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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious Riff on the Royals - and Their Subjects,
By
This review is from: Queen Camilla (Hardcover)
This quirky, biting satire begins with the Royal Family having been exiled to council housing in what is called an Exclusion Zone - a place where the slappers, the morbidly obese, the criminal and other undesirables are sent. The Queen cares for her ailing husband and despairs of her dysfunctional brood. The caricatures are vividly drawn here, and only Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles' long-suffering wife, Camilla, come off very well.
I found something hilarious on almost every page - Sue Townsend has a wicked wit and, though I am a recent transplant to these shores and thus have probably missed some cultural references, I was nonetheless entranced by the storyline, and the foibles Miss Townsend gave her characters. Charles dithers, Camilla consoles, Anne swears a lot, Andrew's gotten chubby and chases girls with wild abandon, William is earnest and Harry's a thug. Throw some unexpected characters into the mix (along with some great cameos from the likes of Stephen Fry and Jeremy Paxman) and you've got a page-turner. Not "great literature," but I couldn't care less - life is too short to read books that enrich without entertaining. There were some scenes that were movingly written, and one that had me crying uncontrollably - that Townsend can inspire such a range of emotion is very telling and a compliment to her literary skills. Another, interesting, surprising aspect was the integral participation of the community's pet dogs, and the stunning plot twist that they pull off - dumb animals, indeed! I only gave the book four stars instead of five because of some rather glaring editorial errors that leapt off the page at me and took me out of the story. A good proofreader/editor would have solved that problem and made this a five-star novel.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully inventive story,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Queen Camilla (Paperback)
Sue Townsend is a truly inventive writer. Both "Queen Camilla" and its predecessor, "The Queen and I", are hilarious stories. However, like so many English (and American) people, she just doesn't seem to understand the difference between England and the United Kingdom. (Disclaimer: I am Welsh.)
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Proof that Dogs really are the best people.,
By Aussie Kindle Cat (Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Queen Camilla (Kindle Edition)
If you haven't already read "The Queen and I" by Sue Townsend, I do suggest you do so before reading Queen Camilla. It sets the tone for the dismantling of the monarchy, and is a five star, laugh out loud funny read for anyone with a British or indeed, any sense of humor.
Assuming the last page of "The Queen and I" has been removed, then Queen Camilla picks up approximately 13 years after the Royal Family has been deposited into a housing estate in Midlands England. Despite all their good breeding, effectively, the royals are now like everyone else on the estate, dealing with serious issues such as poverty and the appalling conditions associated with aged care. The housing estate has evolved into an "Exclusion Zone" one of many designed to `keep in' the more undesirable elements of society which along with the criminals, include the poor, the uneducated, social misfits and the royal family. Sue Townsend writes beautifully and has a wonderfully witty turn of phrase, but `Queen Camilla' is a sad, dark and thoroughly depressing book. Instances of domestic violence, animal abuse and neglect, the neglect and abhorrent conditions in aged care facilities, and society's mass idiocy and general herd behavior shines a harsh and somewhat disturbing light on the human race as a species. Many of the wonderfully rich characters that accompanied `The Queen and I' are noticeably absent here. Instead, we have mostly cameo appearances by various royals, and the other main players in the tale are ignorant, psychotic, and generally extremely unlikeable. As a writer, Sue Townsend is a five star talent. But don't let the cover of this book fool you. This is a story without hope. It is despair wrapped up in shiny glittery paper. Even if I was to treat this book as a message of society's degeneration and not as I thought it would be which is a comedic follow up to "The Queen and I", then why two stars? 1. The Story was long, generally boring and really didn't go anywhere. 2. Despite the length of the book, the characters were mostly underdeveloped and unlikeable. 3. The interweaving story of dogs who can talk like humans was mostly redundant and uninteresting. 4. I did not enjoy the book at all. It left me flat. I don't like to `not recommend' a book to people as reading enjoyment is subjective. But animal lovers and people looking and hoping to see the best in other people and the world in general should be prepared to be disappointed.
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