The Diary of a Nobody

Book Overview

‘A very enjoyable, easy to follow abridgement of the classic novel.’ The Wishing Shelf

About the Book

Mr. Pooter has read about many people who have kept diaries, and concludes that he too should keep a diary, even though he is not famous, just a nobody.

Mr. Pooter’s life is a hilarious mix of comic moments filled with common people, everyday events, bathtub accidents, marriage proposals breaking, peculiar friends, and visitors galore.

In this diary, Mr. Pooter, the bank clerk, chronicles his upside-down life. The events mentioned are comically entertaining, and will make you chuckle, even though they are of a nobody.

Reviews

TITLE: The Diary of a Nobody

AUTHOR: George and Weedon Grossmith. Abridged by Fiza Pathan and Michaelangelo Zane and illustrated by Farzana Cooper 

Star Rating: 5 

To Sum Up

‘A very enjoyable, easy to follow abridgement of the classic novel.’ The Wishing Shelf

REVIEW

Lately, I seem to be reading a lot of abridgments. And, for the most part, I do enjoy them. In the case of the classics, it all depends on the writer who’s doing the abridging having the necessary skills to simplify the often overly flowery language and, at the same time, keep the richness of the language, the depth of the characters, and the originality of the plot.

In the case of this abridgement of The Diary of a Nobody, the classic novel of a clerk in London and his life in the middle class Victorian age, the two writers (Fiza Pathan and Michaelangelo Zane) seem to know what they’re doing. The language is considerably simpler compared to the original text, but there is still an excellent flow to it, and the character of Mr Pooter still jumps off the page. Like the original, it is written in diary form and, as anybody who has enjoyed the original text will remember, comic timing is everything. The two writers of this abridgment understand this, and I’m happy to report I chuckled my way through this – as I did with the original many years ago. It’s even illustrated and, I must say, the illustrator (Farzana Cooper) did a fine job.

I would happily recommend this abridgement to anybody wishing to introduce this text to a new reader who, perhaps, might find the formality and richness of Grossmith’s original work a little too daunting. Although this novel is not a popular school text, I think it would go down well in a school library – or even a university library where a first year literature student is looking for a little light reading.

 A Wishing Shelf Review

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