A family of non-dimensional characters spouting about their boring, middle-class lives with nary a sentence that isn't boiling with cliches. Their relationships with each other which can be warm, loving, frustrating, funny, annoying and angry either separately or all at once is typical of family confined to sharing the same living space.

She thinks she has this wonderful understanding of her children thanks to her chosen career, but of course she really hasn’t a clue. However, the great laughs I was promised just didn’t materialise, as I only laughed out loud once – a huge disappointment. Fun, irreverent and there are even recipes in the back, A Tiny Bit Marvellous is, well, a tiny bit marvellous. Dawn’s writing in itself is exemplary, concise, easy going, and it’s all very well put together, especially as she juggles three separate narratives without losing the individual voices.Her first three novels, A Tiny Bit Marvellous, Oh Dear Silvia and According to YES, are all Sunday Times bestsellers.

The only character I found enteraining to read from was Oscar and even he got old after several long chapters. The story surrounds the Battle family, an average family living on the outskirts of Reading, a family full of the usual tensions, arguments and secrets. Sometimes we do feel dissatisfied with our life but that is because we are not seeing everything with generous eyes. I didn't manage to read the whole thing, because I just couldn't cope with the exaggeration of teen Dora and the not-so-believeable Mo.Die Charaktere werden im Laufe des Buches immer lebendiger und wirken wie reale Menschen, die einem aus dem Leben berichten. I am a parent to two teenagers myself and the observation of teenage behaviour is spot on and anyone who are parents to teenage children will relate to this book and how true to life it is. Laughter, challenge, affirmation and clever use of language has to override at least some of the shortcomings previously referred to so yes .

Der Klappentext verspricht ein Buch voller Geheimnisse und Spannung, doch wer darauf hofft, dürfte reichlich enttäuscht werden, denn viel passiert nicht zwischen diesen zwei Buchdeckeln. She's a complete embodiment of the teenage stereotype and it's bad enough listening to adults impersonating teenagers in everyday life, but to read it without any sense of irony is just plain frustrating. So when I saw her first novel ‘’A Tiny Bit Marvellous’’ waiting for me on The Bookbag shelves I thought here’s another treat from this remarkable entertainer. I ask you, how was she ever supposed to make anyting of herself with that ghastly moniker as her albatross?This book makes you realise that every person is going through one thing or another and you can never say that ‘X’ or ‘Y’ or ‘Z’ has it easy. It’s a given with him, mandatory, if there’s a pretty girl and she shows any interest at all in him, he is helpless. Mo laughingly ignores these, passing Dora's atrocious behaviour off as a teenage phase, because after all, Mo is a psychologist and no one can tell HER how the young mind works! Although I've left Israel, I hope to continue participating as a member of my beloved Jerusalem-based book club thanks to the blessings of technology. As a big fan of Dawn French, I wanted to see if her writing was as good as her performances, and in many ways I wasn't disappointed.

Mo is heading towards a mid-life crisis, although from what I can see she actually does have a life. Her narrative is strong in that without even looking at the chapter headings, you can tell that Dora is speaking. There's Mo, the tired child psychiatrist mother, Dora, the Facebook obsessed 17 year old, and Peter, the precocious 16 year old obsessed with Oscar Wilde. While the characters were stereotypical, dull, and at times a little irritating, I did begin to care about where their stories would lead: particularly Oscar, whose part steals the show.Dawn French has talked about so many issues in this book which are very relatable and common (one of the many reasons you have to read and like this book), issues that we may come across daily but not dig in too deep because they seem less important.