Customer Reviews
A slow burner - By: Ian Shine, 25 Aug 2008 
I picked this book up with anticipation, having read an extract of it that I thoroughly enjoyed. I expect more of the same laughs & bitter resentments, but was somewhat confounded by the full diaries. The books is more centred around Gray's plumbing of the depths of his past, heaping mockery upon himself, expressing disgust at the man he has become, & thinking about what his fifteen year-old self would have thought of his sixty five year-old self. The last forty pages are a particularly ponderous & heartfelt affair, & for my money the best part of the book.
Gray's musings on growing old, on the changes he has seen in society & youth during his time on earth, are alll written down in thoroughly digestable text, rolling on in a way that is practicallly unputdownable. His death marks a tragic loss.
A book that slowly wins you over - By: Lis, 01 Aug 2005 
The blurb on the cover of this book says something along the lines of "the funniest book I've ever read". I certainly wouldn't go that far, but after a slow start, this book gets the better of you. Dry wit in generous helpings, accompanied with some more personal, intimate truths. By the time you finish it, you'll be surprised to find you were enjoying it it more than you thought you were.
Gray is still at the top of his form ! - By: , 05 Mar 2005 
If you have read Simon Gray's other volumes of diaries you will find this is a fitting addition to your collection. Gray's self-lacerating wit is still very much in evidence & despite his documented physical decay he avoids self-pity as he invites the reader into his world of cigarettes, writing & dining.
I first read Gray's volume 'An Unatural Pursuit' & was immediately hooked by his penetrating observations of his fading professional fortunes. Whether or not you like the world of theatre is irrelavent for the enjoyment of this volume. The candid observations of this brilliant & witty man in physical & carreer decline are wonmderful.
Hysterically Funny - By: , 10 Aug 2004 I found myself laughing out loud on public transport but was oblivious to the stares.
The funniest thing I've read in ages - Simon Gray is a comic genius.
An amusing and moving personal journal - By: A Common Reader, 15 Jul 2004 I enjoyed this book immensely & am rather bemused by the earlier reviews it has received here. The playright Simon Gray begins his diaries in his mid-sixties looking at the world around him & also back to his childhood. This is a hugely funny book, but also full of insight & honesty. Simon Gray has no illusions about himself & does not try to present a sanitised version of himself. He is frank about his faults & weaknesses & it is this that makes the book so special - it is refreshing to read a diary to which the air-brush has not been applied.
Although Simon Gray is deeply involved in the theatre of course, this is not the main theme of the book, as it concentrates more on his daily life & key events from his youth. Despite this, there are some moving accounts of his meetings with his close friend Harold Pinter during the latter's experience of suffering from cancer. Once I started this book I finished it within 24 hours - a rare event these days when few books seem to inspire me.
