Customer Reviews
Rubbish - By: kc, 05 Nov 2008 
I bought this book on recommendation of a friend. It amused me that her & her daughter spot the may contain nuts brigade.
Well after reading the book, my comment is what a load of rubbish!!!!Poorly written & only a few comical incidents I did not find that funny. I would definately not recommend this to read, just bung it in the bin.
Alternate - By: N. Krisztina, 05 Sep 2008 
I found this novel highly unreal - therefore astonishing. It was very interesting to read these reviews. Generallly I have to say I disagree with most of the other viewers, as I did not find it funny, I found it so unbelieveable I rather chuckled at it. It looks like it was a fiction but it is rather like a story resembling to Oz. And how could anyone suppose to get real-life characters out of an eerie tale? I don't deem the storyline to be as interesting as the world created by this novel. I don't think it's about school selection, as some people said, either. Just enter the creation of JOF & let it take you to a different reality. That's how I felt. Thanks, John.
Ps. And do not think school selection is not an issue in Hungary. I have to enroll my baby for his/her starting nursery right when he/she is born (so I know for sure his/her name). Otherwise when he/she becomes 2 years old there will be no empty place in the nursery. And this is just the beginning!
Wow! - By: , 07 Aug 2008 
I am only a child & I loved it! I picked it up one weekend when I was fiddling near the bookshelf. I had been totallly bored until I began reading it. I could not put it down. It is hilariously funny & suprisingly accurate. I would reccomend it for people of any age, yes people, I'M ONLY 11 !!!!!!!! John O'farrell has written, in my opinion, a potential best-seller! GO JOHN!
Q: When is a novel not a novel? A: When it doesn't contain any characters - By: International Cowgirl, 10 Jun 2008 
This fairly enjoyable comic novel may well contain nuts, but it doesn't contain any characters. I rattled through it in two days & even laughed OUT LOUD occasionallly (the holy grail of comedy) but personallly I prefer my novels with actual three-dimensional characters as opposed to paper-thin stereotypes. `May Contain Nuts' is basicallly one long, extended comedy sketch. If you want to know what it's about, think Catherine Tate as that uptight middle class mum who goes into meltdown when the breakfast eggs aren't organic.
True comedy has an undercurrent of intelligence sorely lacking here. If you actuallly need someone to point out to you that not alll comprehensive schools are drug-fuelled dens of iniquity & not every black teenager is looking to mug you, then here's the book you've been waiting for. Well-paced & amusing but deeply, horribly patronizing.
Funny, but... - By: Maxine F.R., 05 May 2008 
I'm a fan of John O'Farrell's incisive wit & social observation & very excited that this is being adapted for TV with Shirley Henderson in the signature role.
The book appears to be a satire of the "miracle cure/self-help" industry that exploits anxious parenting, & for that, I applaud it. But I do feel the need to point out that Learning Difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia & dyscalculia (the third of which O'Farrell labels in inverted commas to imply it is a joke) are legitimate & have very real effects which need to be addressed...not by quackery but by recongition & sensible, practical support.
Like some other reviewers I also feel that some of his political arguments are a little too cut-and-dry. Whether or not a school is right for a child comes down to whether that child's particular strengths & weaknesses are recognised: On that measure, state & private schools that can fail equallly.
