A review by bovver
Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant by Joel Golby

emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad

4.0

Golby was my companion on my long runs. Probably a terrible runner himself – though that's no sleight from me, he said as much in the book – but if he could keep up, what a companion Golby would be! Without him, I will never have known about Miss Camel festivals., nor think again about which was the better Rocky film, or whether the red and yellow M&Ms have genitals or not. Golby can ask these, let's be honest, completely pointless questions on the one hand, and manage to get laughs and an impressive word count from them. And with the other, write with the fury of someone who has survived the ordeal of renting in London and leave you nodding along to the reasonableness of:

“If the universe is just, it will, just once, let me watch my landlord die.”

Fair enough my guy.

All of this makes it seem like a book of silliness. But the opener is heartfelt and heartbreaking. What is it like to lose both parents in your early 20s? Brutal, obviously. Gives the book an emotional heft that holds it all together.