Nasty: My Family and Other Glamorous Varmints

A memoir of growing up in Reading, moving to London, and then to the US in a quest for the Beatiful People featured in magazines.

The first third or so was "Oh God, I can't breathe" laugh out loud funny, the second third was entertaining enough though not as funny (just as well as I was reading it in public), while the final third was more sombre.

Why can't there be a separate genre of "funny memoirs that are not depressing, even if life was not perfect?" That's what this one is. Doonan takes a glimpse of his past, and he could have chosen to cast it in a bleak, Dickensian light. Instead, we have a funny and (on the surface) light memoir.

Aside from the humor, there are strong points in the book when Doonan ties his own very personal stories to larger cultural trends and events. It's a reminder that history is not dry, and it affected individuals. Doonan make the point that who you have been is what creates who you are. From his perspective, this leads to a celebration of quirky creativity that arises from seemingly unlikely places. That alone is refreshing: the celebration of show more truly one-off creativity.

Doonan has always resisted the status quo, and this memoir is, in its way, a handbook of how you, too, can do so-- but only if you don't follow the leader. It's a lesson in forging your own way without having a misery memoir as an end product. show less

The book that spawned the TV sit com Beautiful People.   I don't watch hardly any TV shows as 99% are utter crap: Beautiful People was well in the 1%.

So how did the book compare to the TV show?

Superbly.

I would definitely suggest to anyone thinking about reading this book to watch the TV show first, as i can't see it being as good watching it afterwards.   The book has so much more of Simon's life in it and there are so many more characters and escapades from his childhood that were left out of the TV show and if you read the book first you'll probably end up getting grumpy that some of the characters and escapades in the book aren't in the TV show.

That's not to say the TV show is bad, it's not, it's superb, but in order to make a good show more sit-com out of this book there had to be a few characters left out and certain characters that were left in have been changed somewhat.

Anyways, enough of that, just go watch the TV show and have a good laugh knowing you've got a lot more to read about afterwards for desert.

My first Simon Doonan book, and it certainly won't be my last.   He's a really good writer.   Thanks for the giggles and laughs, Simon. show less

Amusing memoir from Simon Doonan. Wacky family, quest to find the 'beautiful people' in life and fabulous career.

I love Simon Doonan. I started reading his stuff when I worked in advertising in New York. He's hilarious. Wry, funny and similar to David Sedaris

Cute, light, goofy. Enjoyable, in the way Girl Scout cookies are.

Simon Doonan’s childhood was a curious mix of small town boredom and bright light city dreams. Growing up in a working class area of Reading with the mad-cap Doonan clan – Mother Betty, Father Terry, sister Shelagh aka Slag, blind Aunt Phyllis, grandmother Narg and Grandfather DC - he yearned to get out and find the Beautiful People whom he imagined lived fabulous lives of glitz and glamour.This is the charming and funny story of how Simon eventually finds a way out and escapes to London with best friend Biddie Biddlecombe. Along the way they stumble upon punks, drunks, ladies of the night, the long arm of the law and all sorts of camps, vamps and outrageous scamps.

But does he ever find the Beautiful People? Or are they the ones he show more left behind? show less