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Original poster

India Knight Comfort & Joy

14 replies

nothingnatural · 13/04/2011 00:44

Anyone else read this?

I've just finished it, normally I'm a big fan of India, read her other books, follow her on twitter, read her columns etc (oh God, I sound like a stalker).

I ordered this book in especially as it wasn't available here in oz and I'm so disappointed.

I found it really preachy and smug whereas I loved her others.

What did anyone else think?

OP posts:
Original poster
nothingnatural · 13/04/2011 06:22

It is funny in parts - places really really made me laugh.

I think I mainly found it really odd how Clara Hutt banged on and on about how dismal it was being the child of separated parents and yet she cheerfully put her own kids through the same experience and somehow we (as readers) were supposed to congratulate her on how marvelous she was in being able to split from two husbands but retain a happy relationship with both so that's all fine for the children then.

I seemed to scream India justifying her own life circs to me.

Also as the mother of a child who refuses all veg unless its hidden in other food I was REALLY irritated by Clara's comments on how non-veg eating children are all the fault of crummy parents. my other child eats veg and fruit no probs. I know this is a very minor point but has got right on my wick.

OP posts:
Original poster
nothingnatural · 13/04/2011 09:39

Bump

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StantonLacy · 13/04/2011 19:49

Yes- I was a bit disappointed too.

Like you, I love her other books, posterous blog etc but to me, this came across as 'a series of columns by India Knight' - her opinions interspersed with a little bit of plot here and there. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy reading her opinions usually, just not when its supposed to be a work of fiction I'm reading.

Not a memoir by any stretch, but it definitely seemed to be referring back to her situation (as you mentioned earlier)

I don't know....I'll still probably read her next one as soon as I can get my hands on it ! Even when her stuff is not quite what you were hoping for, it's still pretty damn good (and very, very funny at times!)

florenceuk · 30/11/2011 10:36

i'm late to the party but can I say how much I hated this book. Smug, snobbish, class-ist. What a waste of the £4 I spent at Tescos, I'll never get it back!

LadyBeagleBaublesAndBells · 03/12/2011 15:33

I have found India Knight all these things florenceuk, I'm not a fan.

Onlyaphase · 03/12/2011 15:40

I'm a fan of India Knight in general, and knew this book had mixed reviews, but read it anyway. I can see why it got mixed reviews though, very odd in places, and I'm not sure what the point was of all the bitchiness and snobbery toward her mother in law.

However, in this book her daughter is supposed to be 5 years old. Now I have a 5 year old daughter and she does not behave like this, at all, far more whining, asking for sweets, drawing on unsuitable bits of paper etc. I understand that a book that has a 5 year old in it isn't going to be accurately reflective of day to day life as it would be v boring and repetitive in a parts....but I didn't recognise Clara's life with a 5 year old as being even vaguely true to life. And that irrationally annoyed me.

florenceuk · 03/12/2011 22:33

The whole family dynamic was weird, and I hated the "Mary sue" role Clara had (wow I'm so beautiful if ever so slightly plump and voluptuous and I have lovely children, lovely mum and fantastic x husbands and I can pick up a man on Xmas eve in the Connaught). And yes the Irish mother in law was a particular bugbear. We don't mind good luck if it comes with a little adversity but Clara too good to be true.

whatkungfuthat · 06/12/2011 16:25

I'm even later to the party, but reading these comments I don't think I'll bother. Pity as I liked Clara in the first one.

limitedperiodonly · 12/12/2011 14:45

Don't care how late I am to the party.

Any thread slagging off India Knight is fine by me.

SuePurblybiltbyElves · 12/12/2011 14:53

I liked it. Not on first read but it grew on me. It is short and not as funny as the others but still a cut above most light fiction.

It could have done with being twice as long and with more time spent on the funnier characters - like her mother and half sisters. The Connaught man bit seemed a little pointless.

NanaNina · 12/12/2011 21:42

Another MN here who can't stand India Knight. I find her snobby, smug, class-ist (as someone else has said) She was on Grumpy Old Women once on TV and she was ranting on about this "stupid shop assistant" who didn't give her the attention she needed. She was so horrid about this young girl who was probably on minimum wage...........aaargh - stuck up bitch.

whatkungfuthat · 13/12/2011 07:40

Its not the snobbery that I find difficult its the thoughtless use of SN terms used to get a cheap laugh "just me and my Downs" etc. I wonder if she still does this now she has a SN child herself?

KinkyDoritoWithFairyLightsOn · 19/12/2011 09:55

I've ground to a halt in the middle. I might return to it later.

TBH I don't care about the character at all, so it makes it difficult to be arsed to finish it.

whatkungfuthat · 19/12/2011 13:28

Well I read it, but in my defence a friend lent it to me so I didn't pay for it Blush. It was basically what I expected and a little sad if it is 30% autobiographical as she claims, which sort of indicates she walked away from a marriage with very little reason apart from being a bit bored. There was a lovely little passage about comparing some bad adult behaviour to ASD, I thought she might have wised up a bit on that but sadly not. It's not big, clever of elitist, just offensive. I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

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