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How Not To Be a Boy

Robert Webb

$24.99

Paperback

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English
Canongate Classics
13 June 2018
Robert Webb tried to follow the rules for being a man: Don't cry Drink beer Play rough Don't talk about feelings

Looking back over his life, from schoolboy crushes (on girls and boys) to discovering the power of making people laugh (in the Cambridge Footlights with David Mitchell), and from losing his beloved mother to becoming a husband and father, Robert Webb considers the absurd expectations boys and men have thrust upon them at every stage of life.

Hilarious and heartbreaking, How Not To Be a Boy explores the relationships that made Robert who he is as a man, the lessons we learn as sons and daughters, and the understanding that sometimes you aren't the Luke Skywalker of your life - you're actually Darth Vader.
By:  
Imprint:   Canongate Classics
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Edition:   Main
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 129mm,  Spine: 21mm
Weight:   249g
ISBN:   9781786890115
ISBN 10:   1786890119
Pages:   336
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Robert Webb has been a male for his whole life. As such, he has been a boy in a world of fighting, pointless posturing, and the insistence that he stop crying. As an adult man, he has enjoyed better luck, both in his work as the Webb half of Mitchell & Webb in the Sony award-winning That Mitchell & Webb Sound and the Bafta award-winning That Mitchell & Webb Look, and as permanent man-boy Jeremy in the acclaimed Peep Show. He also played Bertie Wooster in the acclaimed West End run of Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense. Robert has been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and the New Statesman, and now lives in London with his wife and daughters, where he continues trying to be funny and to fumble beyond general expectations of manhood. @arobertwebb

Reviews for How Not To Be a Boy

Funny and wonderful and necessary -- SARAH MILLICAN Simply brilliant -- JOANNA LUMLEY Funny, poignant, revealing * * Daily Telegraph * * A witty, honest coming-of-age story with a subtext that tackles masculinity and manhood. Webb has a storytelling skill many would kill for -- IAN RANKIN A brilliant telling of a sad story, it is also a manifesto for a change in attitudes . . . I laughed innumerable times and cried twice . . . You should give a copy to any young male you care about ***** * * S Magazine, Sunday Express * * Written with wit and clarity, How Not To Be a Boy is a funny, rueful, truthful book. I enjoyed every page -- STEPHEN FRY Frank and compelling . . . Laugh-out-loud funny . . . also, in parts, blink-back-tears sad. Why would I blink back tears rather than give full rein to the emotion? Well, Webb can explain * * Mail on Sunday * * Takes us deftly from hilarity to heart-stopping hurt . . . A truly great read, full of heart -- DAWN FRENCH With enormous poignancy and insight . . . Webb's early portrait of himself as a hapless underdog navigating the boulder-strewn path of masculinity is vividly drawn and very funny . . . Echoes of Adrian Mole * * Guardian * * Quite simply brilliant. I (genuinely) cried. I (genuinely) laughed out loud. It's profound, touching, personal yet universal . . . I loved it -- J.K. ROWLING


  • Short-listed for Books Are My Bag Readers Awards - Non-Fiction 2018 (UK)
  • Short-listed for Books Are My Bag Readers Awards 2018 (UK)
  • Winner of Chortle Awards: Book Award 2018 (UK)

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