I read this after I read 'One Day' by the same author. It's funny in places but I found the protagonist to be completely unlikeable. If you knew this person in real life you'd cross to the other side of the road to avoid bumping into him. I think the author was trying to portray Brian as an awkward teen who's trying to find his place in the world but he really just comes across as a knob. The character of Dexter in One Day is a much better portrayal of teen (and 20's and 30's) awkwardness; he acts like a knob but I found him endearing whereas I couldn't connect to Brian at all. Most of the situations he finds himself in are familiar to most people and of course people do mess up and make a fool of themselves. It should be funny though whereas in 'Starter for ten' it's just tragic - car crash reading really - and you don't actually want to root for him getting the girl or winning 'The Challenge' (another thing that annoyed me was the character constantly refering to University Challange as 'The Challange' - only a pillock would do that!) In short read 'One Day' instead of this - it is a much better book, has great characters and is ten times funnier and is quite thought provoking. Watch the film of 'Starter for ten' instead of reading the book. It's actually quite a good adaptation and although I think that James McAvoy is slightly too old to play Brian he does manage to portray him without me wanting to punch his teeth in!