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An hilarious spoof Self Help book from the star of MARION & GEOFF and host of the new hit BBC comedy THE KEITH BARRET SHOW. "I don't feel like I have lost a wife but that I have gained a friend. I would never have met Geoff if Marion hadn't left me." MARION & GEOFF was one of the most-loved and most-acclaimed BBC comedies of recent years. Rob Brydon wrote and starred as cuckolded Welsh cabbie Keith Barret, recording a hopelessly optimistic video diary about his life as a divorcee. It was a heartbreaking show; darkly comic and brilliantly written. The series won Best Drama at the South Bank Awards, and Rob Brydon won a British Comedy Award for his performance as Keith. Last summer Brydon took his character Keith Barret to the Edinburgh Festival with a show (or rather a 'talk' or 'therapy session') entitled MAKING DIVORCE WORK, which drew on all of Keith's experience as a divorcee. It was a sell-out, and the Daily Telegraph declared it 'More outright hilarious than the TV series'. Now, with a new primetime BBC TV series in the pipeline Keith Barret has settled down and written an indispensable Self Help guide to surviving relationship break-ups. In MAKING DIVORCE WORK Barret offers advice for the broken-hearted on everything from getting access to the kids ("my little smashers") to dating again. It is a brilliant parody of the Self Help genre (although Barret has written it with all sincerity) and an intimate portrait of Keith Barret; our favourite eternal optimist.
After his wife leaves him, Keith Barret attempts to navigate the complexities of life as a divorcee by offering his own misguided, relentlessly optimistic advice to others. The protagonist, a cuckolded Welsh cabbie, maintains a facade of cheerful resilience while grappling with the reality of his fractured marriage and the challenges of co-parenting. His objective is to provide a comprehensive guide to surviving break-ups, though his lack of self-awareness and misplaced positivity serve as the primary obstacles to his own emotional recovery. The narrative is presented as a sincere, albeit deeply ironic, self-help manual that reveals the character's internal state through his idiosyncratic voice and earnest, yet flawed, logic.
This work is widely regarded as a successful extension of the character established in the acclaimed BBC comedy series Marion & Geoff. Critics and audiences have noted that the book functions effectively as both a parody of the self-help genre and a character study of a man in deep denial. The humor is derived from the tension between the protagonist's cheerful tone and the bleak reality of his situation, which resonates with fans of the original television performance. The book is frequently cited for its ability to maintain the specific, nuanced voice of Rob Brydon's character across a different medium.
Page Count:
288
Publication Date:
2004-01-01
Publisher:
Harpercollins
ISBN-10:
0007195818
ISBN-13:
9780007195817
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