Ennek a regénynek az olvasása döbbentett rá valamire, amit igazából eddig is tudtam. A pillanatnyi életszínvonalam sokkal jobb, ha minőségi könyvet olvasok. Vagy én öregszem és leszek válogatósabb az évek során, vagy ez tényleg az egyik leggyengébb könyv, ami valaha a kezembe került... (a kettő nem zárja ki egymást)

Several of her books have been adapted for the stage, including The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾: The Play (1985) and The Queen and I: a Play with Songs (1994), which was performed by the Out of Joint Touring Company at the Vaudeville Theatre and toured Australia. The latter is based on another of her books, in which the Royal Family become deposed and take up residence on a council estate in Leicester. Other books include Rebuilding Coventry (1988), Ghost Children (1997) and Queen Camilla (2006).

Ha egy nehéz nap végén az ilyen élmények nem szórakoztatnak, nem töltenek fel, nem kapcsolnak ki, nem adnak értéket, hanem felidegesítenek, rombolják az agysejtjeim, silány minőségű időtöltést nyújtanak, akkor minek is csinálom...? This book was in a nutshell, absolutely TERRIBLE. So, not funny at all. But hey, my review might make up for it and give you a laugh. Eva grows afraid to step out of her bed, and gradually things get odder and odder. She gives advice to a passing cabbie and he spreads the word of her wisdom, and soon she is surrounded by acolytes, begging for answers. Her husband is caught in a several-year-long affair. Her children are terrorized by a fellow undergraduate, who insinuates herself into every aspect of their lives. Eva's selfishness puts her at risk. Sue Townsend is a rare animal. She’s a member of that exclusive band of British writers whose works have been piled high and prominently positioned for so long that we can no longer imagine a bookshop without them. Added to this, her consistent warmth and humour and unmistakable Britishness means that – at some stage on the long road since The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾– she’s also been awarded the comfy cardigan and cosy slippers of a national treasure. Many people opening a Sue Townsend novel are likely to do so with the same curious smile that they’d greet the new book of an old personal friend and they’re certain to have a pretty good idea of what they are about to get: a plot centred around a comic failure who struggles to cope with the absurd mundanities of modern life and lives in or close to Leicester. The Woman Who Went To Bed for a Year

Somehow the world whirls around Eva, crises rising and falling, and through it all, Eva wonders what the world is about. This was ostensibly a comedy novel about a woman whose life was not going the way she wanted it to. The plot is simple, and potentially interesting. A middle-aged woman effectively has a breakdown, decides to go to bed and stay there for a year. Her family and an expanding cast of bizarre eccentrics become entirely responsible for her care. The initial progression is relatively intriguing, particularly in seeing the reactions of her husband, mother and mother-in-law. The Woman is at its best when it focuses on the family drama, the complexity of the relationships and the human drama that comes from the situation. In many ways, the book is strongest when the ensemble cast come together, rather than in small groups, largely because none of the sub-plots are interesting enough in isolation. And, though the world keeps intruding, it is from the confines of her bed that Eva at last begins to understand freedom.I don't like criticising Sue Townsend, who is the creator of Adrian Mole and some very funny plays, but she leaves me no choice. Prior to reading this book, my only experiences of Sue Townsend were Adrian Mole, whom at my mother's suggestion I read when I was younger. As remarkable here as in her other writing is Townsend's ability to cloak what is, upon reflection, often quite a set of starkly grim human truths in humour. I think expectations ruined this book for me. I'd read some magazine articles about it before reading, including one that said it was the book that people should be obsessing over, instead of the 50 Shades series (which I heavily dislike). The cover quotes were also very exciting, saying it was hysterically funny, witty, passionate etc etc. Life is not a whitened-out island for people. That was Eva Brown-Bird Beaver's discovery to make. On the journey, all the people had their own lessons to learn, and their own forgiveness to beg.

Award-winning novelist Hayley Long revels in the latest offering from national treasure Sue Townsend, The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year. At least at the end there was hope. Just a little. They were all cruel to each other, until simple kindness stepped in. Was that a moral message? Perhaps. With a teeming cast (and there are several more characters who come and go with a certain randomness) and an inviolable organising principle – Eva will not leave her bed, come what may – Townsend was unlikely to run short of comic opportunities. There is much here that her fans will recognise from Adrian Mole's various diaries and from her other books, which include flights of fancy involving lightly fictionalised politicians and the royal family: her perfectly pitched sense of the pathos and absurdity of suburban life; the way that she sends up her misfits and malcontents while simultaneously displaying great tenderness towards them; her understanding of the defences that people build to keep what threatens to overwhelm them at bay. Oh gosh. I hate to disparage an author's hard work. I hate to be negative when I consider how much time, effort and soul has gone into writing it. I've enjoyed Townsend's other work, Adrian Mole was hilarious. However, if I can save you from wasting your time reading this book then perhaps it is the fairest thing I can do. The book definitely seems like a book of two halves to me. Fortunately the fact that Townsend is a gifted and able satirist saved the first half of the book somewhat and, as an ever-curious reader, I quite enjoyed seeing where it would all pan out around the theme of escape. The second half, however, where Eva Beaver, a ‘beautiful’ (we are told) middle-aged woman has, by now, voluntarily retreated to the confines (and safety?) of her own bedroom for a few too many months, proved a bit too much for me and the dominance of crazy characters (estranged husband and his affair living in the shed, purely strange and devoted to scientific theory twin offspring, etc. etc.) seemed to kill any plotline and enjoyment for me personally.I would have thrown the book, but my cats would have pooped themselves if I did. And by this point I had totally had enough of this woman feeling pooping by walking a few steps to her en-suite was just totally ridiculous. Not even funny.

So she decides to go to bed - for a year, because that's what you do. She is not depressed, just a bit tired she says and likes bed. By the time we got to the bit when she was thinking walking to her ensuite to use the toilet was wrong, as she was "leaving the bed" and asked hubby to get some large plastic bags and tubing so she can deposit bodily fluids from the bed I was rolling my eyes and praying it got better, guess what? It didn't. Born in Leicester in 1946, Sue left school at 15 years of age. She married at 18, and by 23 was a single parent with three children. She worked in a variety of jobs including factory worker, shop assistant, and as a youth worker on adventure playgrounds. She wrote in secret for twenty years, eventually joining a writers' group at the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester in her thirties. Egy jó könyvbe belemerülni most kb. olyan mértékű kikapcsolódás és feltöltődés, mint máskor egy nehéz nap végén beülni valahova barátokkal vagy elmenni valami kulturális eseményre. Bestselling author Sue Townsend has been Britain's favourite comic writer for over three decades, The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year is her hilarious new novel. The day her gifted twins leave home for university, Eva climbs into bed and stays there. For seventeen years she's wanted to yell at the world, 'Stop! I want to get off.' Finally, this is her chance. Perhaps she will be able to think.Well, it's one of those books that keeps one reading hoping that the ending might be worth it. It wasn't. It just ended. I'm sure the author had fun writing it, and I had fun reading it. But there was much more than just fun behind those well-written words. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾ has sold over 20 million copies worldwide and has become a modern classic. The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year does not create any confusion. At the start of the novel Leicester housewife, Eva Beaver, stands in her kitchen and evaluates her life now that her teenage twins have spread their wings and flown off for the heady thrills of Leeds University’s Maths Department. And what Eva decides is that her life really doesn’t amount to much. So she does what we all want to do on these depressing occasions. She goes to bed. The only difference, of course, is that she stays there for an entire year. None of the characters seemed to talk to each other, instead they parroted 'meaningful' speeches at each other.