Hello Readers,
I have a little soft spot for celebrity autobiographies on Audible
especially when they are read by the person themselves. Bonkers: My Life in
Laughs is Jennifer Saunders story and her narration adds to the comedy and
compliments the book wonderfully. It honestly felt like Jennifer Saunders was
sat in the room with me and at points, I couldn’t help but imagine Eddie from
Ab Fab.
Jen states at the start of the book that there are a lot of vague
memories, so time frames are lax and fluid. Jen also admits that she might not
have the necessary skeletons in the closet that would bring her
memoir up to the rollercoaster ride, tear-jerker level of autobiographies often
put out there by celebrities these days. Jennifer has lived a fairly
normal life, all things considered. She prefers a low-key life so don't expect
drama and dirty laundry being aired. Jen has had her fair share of band luck and trials, but
either they aren't that dramatic or she does an excellent job of
under-dramatising them.
I loved listening to her tell the story of her life and the fun tales of her childhood, the exciting adventures of her teens and early 20's, the way she stumbled into comedy
I loved listening to her tell the story of her life and the fun tales of her childhood, the exciting adventures of her teens and early 20's, the way she stumbled into comedy
This book relates to all areas of Jen's talented life: her happy
childhood; her friendship with Dawn French; her professional life – writing
French and Saunders, and Absolutely Fabulous; her marriage and family life; and
her recent illness. The first half of the book is about those early days, when
Saunders was scrounging about for something to do with her life and Dawn French
fell into her lap and how they developed their comedy act. It is wonderful to
hear her speak about her various strong relationships with co-workers
throughout the years. She talks about French and Saunders from the beginnings,
doing stand-up and landing their first TV gig and how they were fortunate
enough to come along at a time when a comedy troupe was in need of a female
act, and how they met The Young One's gang. Jen talks about comic strip, and how thrilled she was when she got a parking space at the BBC. I
would say that story in particular shows how down to earth Jen is, but there
are lots of wonderful stories that really just speak masses about her character
and Familiar faces pop up left and right.
The book is full of insights, personal anecdotes and extremely
funny situations. For example, my favourite story completely stripped down to
the bare bones was when Jen, Ruby Wax, Goldie Horne and her assistant were in
India and Jen accidentally drank water from The River Ganges Ruby shouted
‘Jennifer, you are going to die.’ On the way back to the hotel there’s an
incident with Goldie’s Assistant and a dog bite. Then they are all walking back
to the street to only find one rickshaw and the driver told them to all pile
in. He was a thin man pedalling an ancient rickshaw with four very well-fed
women in the back. The journey Uphill got slower and slower, until eventually
Ruby got out and decided to push and obviously a passing cow, with horns,
headbutted her bum. Once back at the hotel Jen went to her room and drank a
bottle of whisky. Her mother had always said it was good for killing things, so
she took her advice. Apart from a cracking hangover, she had no real ill
effect. I had to listen to this section around three times the first because I
couldn’t stop laughing (not at the dog incident the rest).
It is also very moving in places. Jennifer Saunders has been a
very private person and her book reveals just enough of her life, without
revealing everything and Her account of battling breast cancer is as honest as
it is uplifting and Jens refusal to accept pity and to just carry on with her
two-woman show, through sickness and depression.
I have to admit that I am a big fan of Jennifer Saunders before, I
am an even bigger fan now and I would recommend this book for fans. As someone
who can’t tell a straight story without at least 6 tangents this book was great
cause Jen does the same thing. There were so many fascinating snippets about
her work life and her personal life and about her work itself. She even told
funny stories about her time working on Shrek 2. Jen tells the story of a
self-confessed lazy daydreamer who through a little luck and a lot of talent
climbed the ranks of female performers and built a successful comedy career.
Jens wit and humour shone through in every tale and I thoroughly enjoyed my
listening experience. Her tone and voice make the book better than it probably
would be just in writing and makes the humour come across as it should as well.
I went to the Ab Fb premier just to see Jen, Dawn and Joanna
and it was everything I thought it would be and more.
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