (lol). But yes I’m sure people will either be hyper critical of it or overly gushing in their praise, but so far I’m interested and want to continue reading to find out what happens.

I do agree that the freelance food writer thing is a bit of a yawn.

I hope Private Eye reviews Dolly's book- they have surpassed themselves with their recent reviews of Pandora Sykes and Caitlin Moran.

i so want to read that private eye review of Pandora’s book!

 

[ceebs233]

I’m reading it now and it is an engaging read. She is a good writer for sure, way more talent in her little finger than her contemporaries (do we include Laura Jane Williams in there? Feels wrong to give LJW that much credit). I very much enjoyed the first date scene, possibly as I am also a north London dweller and it is very “relatable” (lol). But yes I’m sure people will either be hyper critical of it or overly gushing in their praise, but so far I’m interested and want to continue reading to find out what happens.

I do agree that the freelance food writer thing is a bit of a yawn.



i so want to read that private eye review of Pandora’s book!

same - where is the review? And I read the extract from Dolly's newsletter today and bloody loved it. Unfortunately I am staying away from the book though as I don't have the mental strength to read about Alzheimer's.

 

[Love_hate_small_town]

I really want to read the private eye of Caitlin moran’s book. I’ve done a full circle with my feelings about her. Hated the sound of the new book but her recent interview with Adam Buxton on his podcast made me laugh so much (the bit about pirates). I’ll post the private eye review of Pandora’s on here as it’s no longer accessible in copy but I was so happy to get back into private eye and would heartily recommend giving it a go.

Hmmm... when I find it. I’m confident I kept that copy but may take some time to find

 

[Streakytanz]

I really want to read the private eye of Caitlin moran’s book. I’ve done a full circle with my feelings about her. Hated the sound of the new book but her recent interview with Adam Buxton on his podcast made me laugh so much (the bit about pirates). I’ll post the private eye review of Pandora’s on here as it’s no longer accessible in copy but I was so happy to get back into private eye and would heartily recommend giving it a go.

Hmmm... when I find it. I’m confident I kept that copy but may take some time to find

Thanks! Would love to read it! And I really enjoyed Caitlin Moran on Buxton too, it’s funny how easy it is to like and be massively irritated by someone at the same time.

 

[Whiskers]

I posted the Private Eye review on Caitlin’s thread if you want to read it

 

[LaurenRM]

Pleeeease post Pandora’s Private Eye article!

 

[maketheswitch]

Has Pandora mentioned ghosts around its publication day?

 

[TriviaNewtonJohn]

Has Pandora mentioned ghosts around its publication day?

They talked about it on the podcast.

 

[4dominoes]

dolly’s novel has had a skewering in the Irish times.
Interestingly the review was retweeted by Rachel Connolly, the journo who wrote the guardian article that caused pandy’s meltdown

 

[pancakesandspice]

Pretty scathing review of Ghost...

 

[Author123]

Woah. Not withstanding the last couple of weeks of improved podcasts, it wouldn’t surprise me if this critic is exactly right when he describes it as having too many words as I’ve always tended to feel that both P&D try on the podcast to display intelligence by trying to describe things with ten words when just one will do, just to show that they have a vocabulary.

 

[Lanavalentine]

The “Durex for the heart” line is abysmal!

 

[queenamber]

And here come all the subtweets criticizing the review from the usual suspects

 

[Lanavalentine]

I bought and read Ghosts on Kindle yesterday as I was at a loose end.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It’s an easy read and for the most part, well-written. I suppose having read others’ thoughts and that review, my bar was quite low, so I was pleasantly surprised.

The “Durex for the heart” line was the only bit that made me actively cringe, although a couple of attempts to add humour fell flat. I though in particular that the observations about the tensions around female friendships between mothers and childfree/childless women were spot on.

I do think, however, that Dolly’s snobbiness shines through at times. So much “not like other girls” subtext to Nina (and Lola) when they interact with other women, and the mentions of what Nina’s mum and her friend Gloria are wearing are dripping in unnecessary judgement.

I also noted Pandora was not mentioned in the acknowledgements. I did wonder if any part of Mark (manbaby side character) was based on Pandora’s husband - doesn’t he work in Sports PR, just like the character does?

 

[Mbella]

I do think, however, that Dolly’s snobbiness shines through at times. So much “not like other girls” subtext to Nina (and Lola) when they interact with other women, and the mentions of what Nina’s mum and her friend Gloria are wearing are dripping in unnecessary judgement.

I only read the free sample but I did think the bit about her mum was a rather appalling classist stereotype

 

[Justlurking1]

Sorry if I’ve missed it but has Ghosts done well in the book charts?

 

[cholulamare]

Sorry if I’ve missed it but has Ghosts done well in the book charts?

I'm not sure how the charts work but it was only released a few days ago.

 

[Cloak]

Sorry if I’ve missed it but has Ghosts done well in the book charts?

It looks to be in Waterstone's and Amazon's bestseller lists, but I don't know how to get an aggregated view of all the book charts, is it possible?

I bought and read Ghosts on Kindle yesterday as I was at a loose end.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It’s an easy read and for the most part, well-written. I suppose having read others’ thoughts and that review, my bar was quite low, so I was pleasantly surprised.

The “Durex for the heart” line was the only bit that made me actively cringe, although a couple of attempts to add humour fell flat. I though in particular that the observations about the tensions around female friendships between mothers and childfree/childless women were spot on.

I do think, however, that Dolly’s snobbiness shines through at times. So much “not like other girls” subtext to Nina (and Lola) when they interact with other women, and the mentions of what Nina’s mum and her friend Gloria are wearing are dripping in unnecessary judgement.

I also noted Pandora was not mentioned in the acknowledgements. I did wonder if any part of Mark (manbaby side character) was based on Pandora’s husband - doesn’t he work in Sports PR, just like the character does?

Did you read it in one go @Lanavalentine? I found myself really enjoying the first half probably more so than the second. It just felt a bit 'meh' by the end, and there was also a bit of a WTF moment which I found quite weird

 

[AdoraDelano]

Marian Keyes tweeted that Dolly's book is number 2 in the Sunday Times best seller list.