Jo Brand - Sorting Out Billy

52 Books in 52 weeks - Book 3

46 weeks to go

This is comedienne Jo Brand’s debut novel and the first book I have read of hers. The book is the story of two friends, Martha and Flower, and how they wish to ‘sort out’ the boyfriend of another friend, Sarah who is being hit by him. The story moves at a cracking pace and there are no dull moments. It is mainly dialogue led with supposed witty one-liners from some of the characters. I was expecting a funnier book than I got. Whilst domestic violence is not something to laugh at, there are other opportunities to make us laugh in this book, and whilst Brand’s observational humour was present in places it didn’t cut on paper like it may have done on TV. My main gripe however is with the characters. We don’t meet them in any depth, and this isn’t what really annoyed me, it is the number of stereotypes – such as the tall, willowy hippy called Flower or the strict, humourless vicar parent. I definitely feel that Brand needed to develop her characters a bit more.

Fortunately sorting out Billy isn’t the only thing that the lead characters do in this book do, they have driving lessons, giving birth and a dubious career in stand up comedy to deal with, amongst other things, which is what keeps this book readable. There is a lot happening and you do wonder how certain characters will extract themselves from certain (sometimes highly unlikely) situations, and for the most part, Brand delivers a good solution, the end of the book is very weak however, as Brand seems to be in a hurry to finish and tie up the loose ends, in a way that makes the reader feel a little bit disappointed.