Handstands In The Dark: A True Story of Growing Up and Survival

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Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. This is a real page turner of a book, you can almost hear the voices speaking in the homely Glaswegian dialect. I’m used to this, being very handsome, a bit like a young Sean Connery only older and balder and a bit more in the beef stakes. Perhaps a brief hindsight reflection to reveal what outcomes eventuated - would have increased my satisfaction with book. When you're bored of comedians telling you things you know and the comfortable laughter of recognition, go and watch Janey Godley for a change.

Janey Godley - Wikipedia Janey Godley - Wikipedia

Good to read a biographical version of life in Glasgow in times of poverty, especially if you read and enjoyed Shuggie Bain. Living in poverty, which was rife in the East End during that time, Godley left school at 16 with no qualifications. I look at Janey with respect and admiration and wish her peace, love and happiness for the rest of her life. It’s a hard read but also very inspiring in terms of what people are capable of and their strength of character.I have to say that I came to this book after finding Janey Godley's parodies of Nicola Sturgeon on twitter and then also a couple of wonderful things on the BBC. I read this book in a day , I couldn’t put it down , it was captivating and truly honest and very brave to lay your life out in black and white for all to read. There was a lot more she could have written about some aspects of her childhood and there was also a lot of superfluous drivel that didn't need to be there. I then found her and her daughter on facebook during lockdown just chatting away to people and I wanted to know more about this lady.

Handstands in the Dark by Janey Godley - Google Play Handstands in the Dark by Janey Godley - Google Play

I have only read a handful of books in my life (48) because I'm dyslexic and I'm pleased to announce, this has helped me start a new trend.As a teenager, Janey marries into a gangster family and even though her husband beats her and she is always threatening to leave it seems that they are still together, which I wasn’t expecting. Working in a rough Glasgow pub gave Janey Godley the front to make a success of stand-up comedy - and put dark memories of a troubled childhood behind her, says Gillian Glover". Prison term for uncle marks an end to the ordeal women had kept to themselves; Abused sisters' 30-year secret".

Handstands In The Dark: A True Story of Growing Up and

Then the impact of the growth of heroin in the early 80s in Glasgow hit hard - as "hard men" and violence driven by rage and grasping was papered over with people reduced to the shell of what they were. I have no doubt this woman had appalling and tragic childhood but I found she contracted herself many times throughout her 'story'. A vivid, intimate and darkly funny account of a life less ordinary, Handstands in the Dark tells the story of how one girl escaped a chaotic family and became one of the UKs most popular comedic talents. Not being such a vaunted personality of the likes of Nigel Benn,Brian Clough,Mohamed Ali or Tony Adams who all came from similarly impoverished backgrounds to make good in their chosen professions.

I have just got to know Janey Godley through her entertaining vignettes of Nicola Sturgeon on Facebook. And there’s the small matter of marrying into a criminal family while either keeping her head in the sand or pretending not to know what’s going on.

Handstands In The Dark - Janey Godley

Overall not a very satisfying read, too many holes in her story to make the compelling tale expected. She formerly supported the Conservatives in her youth and once met Margaret Thatcher at a Scottish Conservative Party Conference in Perth. Percy was charged for the crimes in 1993 after the sisters decided to come forward, and was later found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison in 1996. Alcoholics, mothers on Valium, relatives on drugs, violent men, absent fathers, sectarianism, casual racism and homophobia. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

I read this book while travelling on the train back from Edinburgh to London from my cousins hen weekend. Janey Godley is a 42-year-old mother from Glasgow and something very different on the comedy circuit.