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The Satsuma Complex

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Take a Look at Our Summary of November Highlights, Whether You're Looking for the Latest Releases or Gift Inspiration Who should buy this book? Fans of The Great British Bake Off, especially fans who have just started to notice how wobbly the show has got without her. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman Nevertheless, marooned like desert islands in an endless ocean of guff, there is a smattering of truly sumptuous passages of writing. Sadly, they’re not arranged in any kind of structure that might approximate a story. (Paul Connolly) Writing style Norton, it turns out, is a magnificent novelist. The story of Forever Home is a simple one, but it hinges on a big twist halfway through. A lesser writer would have hurried to get to the big moment sooner, or at least gleefully started to drop bigger and bigger breadcrumbs. But Norton is a model of restraint. He spends chapter after chapter making doubly sure you feel the way he wants you to feel about each character before dropping his bomb. Some people bury their faces in their smart phones all day. Not me. I’ve had the same old Nokia phone for years and years and have never bothered with social media and the like. I don’t see the point of it; I’ve got enough strangers in my life as it is.”

To describe me as anonymous would be unfair but to notice me other than in passing would be a rarity" Mortimer, who found fame as one half of Reeves and Mortimer alongside Vic Reeves, said he was “really chuffed” to have won the award. “I still have no idea if I can actually write but this award gives me fresh hope,” he added.

Customer reviews

What do you expect when a comedian writes a murder mystery that has a man named Gary talking to squirrels and names dogs as Long Parsnips? Whatever you expect, the book beats that. Burke’s podcast, Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake, revolves around death and Mortimer said he’d like to die fighting a bear – or hit by an articulated lorry carrying Flumps. Cover quote “His grasp of human loneliness and longing is beautiful and comforting” – Marian Keyes (again). Kingsolver’s novel is more serious and fatalistic than its 170-year-old predecessor – as Demon says, ‘A kid born to the junkie is a junkie’. But in updating it, she makes a great case for popular fiction’s enduring ability to shine a light on the kind of people we are. (BE)

I thought if I did the same character, I'll just write the same book,’ the comedian told Kathy Burke on her podcast. ‘So I thought, you know go doing something different.’ On he podcast, Mortimer also said that he regretted having never done a solo stand-up show, and said: ‘I wouldn’t mind doing that.’ It came as no surprise that a beloved comedian like Mortimer could write funny, warm characters, but he’s equally skilled at writing the sort of people you really wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of, perhaps the sort of people he encountered from time to time in during his pre-showbiz career as a solicitor. With his insider knowledge of the law and its legal system, Mortimer is able to craft a story that, when it’s not being thoroughly amusing, shines a light on the flaws in criminal justice, reminding us that, for some, the police can be as equally intimidating as any gang. Make no mistake, this isn’t designed to be a gritty, hard-hitting critique of the justice system, but there are a few sharp lines here and there that reflect the current turbulent climate we live in, and one can only imagine what Mortimer might have to say were he to take the gloves off. The announcement was made last night at a ceremony held at The Goring Hotel in London. Bob Mortimer receives a jeroboam of Bollinger Special Cuvée, a case of Bollinger La Grande Année, the complete set of the Everyman’s Library P.G. Wodehouse collection, and a pig named after his winning book.Now in its 23rd year, the award is the UK’s longest running prize for comic fiction and is designed to highlight the funniest novel of the past twelve months, which best evokes the Wodehouse spirit of witty characters and perfectly-timed comic phrases. Bob Mortimer wins 2023 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction with The Satsuma Complex So many comedians have published novels this year that I have begun to wonder whether writing one is an assignment in a yet-to-be-broadcast episode of Taskmaster. Most of them have confirmed the axiom that comics can’t write memorable fiction: even the novels of master funnymen such as Eric Morecambe and Les Dawson did not burnish their reputations.

The conversations that Gary has with a squirrel in the park amused no end. The two lads supporting each other through the highs and not so highs of being a bloke today. Mortimer “approaches the world with a sly, mischievous smile”, said judging chair and Hay festival founder Peter Florence. “I guess this is what happens when you turn a brilliant, oblique comedic attention to life. The language and the tone tip your perception all the time, and he has this strange ability to keep the reader on the very brink of guffawing for whole chapters at a time. Peter Florence, Chair of the Judges, commented: “He approaches the world with a sly, mischievous smile. I guess this is what happens when you turn a brilliant, oblique comedic attention to life. The language and the tonetip your perception all the time, and he has this strange ability to keep the reader on the very brink of guffawing for whole chapters at a time. You get to love all these characters, the good ones and the bad ones and the very bad ones. And you’ll start talking to squirrels. And then you’ll have to think around what that’s achieving for you.”

Fiction

Main character Gary, a man with a job that Mortimer used to have, in the same location where Mortimer used to work. He also has the exact same cadence, vocabulary and thought processes as Mortimer, as seen in his long digressions about pies. That said, Gary is described as having a slightly larger nose than Mortimer, so they are definitely different people. The much loved comic proves adept at noirish fiction in a debut whose surrealist humour sets it apart’ – Observer To describe me as anonymous would be unfair, but to notice me other than in passing would be a rarity. The writing style I enjoyed as it was very reminiscent of how Bob tells all of his tales anyway: short, sharp sentences that set the scene nicely without any fluffery. It was funny in the right places, but I think could have been injected with a little more (it was also particularly Bob-humour as well, which was well received).

The story includes many of the usual crime thriller topes – from a possible femme fatale to the calmly intimidating nemesis – but also so many sweetly surreal peculiarities that it could only have been written by Bob Mortimer. Main character Sally, a woman who gleefully rediscovers her can-do attitude when all the unnecessary peripherals start to fall away. Plot Mia has it all: a husband, a stepson, an important job and a cat. However, she increasingly feels as if she is simply holding it all together to present herself the way society wants. If only she could be more like her cat. This is the fifth novel by presenter Dawn O’Porter.

Previous works An autobiography (And Away…) and a Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing tie-in gift book. Main character Technically, the Thursday Murder Club are an ensemble – Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim – but the leader is arguably Elizabeth, an ex-spy and primary carer for her husband, who has dementia. I am a huge Bob Mortimer fan and have been since the heady days of Shooting Stars. I love listening to his tales on Would I Lie To You; enjoy watching him buffoon about on Gone Fishing and gurgle with delight at his impressions on Athletico Mince. I thoroughly enjoyed his auto-biography ...And Away and felt the same kind of joy I get when I hear his fantastic (and often true) tales.

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