F***ing Hell (Billy - Pamela Stephenson)

Member Name: Glory_FishesII

Product:	Billy - Pamela Stephenson
Date:	09/08/04 (194 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Billy

Disadvantages: Pamela

I have always laughed my socks off at the Big Yin. I have always had a bit of a crush on him if truth be told, with his wild hair and his wit and I even watched the very dubious Debt Collector because I think he's shaping up to be a rather fabulous actor. So to sum it up my impressions of Billy Connolly before this book were that he is a very funny talented man with a strange taste in clothes and the ability to swear more than me,(which is an accomplishment by itself!)

And so when I saw 'Billy' by Pamela Stephenson on sale as part of the two books for a tenner promotion at WH Smith I thought it would be the ideal travelling companion during my latest jaunt to visit friends.

Are you sitting comfortably?

I opened the book and gave it a quick inspection. I nosed at the pictures and the contents page and the end page before diving in (Sorry I'm strange like that) and I thought yes this seems suitably bizarre, I'll give it a go.

A few pages into Billy's family background and I was thinking 'Erm Ok so what has Billy's grandfather's pet budgie (a bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea) got to do with it in the grand scheme of things? '

Stephenson was confusing me with her little familial asides, charming little details I'm sure , but nevertheless confusing. I also flicked to the bit about the author herself to check whether she was indeed Australian, as I found the amount of Americanisms growing apace as the book progressed. Billy had a hard childhood , he was born in the squalor of the tenements of Glasgow, it had me thinking of Rab C Nesbitt. His mother left him and his sister to fend for themselves and as a result they were taken to live with two maiden aunts.

Right, you think that's pretty sad, but I felt that any pathos that could have been there was being pushed aside as Stephenson attempted to analyse his mother's motives. Interesting enough withi
n the realms of a pop psychology self help book, but perhaps a little tedious and it resulted in making the all too real hardship and pain that must have been there, somehow less tangible.

It made me think of a Child Called It by Dave Peltzer, so many times even though the abuse suffered by 'our hero' (as she often refers to him tongue in cheek) is less horrific , it is still there and the books are both rather badly written. The physical and sexual abuse he encounters with his family, is once again subjected to Stephenson's psychobabble. I did not want this book to dwell on such events, as Billy always strikes me as a very positive man, but I felt that this book was too reliant on analysis rather than events. Even Billy's school days are subjected to Stephenson hypothesizing that he had attention deficit syndrome (possibly true but this is a little alarmist to say the very least). You thank the Lord that your parents gave you kisses and hugs and a birthday cake or two.

By the time I got to the third chapter I was weary. I was wondering (1) If I ever spout such copious theories being a psychologist myself and (2) How many times Stephenson could say 'as they say in Scotland'


There were however, enough moments that made me smile to keep me ploughing through this book, but quite frankly Stephenson was beginning to be like a guest at a party who corners you in the kitchen and asks you high brow intellectual jargon while all you want to do is get drunk and listen to the funny bloke in the front room.

And so the story trundles along. You smile at the gaucheness of Connolly and his skinny wee body as he works on the ship yards, you nod when his abusive aunt is taken ill and you flick back and forth to look at the relevant pictures from that period.

A few love affairs are briefly alluded to, with much sensitivity and you see Billy , the young man, becoming more archaic as pages are turned and you sta
rt building this picture of a eccentric young man who has never known love (He said his first kiss was like a bird landing on his lips, no one had ever kissed him before) and it is this that keeps you reading.

When Billy begins his foray into folk music with his beloved banjo, we are sent on a journey of name dropping and quite frankly by the time the latter chapters are reached, it could be mistaken for Hello magazine. Yes it's good to know Billy has friends. I like the idea of him being good buddies with Dame Judi Dench, after all Mrs Brown was indeed in my opinion probably one of the highlights of his career thus far, but do we really need to know how much Billy likes Michael Cain/Robin Williams. She gushes far too much. It becomes trite and detracts from the man himself.

The love affair between Stephenson and Connolly is strictly told on a need to know basis (both were married when they met) but although it is obvious that she admires her husband a great deal, she tells us far too much about herself.

Billy's battle with the booze and drugs are told through diary entries by the Big Yin himself and although this personalises things you still feel that you have yet to really meet him and the book is nearly over.

Stephenson often skips between family/contemporary life and the past. This is usually to add some little retort by either Billy or herself. He is a funny, dry man, who sounds like a wonderfully eccentric and loving man whom she obviously loves the bones of (as they say in Liverpool) but her humour is obviously lacking. At certain stages in the book I got the impression that Billy is like a small dog, a small dog that does tricks that Stephenson regales stories of to her friends

This is a very ordinary, politically correct book for a very extraordinary man.



So to recap-

Good points

Some funny stories
Some wry observations
Billy Connolly is likeable throughout

Good pictures
Good historical context

Bad points

Too much psychoanalysis
Too many Americanisms
Too much Stephenson
Too much historical context?
Billy Connolly is likeable throughout

I would not recommend that you buy this book, I would instead borrow it from the library.

Summary: