The Understudy

David Nicholls is a fantastic writer. In fact, he's one of my favourite authors and, having finished this book, I've now read every one of his novels. Having achieved this, I feel that I'm in a position to ask; why do his books have such a low average rating? His writing is clever and profound and m......more

After reading Nicholls' first book "Starter for Ten", this was disappointing. There are some funny lines in "The Understudy" but it doesn't have the charm of his debut novel. Unfortunately, the protagonist Stephen McQueen is a pretty pathetic character. He is understudy to the lead in a major West End......more

It took me a while to get into this book and I almost gave up but 100 pages in and it got interesting. I didn't laugh out loud and didn't find it particularly funny, but the storyline was pretty good. His other books are better in my opinion. Three stars.......more

My wife ordered this, as she enjoyed One Day and Starter for Ten, which I've read, and they were ok. Perhaps I've got Nicholls fatigue, or it's a backlash to the mainly 4 and 5 stars I've been giving recently, but I found this a chore to read. The characters are all unsympathetic and the story weak. I......more

Not bad at all, the characters have enough deepness, there are quite a lot of interesting things said, but this book looks like the ones which could be better with a minimum of effort. Until then, you're not sure if you're dealing with a comedy or a tragedy. Maybe both.........more