Becoming Ted: The joyful and uplifting novel from the author of The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle

Product Information

You may have noticed that in the last paragraph I said “we were told these characters were in” rather than saying shown.

For instance, I loved that, in an effort to improve his English, he learns a new word every day including some peculiar to Lancashire. Set by the sea in St Lukes and featuring an ice cream business Ainsworth's, the emotional journey these men take is full of humour, sadness, and forgiveness. All in all I had a super fun time with this book and I feel the need to own a physical copy which I intend to purchase at my earliest opportunity.Wrapped into Oskar and Andrzej's stories are elements of shame and rejection based on xenophobia and class, despite the fact that (like a lot of immigrants in real life) they are incredibly intelligent, skilled and warm people.

And it’s lovely to see the kindness that goes both ways between Ted and those who encourage him to follow his dream. Oskar (‘with a k’) is Polish, working as a builder but with dreams of being an interior designer – an area where he is clearly talented. By the middle of the book I was emotionally invested in most of the characters and couldn’t get enough of the story.

Sommige personages hebben wel behoorlijk stereotype kenmerken meegekregen en zijn nogal uitvergroot neergezet, wat volgens mij lang niet altijd nodig was om hun karakters authentiek weer te geven, maar ze dragen wel ieder op hun eigen manier iets bij aan het verhaal. It really affected the flow of the story, even if I appreciated those insightful moments that it gave, I didn't enjoy how they were delivered.

It felt as if the author had been issued a challenge to use a thesaurus and apply ever known alternative to said in his writing!This was extremely annoying, and totally not how people think – it just felt so unnatural, and leads back to the passive, telling-not-showing writing style from before.