Book Review - David Nicholls: "Starter for 10"

This is aimed at all those people who went to University in the 80s, who remember the music, the clothing, and the whole student experience: freshers week, house shares, course work, student grants, love angst - this book has it all.

In a very funny debut novel from the former Cold Feet writer David Nicholls, the hero is a lad called Brian Jackson, who has little clue about anything, but was always admired by his family and friends because he could answer a few questions from University Challenge. when he leaves his seaside town to go to Uni, he thus sets himself two goals: to get on the University Challenge team, and to woo his fantasy girl Alice Harbinson. To Brian, success on one can only lead to success with the other, since Alice is on the team too.

He sets about pursuing Alice with a new haircut, and a disastrous first date. As things progress, he spends a weekend with her at her parents' home, and the whole episode is too laughingly horrific to bear. Along with his unfaltering belief that Alice is right for him, he has to cope with studying, (during which he comes under criticism from his lecturer), his housemates, who are a bit weird (but so recognisable), and Rebecca, who apart from being the exact opposite of Alice, plays friend and protagonist. The two girls neatly bring the whole issue of class into the story, and comparisons of how what you want and what you need are very different things.

This book is great fun to read: some of the observations are very well identified, and there's loads of humour throughout that made me catch myself smiling quite a few times. The characters are easliy identifiable because they are strongly defined, the dialogue is touching and funny, and Brian's endeavours to cope with all around him are all too familiar. All this is set to a backdrop of Britain in the 80s (Kate Bush, the Jam, the Smiths, grandad shirts etc), and is a charming reminder of how even the 'best days of your life' could feel unmanageable. 7/10

Read an interview with David Nicholls at the Ottakar site.

Buy the book here.