Minus five points for interrupting... (Starter For Ten - David Nicholls)

Member Name: theediscerning

Product:	Starter For Ten - David Nicholls
Date:	13/04/06 (137 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Witty and recognisable story

Disadvantages: The beginning of the friendship

Blockbusters. 15-1. Catchword with Paul Coia. All have been student staples in the past - before, after or instead of lectures and seminars and revision and awfulnesses like that, students have measured themselves against people on the gogglebox and at times have found themselves wanting.

Of course, the curse of the modern age is that anything one may remember from one's youth, from sweets to television programmes and records, is now the subject of stand-up, as lame comedians witter on about how wagon wheels were larger back then, and wasn't Going for Gold crap?

Should we shudder then, when one such meme from our past has become the subject of a 400 page lad-lit rom-com novel? (Meme = roughly, a memory of a past cultural creation that takes on a semi-life of its own through cultural memory. A silly word to drop in an op like this, but it's just to get you into the mindset of the main character.)

Brian Jackson (though mostly called Jackson - the author clearly had a youth when it was considered the norm to call your friends by their surnames as well) is leaving Southend on Sea for the greater heights of an un-named university town. He says farewell to his two best friends and goes with several aims - one, to leave all problems caused by his dad dying several years previous behind, two, to thrust his vocabulary on all and sundry (hence meme), and three, to get laid.

Who didn't share at least one of those ambitions when heading to uni?

And... four, to get on the University Challenge quiz team for that year. Hence the quiz show theme to the book, the obsession with ungeneral knowledge and even the chapter titles herein, which are the answers to quiz questions also provided.

Of course, this being a rom-com, the romance has to come from somewhere, and it comes from the gorgeous-sounding Alice. Perfect in our narrator's eyes (ie like a blonde Kate Bush), she also manages to get on the UC team. And the rest is the saga of will-they-won't-they, embellished by the token other female (a very political, angsty, Scottish, black-wearing lass), and a surprising amount of other topics.

To tell the truth, she - Rebecca - is certainly not token by any means. She might not be the most likeable character in literature, but she is memorably curt with life and Jackson - for reasons that will become obvious. Other people populating this university are certainly recognisable to any graduates out there - the ones with dodgy musical taste you want to slap, the polished sporty types you really don't want to mix with, and the scummy druggy types you want to mix with even less, let alone come into physical contact with.

While this may look, and have the general feel of a light book, there actually is a lot more to it. There are flashbacks to the narrator's father and his funeral, and while some authors may struggle to make their heroes human, David Nicholls gives him a very believable background here, along with all his other problems - rampant acne, a huge ability to put his foot in it, and a great liking for mixing his drinks...

Of course not everything is going to go swimmingly for Jackson, either regarding the ladies or the quiz show. For one, even though there's only five people taking the test for the audition, he ends up last. Its only due to the welcome return of that student novel staple, hepatitis, that he can make the quartet. He then can embarrass himself further alongside Alice at their weekly rehearsals.

Meanwhile she seems to be leading him a merry dance. Her talk of all her past lovers would put many a reader to shame, she claims to prefer her independence - and breezily lets him pay for his own birthday treat meal out, and anyway is more interested in being on the stage than in Jackson's company. But somehow they gel, and all the swings of misfortune can begin.

Their relationship, so crucial to the novel, is unfortunately, the major flaw. From the beginning of it as we see it through Jackson's first person narrative, it's just not credible. It's a long book, so you're unlikely to polish it off in one sitting, but you need a break about a quarter of the way in so you can forget how unlikely any chance of the friendship working is, to make the rest plausible.

That is a shame, as the rest of the book is very good. The humour is mostly rather slight, but there are good wise-cracks, and some of those stand-up type observations about mid-1980s student life near the beginning (the paragraph on buying reduced-to-clear food still relevant today), and it all breezes past in an amiable fashion.

But that's not to ignore the serious bits. Our narrator is a peculiar character, really, and both his back-home friends, when he meets up with them later on in the book have cause to tell him "don't be a [expletive deleted]" with all seriousness. Rebecca at times feels the need to put him on the straight and narrow too - and at other times to let him suffer. Not only does he make fauxs-pas, he seems to really go off on one at times, embarrassing all and sundry with what is only his meaning well, but turns out to be lecturing, hectoring, being a right old [expletive deleted] indeed.

It's surprising, when looking back, that so much of this book is recognisable - all the references to student life and such are spot on, yet the character central to it all is so awkward, socially ungainly - hang on, perhaps the reader was like that as well... Oh dear.

One downer with the book is the occasional parade of class arguments, with Brian somewhere in between Rebecca, the card-carrying lefty, and Alice, who would appear to be rather on the posh side. They're not funny, if that was the idea, not realistic, and could have been done away with.

One upper with the book is the amount of plot events that catch you unawares. They branch the novel away from its formulaic story arc, and take the narrator into what only a competent, mature author would have him witness.

This edge to the book is one of the things that make it stand out from the crowd of Nick Hornby, Tony Parsons and all their imitators. It might also make it more suitable to the female reader - it mellows any slight blokiness to the humour, and makes the narrative drive more interesting. It also makes the book as long as it is, but it isn't too long, which is a relief.

David Nicholls, a TV writer (for Cold Feet and so on) before this, has branched out into novels with aplomb. This might tick all the boxes as regards standard fare goes, but it also answers the bonus questions too. The writing is sharp, and if not hilarious is certainly never dull. The characters are varied and interesting, both understandable and unpredictable, and only a couple are there for just one purpose. The story goes along fairly standard lines, with many diversions into unexpected territory, and the climax is on the whole rather unguessable.

Let's face it, this appears to be a lad-lit book, that is in any charity shop near you you care to mention, and yet at the gong it has got theed writing about it on this site. And giving it four stars. AND recommending it.

Summary: Good flash-back to 1980s university life for a rom-com with bite.