thisbeauden's review against another edition
3.0
3.75/5 ⭐ just when i thought i couldn’t hate men more.
heavywater's review
4.0
I was laughably too young to have read this in 4th grade, but I did, and I didn't understand a lot of it so I thought it was sorta dumb.
Years later I found it again, and it is anything but dumb. It explores complicated feelings of duty, romantic love, platonic love, and indestructible friendship. This is one of those books that read like you're watching a show, and I really like it this reread.
Years later I found it again, and it is anything but dumb. It explores complicated feelings of duty, romantic love, platonic love, and indestructible friendship. This is one of those books that read like you're watching a show, and I really like it this reread.
kalkie's review
1.0
Ugh! I've really really struggled with this book, which I hate - especially when I was looking forward to reading it.
I found Syal's writing truly awful. I made it approximately ⅔ of the way through this book before giving up and skim-reading the last bits to find out what happened. I thought the writing was shallow and two-dimensional, the characters were unrealistic, and the ending inevitable. There were no funny bits - not even a paragraph that raised a smile - which I found disappointing from someone with seemingly as much comic talent as Syal seems to have. The whole book read as a short-story that had been lengthened into a full-length book with very little success. Anyone who can use the word "leonine" in 200 pages should, in my opinion, stick to other media!
I found Syal's writing truly awful. I made it approximately ⅔ of the way through this book before giving up and skim-reading the last bits to find out what happened. I thought the writing was shallow and two-dimensional, the characters were unrealistic, and the ending inevitable. There were no funny bits - not even a paragraph that raised a smile - which I found disappointing from someone with seemingly as much comic talent as Syal seems to have. The whole book read as a short-story that had been lengthened into a full-length book with very little success. Anyone who can use the word "leonine" in 200 pages should, in my opinion, stick to other media!
samhuss's review
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
survivalisinsufficient's review
3.0
This was a downer and kind of boring, but I did finish it. Three Indian friends in London and their experiences surrounding a documentary made by one of them that featured the other two.
weekatsie's review
3.0
Not as good as Anita and Me, but still enjoyable and at times funny. Sometimes I felt the characters were a bit exaggerated, which made everything that bit less believable. But I still found myself eager to pick up the book and continue with their stories, and overall would recommend it.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Meera Syal should be Lady Sybil because she should. (And if you haven't seen Meera Syal in the first season of The Split, you should correct that).
This novel traces the events in the lives of three women who have been friends since children. Then Tania makes a film that lies bare what life is like for her two friends. This and an other event leads to a rupture.
The best thing about the book is the use of narration. Syal uses thirds person but at various chapters, she allows the women - Tania, Sunita, Chila to speak for themselves. The voices of the three women are totally different from each other, so even without the section headings, you know who is speaking. Additionally Tania, Sunita, and Chila all might be "sterotypical" in the roles they have been assigned, but Syal inverts and subverts those sterotypes.
Additionally, she touches on the conflicts between long time white and usually older residents and the changing nature of neighborhoods.
This novel traces the events in the lives of three women who have been friends since children. Then Tania makes a film that lies bare what life is like for her two friends. This and an other event leads to a rupture.
The best thing about the book is the use of narration. Syal uses thirds person but at various chapters, she allows the women - Tania, Sunita, Chila to speak for themselves. The voices of the three women are totally different from each other, so even without the section headings, you know who is speaking. Additionally Tania, Sunita, and Chila all might be "sterotypical" in the roles they have been assigned, but Syal inverts and subverts those sterotypes.
Additionally, she touches on the conflicts between long time white and usually older residents and the changing nature of neighborhoods.
formlessbeing's review
5.0
an enjoyable read and one of my first "diaspora novels". meera syal weaves tales of infidelity, diaspora, love, and loss into the grossly engaging lives of four immigrant desi women in london attempting to reconnect the disjointment in their lives. the women in this novel seemed so profound in their complexity and enveloped in the harshness in reality, that i found myself relating to every single one of them in some way or the other. to label this novel as simply a chick flick would be a disservice-- i think syal was really onto something here
crazygoangirl's review
3.0
My second book of the year and the one that finally broke the reading rut I've found myself in for too long now! I've seen Syal on TV in the Brit sitcoms she's appeared in but never read her. Having now read her, I must say I like her writing better than her acting!
'Life isn't all Ha Ha Hee Hee' is the story of three friends, three women Tania, Chila and Sunita, bound together by an inherent streak of independence and a underlying desire to break free from the Punjabi roots that bind them all. Each rebellious in their own way, the story traces their journey through Chila's unexpectedly 'fortunate' nuptials; Sunita's crumbling marriage and Tania's existential angst. Through the inevitable roller coaster that is Life, they love, support and betray each other in turns making for an interesting if unoriginal storyline.
What kept me reading was Syal's sharp, funny often vicious wit; her direct no-nonsense prose; and her considerable understanding of the migrant Punjabi Brit community that the girls belong to. She writes with complete conviction and an authentic sympathy, which helped me understand the 'how and why' of things even when I didn't agree with them. This book was first published in 1999 and yet manages to feel undated. Perhaps the concerns and problems of migrant populations have changed in today's world, but given recent events around the globe, I doubt it. This book brought home to me not how much time changes us but how much we stay unchanged despite it's onslaught.
An interesting and absorbing read that will stay with me and that has made me want to read Syal's debut award-winning novel, Anita & Me.
'Life isn't all Ha Ha Hee Hee' is the story of three friends, three women Tania, Chila and Sunita, bound together by an inherent streak of independence and a underlying desire to break free from the Punjabi roots that bind them all. Each rebellious in their own way, the story traces their journey through Chila's unexpectedly 'fortunate' nuptials; Sunita's crumbling marriage and Tania's existential angst. Through the inevitable roller coaster that is Life, they love, support and betray each other in turns making for an interesting if unoriginal storyline.
What kept me reading was Syal's sharp, funny often vicious wit; her direct no-nonsense prose; and her considerable understanding of the migrant Punjabi Brit community that the girls belong to. She writes with complete conviction and an authentic sympathy, which helped me understand the 'how and why' of things even when I didn't agree with them. This book was first published in 1999 and yet manages to feel undated. Perhaps the concerns and problems of migrant populations have changed in today's world, but given recent events around the globe, I doubt it. This book brought home to me not how much time changes us but how much we stay unchanged despite it's onslaught.
An interesting and absorbing read that will stay with me and that has made me want to read Syal's debut award-winning novel, Anita & Me.