Oh Dear Silvia

Dec 03, 2012 Kirsty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: received-for-review, read-2012, read-for-review, advanced-review-and-proof-copies, best-of-2012

A review copy of Oh Dear Silvia was kindly sent to me by Michael Joseph.

Dawn French’s first novel, A Tiny Bit Marvellous, was a real treat when it was published in 2010, and fans of work have been waiting impatiently for her second literary offering ever since. It is promised that her much-anticipated follow up is ‘as darkly comic and entertaining as it is inventive’.

In Oh Dear Silvia, the named protagonist of the novel, Silvia Shute, is mute. That is, she is unable to speak as, ‘despite all the...more A review copy of Oh Dear Silvia was kindly sent to me by Michael Joseph.

Dawn French’s first novel, A Tiny Bit Marvellous, was a real treat when it was published in 2010, and fans of work have been waiting impatiently for her second literary offering ever since. It is promised that her much-anticipated follow up is ‘as darkly comic and entertaining as it is inventive’.

In Oh Dear Silvia, the named protagonist of the novel, Silvia Shute, is mute. That is, she is unable to speak as, ‘despite all the supposed life in her, is in a coma’. She resides in Coma Suite Number 5 at an unnamed hospital in an unnamed town. Her story is told through the perspectives of her loved ones, who range from family members to friends and an hilarious employee, Tia, who is convinced that her employer’s name is ‘Mrs Shit’. Each of these characters has been entrusted with the responsibility of uncovering ‘the mysteries of her broken life’.

The blurb and bare bones of the story alone are intriguing, and pose a wealth of unanswered questions. Each character is followed by the first person narrator, and their thoughts, feelings and often complex relationships with Silvia are presented in a series of separate chapters. The first we encounter is Ed, Silvia’s ex-husband, who finds himself ‘suddenly, shockingly alone’ with his wife. The second chapter focuses upon Silvia’s sister, Jo - ‘the one who’s a bit odd and a bit irritating’ - and others follow her best friend who is a rather psychotic Irish GP named Cat, her daughter Cassie and her key nurse, Winnie. The characters are all varied and have distinctive elements about them. Tia, for example, who helps Silvia around the house, has been taught to swear by her two teenage sons, and comes out with such laughable phrases as ‘I love Cheryl Cole, she a proper nice bollockhead’.

The narrative voice has been incredibly well considered and complements the story perfectly. The monologues which present themselves in one-sided dialogue with Silvia are written well and are filled with believable truths. Small stories find themselves contained within the larger frame, a technique which works marvellously to create a layered plot. The majority of chapters are relatively succinct at first, but they grow in length as the story progresses, allowing us to learn more and more about the characters. Oh Dear Silvia certainly gains strength, depth and speed as it goes along. Nobody seems to quite know how Silvia ended up in her comatose state, and they piece together their knowledge until it reaches a startling crescendo.

The novel is rather touching at times, particularly with regard to the way in which people around her interact with Silvia, despite her unresponsive state. Questions are voiced by characters who would never dare broach certain subjects if Silvia could hear them – Jo wondering why her sister is so unkind and Ed asking about her sending her teenage children away from home after their divorce, for example. As French says, ‘Silvia likes honesty and would certainly be saying it how it is, if the roles were reversed’.

Oh Dear Silvia is, of course, comical, despite the seriousness of its plot. It is also very dark in places, and the twists and turns in the plot come as shocks. The more amusing scenes have been well balanced with those which are more poignant. The novel is full of surprises, and is sure to appeal to fans of French, as well as to those who merely enjoy contemporary fiction.(less)

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Feb 09, 2013 Sharon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I absolutlely loved this book, when it finished I wanted to keep reading. It made me laugh,

cry, feel anger and sorrow. I will admit that I have never started reading a book not liking

any of the characters very much but, as the book goes on you realise that all the characters

that come to visit Silvia in her coma have very important reasons for being there, some are

selfish but most are there because they feel a need to set the record straight.

Dawn French has a knack of drawing you into the story o...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Katy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Thanks, Goodreads, for the book - won it in the giveaway.

I had mixed views about the book initially. I got on with it much better than I normally would a book where I don't really identify with, or like, the characters appearing early on, but a lot of them were very cariacatured (Tia especially), which grated for a while. After about a third of the way through, though, I was hooked. The writing grew increasingly powerful as the story developed, and the ending was much more moving, and much darke...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Belinda rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: best-borrowed-from-the-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I would like to start this review with the disclaimer that I love Dawn French. I think she’s fabulous and very funny and the only time I’ve ever been reprimanded on an airplane was when I was watching The Vicar of Dibley and laughing too loud. (The Coles ads, well…I guess everyone’s got to pay the bills.) I was immensely looking forward to reading this book and certain that many chuckles would ensue.

The thing is, though, they didn’t. The eponymous Silvia is lying in hospital in a coma after havi...more I would like to start this review with the disclaimer that I love Dawn French. I think she’s fabulous and very funny and the only time I’ve ever been reprimanded on an airplane was when I was watching The Vicar of Dibley and laughing too loud. (The Coles ads, well…I guess everyone’s got to pay the bills.) I was immensely looking forward to reading this book and certain that many chuckles would ensue.

The thing is, though, they didn’t. The eponymous Silvia is lying in hospital in a coma after having fallen off her balcony, landing three floors below. The story is told from the first person point of view of six characters: nurse Winnie, ex-husband Ed, sister Jo, housekeeper Tia, friend Cat and daughter Cassie. As the story unfolds, we learn that each of these people has a different view of who Silvia Shute is and what she means to them differs vastly. Silvia has made some decisions in her life that her family doesn’t understand and, while she is lying in hospital, they take the occasion to address their grievances with her to her unmoving body.

The first problem I had with the novel is that two of the six main characters have their speech written in dialect – Winnie in a Jamaican lingo - “Right, sidung ‘pon dat chair, sista. Yu better start talking. Gimme some reasons for dis craziness” (p193). No, just no. Tia, the Asian housekeeper, oh so amusingly refers to Silvia as “Mrs Shit”: “Tia has been taught to swear by her two sons who were born and grew up in England, and who amuse themselves by cajoling her into using utterly inappropriate language. She’s not stupid, she knows they are having a laugh at her expense, but she can’t be bothered to deduce exactly why, and frankly, she doesn’t care”. Again, just no. It’s cringeworthy.

The second problem I had with the novel is that it just doesn’t make any sense. I understand that the whole point of the novel with its multiple storytellers is that we understand how multifaceted people are and that different people mean different things to different people, but there is no cohesiveness within the character of Silvia. Even timelines were confused and illogical and changed inexplicably from chapter to chapter.

**SPOILER ALERT**

Ed tells us that Silvia systematically destroyed his self-esteem, which lead to the end of their marriage. Cassie has a four-year-old daughter and was kicked out of the family home one week after telling her mother Silvia that she was pregnant, so the end of the marriage was at least four and a half years ago. But then we find out that the end of the marriage was precipitated because Silvia helped Cat dispose of her dead husband’s body, which happened three years ago, so Cassie can’t have been kicked out over four years ago. Then there’s all this stuff about Cassie living with Ed and Ed’s mum but then halfway through the novel she all of a sudden has a boyfriend Ben who she’s had since he got her pregnant and has been really great and supportive but if that is true then all of the stuff Ed said isn’t. And how can Ed afford to buy a field and plant it with really really boringly described trees but spends four and a half/three/however long sleeping on a couch in his mother’s one-bedroom apartment? It doesn’t make any sense. It would absolutely not have been hard for an editor or a proof-reader to draw up a timeline to ensure basic consistency across the storylines rather than really gaping and unbelievable plot holes.

Also, if a coked-up doctor who you suspect is abusive enough a person that you need to isolate your whole family from her, including your unborn grandchild, turns up at your house high as a kite with a dead husband in her trunk, you call the police. Silvia’s motivation to begin a relationship with Cat and cut herself off from her whole family feels really unrealistic and I didn’t buy it at all. None of the aspects of Silvia gel and, for this novel to be successful, this needed to happen.

Finally, the worst thing for me is the stereotypes. The Asian housekeeper steals from her employer. The professionally successful lesbian is a drug-addicted abusive insane person. The sister is a hippy who wants to burn sage and place crystals everywhere and is totally clueless about normal human social interaction. Dawn French, I’ve watched your work – you’re better than this. Penguin (Australia), whose “Australian” book is peppered with –ize endings, you’re better than this too. All in all, a very disappointing effort from a wonderfully talented woman and a publishing house that should have produced a better book.
(less)

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Jan 16, 2013 Dorothyanne Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh my.
I've read Dawn French's first book, "A Tiny Bit Marvellous", which made me howl out loud throughout and which was seriously funny and a tiny bit shocking.
So when I picked up "Oh Dear Silvia", I expected more of the same - something light and humorous, something to make me laugh and forget.
Instead what I got was the tale of a complex woman, one misunderstood by almost everyone in her life, told through the visitors to her hospital room, where she lies in a coma.
French masterfully takes us...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

After having read "A tiny bit marvellous" - Dawn French's debut fictional novel - I had high hopes for Oh Dear Silvia, but I was also slightly apprehensive. There was something magical (in realistic terms) about "A Tiny Bit Marvellous" and I feared she wouldn't be able to live up to this. And indeed, this novel is very different from "A tiny bit marvellous"; so much so that you feel slightly confused in the beginning. Is it a comedy? Can you even laugh about this subject (yes, you can, to a cert...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Sharon Cataldo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: family-eccentric-and-real

I bought this because I enjoyed A tiny bit marvellous so much.This was such a different story to A tiny bit marvellous, and I was initially disappointed that I didn't enjoy the characters as much... at first. Like A tiny bit marvellous it was told from different points of view and has a family and their relationships at its core, but this is a much darker story. It is a book you need to persist with. Though the subject is grim, there is warmth and humour. The story reminded me in many ways of Th...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Kelly rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, unfinished

I started this book with little expectation regarding the execution but with high hopes. I knew that the novel was supposed to be quite morbid but I imagined that with Dawn French behind the keyboard, there was sure to be level of humour, and in this I suppose I wasn't wrong.
Though there was the underlying sense of morality there was a level of humour through the events that occured within Suite 5. Unfortunately I just felt it was all too forced.

Basically, Silvia Shute is in a coma and her life...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Alan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, peer-pressure

A moving story, though not without it's flaws... "Oh Dear Silvia" improves upon acquaintance. The early chapters can be fairly dull, but the novel gradually picks up speed and I read the second half in one bleary-eyed, sniffly sitting.

I found the blurb misleading. I was expecting something like an in-depth analysis of Sylvia Schute from a variety of angles, but for the most part the novel is far more concerned with everybody else. The fact of the matter is that the lady in the coma has ostracise...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Helensvale Library rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sam

Dawn French’s Oh dear Silvia takes place in a hospital room where Silvia (of the title) lays in a coma & is visited by a family members, friends & some hospital staff. The memories of each visitor helps set the story and as you read you will find out who Silvia really is. The first chapter is told by Ed, the ex-husband, with following chapters jumping from Ed to Winnie, the hospital nurse, to Tia, the housekeeper, to Cat, Silvia’s current partner, to Jo, the sister & to Cassandra, th...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Jo Bournemouth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-read

This is a review of the book which I received free as first-reads copy through Goodreads:

Having lost my husband and my father in recent years I was not sure how I would feel about the novel which is based on people visiting a patient in a coma, their feelings, and largely about them talking to Sylvia about how she has made them feel over the years.

The book treated serious issues with more gravitas than I had expected while at the same time revealing the story of Sylvia's childhood, marriage and...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Sarah Beth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from HarperCollins.

I found this book disappointing and fairly absurd. Silvia Shute has fallen from a balcony and lies in a coma. She is visited by Ed, her ex-husband, Jo, her older sister, Winnie, her West Indian nurse, Tia, her housekeeper, Cat, her lover and "friend," and Cassie, her estranged daughter. All of the visitors, with the exception of her nurse who never knew her and her housekeeper, Silvia seems universally disliked. Her children hate...more I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from HarperCollins.

I found this book disappointing and fairly absurd. Silvia Shute has fallen from a balcony and lies in a coma. She is visited by Ed, her ex-husband, Jo, her older sister, Winnie, her West Indian nurse, Tia, her housekeeper, Cat, her lover and "friend," and Cassie, her estranged daughter. All of the visitors, with the exception of her nurse who never knew her and her housekeeper, Silvia seems universally disliked. Her children hate her and haven't seen her in years, her husband is wounded and bitter at the abrupt end to their marriage, and her sister is too loony to really know who her sister was.

From the beginning, I found the whole plot of this book a poor choice to begin with. It's hard to have any action, except in flashbacks, when the whole novel takes place in a hospital room. Additionally, it's hard to believe that each one of these characters would speak aloud and at such length to the comatose Silvia - pouring out their thoughts and dreams in a busy hospital. It's hard to get excited at a book composed of a series of one-way conversations. It also seems like a cop-out that every accusation every leveled at Silvia occurs when she's unconscious and unable to respond. It's ironic that Silvia is the focus of this novel, because as a reader, I never got a sense of who she was or what exactly motivated her actions. And if she was so terrible as they all claim, why make such a big fuss over her?

Additionally, I found many of the characters really stereotypical and melodramatic. The ex-husband who almost kills himself under their favorite tree after Silvia leaves him. The ultra hippie, loopy sister who can't accept that Silvia will not recover. The housekeeper who is stealing from her. There were also a lot of scenes that were ridiculous in their absurdity. For example, when Jo tries animal therapy on Silvia, including a stick bug who "alien-like" clamps onto her face and "does a little clinging-on bouncy dance instead. It is positively showing off, wiggling its gnarly bottom over her nose." It was too silly and childish for me to find much of the humor of this book actually funny.(less)

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Nov 09, 2012 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I won this book through a goodreads giveaway.

Personall, I think that this book is meant for an older audience and as I am only teenager, this wouldn't be one of the first books I would pick in a bookstore. The story follows a 60 year old woman called Silvia who is in a coma after a fall off her balcony. The story is basically about all her visitors from her ex husband to her daughter who talk to her and about her. With each chapter you find out a little bit more about what Silvia is like and how...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Helena Halme rated it 2 of 5 stars

Not for me, this book. Although there's nothing wrong with the writing, I just could not believe in the characters. They all seemed unreal to me, including Silvia, who although in a coma, was the largest presence in the book.

As the title reveals, the story circles around Silvia, who is lying unconscious in a hospital intensive care unit. We meet her ex-husband, her estranged daughter, her best friend, her cleaner and her nurse, who all talk to the sleeping Silvia, revealing what has happened in...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Stephanie (Stepping out of the Page) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, realistic-fiction, read-in-2012, medical-conditions, lgbt-characters, cultural, abuse, adult-fiction

Dawn French is a person that almost everyone knows and a person who a lot of people love, simply for her ability to make you laugh. I've not read anything that has been written by her before, but I have wanted to. When I read the blurb for Oh Dear Silvia, I immediately picked it up and started reading.

I love the idea behind this book - The whole book takes place in Coma Suite 5, where Silvia, a friend, lover and mother lies in a coma. The story is told through several people - her ex-husband (Ed...more Dawn French is a person that almost everyone knows and a person who a lot of people love, simply for her ability to make you laugh. I've not read anything that has been written by her before, but I have wanted to. When I read the blurb for Oh Dear Silvia, I immediately picked it up and started reading.

I love the idea behind this book - The whole book takes place in Coma Suite 5, where Silvia, a friend, lover and mother lies in a coma. The story is told through several people - her ex-husband (Ed), her sister (Jo), her daughter (Cassie), her 'lover' (Cat), her housekeeper (Tia) and her nurse (Winnie). There isn't really a progressive plot as such, but this is more of a collection of memories, wishes and thoughts have about Silvia and how she has changed each narrator's life. I find books like this very intriguing, so I was interested in seeing what each person had to say.

Though there are quite a few narrators, they were all very distinctive and even if it didn't have their names at the beginning of each chapter, you'd know who they were. I was very impressed with the authenticity of each character, as they were all so very different, though you could still sense that some of the characters were connected (Ed and his daughter). I was also impressed with the depth of each character - the character building through the chats to Silvia in the suite was very well done. We get to see many different sides to the characters as they go through various emotional stages. Interaction between the conscious characters was also fantastic, particularly towards the end. I also enjoyed the use of dialect.

As expected, there were some hilarious comedy moments from French (I particularly liked the scene with the 'healing' animals - I was laughing out loud!), which balanced out the more serious backbone of the story. Though this is written by a comedienne, it does have quite a lot of serious issues brought up which added sincerity and seriousness to the writing, which I appreciated.

To explain my rating of this book, although there was a lot of elements of this book which I enjoyed, it did take me a while to get into it. At first I was very unsure about the book. There were parts that held my attention and some parts I struggled with. At the beginning, I didn't enjoy the writing, particularly the way most of the words were underlined for emphasis. I got used to it, then different dialects were brought in which, again, made me unsure. I did find Winnie's Jamaican dialect to be charming, though I was unsure about Tia. Tia is foreign and her children taught her to use lots of swearing and incorrect words when talking - sure, it was funny at the start, but I found it to be tiresome after a while and didn't like it. Our most serious character in the book is probably Ed, who I did enjoy reading about, but sometimes, in contrast with the other characters, felt a little dull.

Overall, I was impressed with Oh Dear Silvia, and though I was unsure of it at first, I was glad that I stayed with it as it improved from the midpoint onwards. I think that this book will appeal to a lot of readers, and I would certainly be willing to read more fictional novels by Dawn French.(less)

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Nov 04, 2012 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Read & Reviewed for http://www.thebookbag.co.uk

When Dawn French wrote her first novel [[A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French]] I was eager to read it, looking forward to plenty of silly humour and those elusive-when-reading out loud laughs. I was disappointed unfortunately, and actually came away from the book feeling annoyed with the characters and quite discouraged and depressed somehow. So, I approached her new novel with a little trepidation, unsure as to whether she deserved a second ch...more Read & Reviewed for http://www.thebookbag.co.uk

When Dawn French wrote her first novel [[A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French]] I was eager to read it, looking forward to plenty of silly humour and those elusive-when-reading out loud laughs. I was disappointed unfortunately, and actually came away from the book feeling annoyed with the characters and quite discouraged and depressed somehow. So, I approached her new novel with a little trepidation, unsure as to whether she deserved a second chance. I'm glad I gave her the benefit of the doubt!

The Silvia of the title is a lady in a coma in hospital and although she is the central character of the story we don't really actually hear from her and, instead, it's the cast of characters who come to visit her who create the character of Silvia for us. Each chapter is about an individual character, often running as their own monologue of their thoughts about Silvia or the things they have to say to her. These characters range from Silvia's family members, her friend, her cleaner to her nurse, Winnie, who really felt like the lynch-pin for the whole story. Each character comes along to visit Silvia, for various different reasons, and through the things they have to say we learn about them as well as about Silvia.

I felt unsure of the style initially. Some of the characters felt a little too bonkers and I was worried the book would end up feeling forced with these character-based chapters. However, the jumps between Silvia's visitors ends up working really well. The characters are all very well portrayed, and the only one I felt was perhaps played for laughs a little too much was Silvia's cleaner, Tia, although even she has her own little back story going on and so she isn't only there to be funny. My opinion of each of the characters changed, in some cases quite dramatically, as the story progressed and it's very clever, the way different aspects of each person are revealed and then later explained, and the secrets and lies that emerge are perfectly placed and result in a very moving read.

Winnie is, by far, my favourite character. I felt myself looking forward to her chapters and hoping that if I were unlucky enough to ever have to spend some time in hospital that I would be blessed with a nurse like Winnie. Although her character initially provides a balance against the others who actually know Silvia by the end her role is crucial, not just for Silvia but for many of her visitors too. Winnie goes on something of a journey through the story, as do all the characters really as they each grow and change through the book, as result of Silvia's mysterious coma and their own responses to that.

The themes of the novel, guilt and family, secrets and love, are handled really well. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, but the familial relationships in the story I found were incredibly moving towards the end. It's a story about loss, and saying goodbye, but it's also a story about finding the truth and finding love. I was surprised by how emotionally uplifting the story ultimately was and it certainly redeemed Dawn French as a writer for me. I didn't laugh out loud, but I did snigger a few times and there are some funny moments but really, don't read this expecting a comedy sketch, it's a great story just as it is and next time I won't hesitate in picking up one of her books.(less)

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Mar 04, 2013 Ian rated it 2 of 5 stars

I had high expectations of this as the Sunday Times reviewer said (towards the end of 2012) that it was the best book she had read all year. So I was rather disappointed with what for me was a long read (i.e. I kept putting the book down and forgetting about it).
Each chapter features a visitor to a coma patient and what we have is basically a series of inner monologues connected by third person narrative. There is an awful lot of padding and repetition and little in the way of plot development c...more

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Dec 01, 2012 Bree T rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc

In Coma Suite Number 5 is Silvia Shute, who fell from a balcony and now lies unresponsive. Visiting Silvia are:

her ex-husband Ed, charged with making the tough decisions despite their divorce some years ago
Jo, Silvia’s older sister who cannot accept the fact that the life essence of Silvia may be gone and she tries any number of holistic and out there methods to attempt to bring her sister’s spirit back into her body,
Winnie, the West Indian nurse in charge of a lot of Silvia’s care,
Tia, Silvia’s...more In Coma Suite Number 5 is Silvia Shute, who fell from a balcony and now lies unresponsive. Visiting Silvia are:

her ex-husband Ed, charged with making the tough decisions despite their divorce some years ago
Jo, Silvia’s older sister who cannot accept the fact that the life essence of Silvia may be gone and she tries any number of holistic and out there methods to attempt to bring her sister’s spirit back into her body,
Winnie, the West Indian nurse in charge of a lot of Silvia’s care,
Tia, Silvia’s cleaner who struggles to make ends meet with a disabled husband and two children in school,
Cat, Silvia’s dangerously possessive friend who is hiding secrets, and
Cassie, Silvia’s daughter, who has had a very fractious relationship with her mother since she abandoned Cassie when she was pregnant.
From revolving points of view between those characters, glimpses of the Silvia and the horrible secrets she holds are laid bare to the reader. Unable to explain or help herself, unable to make the people around her see why she has chosen to do what she did to many people who now sit by her bedside, willing her to wake, the visitors must piece together their own picture of Silvia. Ed is the betrayed husband, left by Silvia with barely an explanation and treated with disdain during the proceedings. He’s depressed, damaged by the removal of his place as Silvia’s husband and is thinking of drastic measures. Jo is the older sister who was told to take care of Silvia no matter what, to never let anything happen to her and now she is almost manic because she believes she has failed in that directive. She will try anything, anything to get her sister to come back to them. Cat appears to be a devoted friend but look a little closer and the cracks are showing, revealing some serious instability. What is she hiding and what is her hold over Silvia? Why does no one trust her? Cassie is Silvia’s daughter and if it weren’t for her boyfriend’s family, she might’ve been out on the street. She has a lot of issues with her mother and it is some time before she can bring herself to cross the threshold of Coma Suite 5. Tia is Silvia’s cleaner, an immigrant whose children have delighted in teaching her naughty slang which now peppers her conversation. With Silvia in a coma there’s no one around to pay her so Tia takes her own wages, but she loyally continues to clean and visit Silvia in the hospital, bringing her traditionally cooked dishes in an attempt to awaken her. Lastly Winnie, a nurse on the floor of Silvia’s room who respectfully takes care of Silvia’s personal needs as she laments the unwise decisions she has made concerning men and thinks of her desire to raise her young son Luke to be respectful to women, thus attempting to break a cycle of neglect.

Oh Dear Silvia is the most recent novel from popular comic Dawn French, probably best known for her role in the TV series The Vicar Of Dibley. I haven’t read her previous novel, A Tiny Bit Marvelous, nor have I seen more than 2 or 3 episodes of The Vicar Of Dibley so my knowledge her is generally based on what I’ve read in the paper or magazines. It also might be the first novel I’ve read where the main character remains in a coma for the entire book and doesn’t contribute a single word of dialogue or narrative thought. It’s an interesting technique, using others to paint a picture of a deeply complicated woman and I think for the most part, it works. In the first few chapters, Silvia is deeply unsympathetic, portrayed as brutal, uncaring, unfeeling, especially towards her ex-husband, who still bears the scars of their split some years before, and to their daughter Cassie, kicking her out of home and abandoning her when she would have been most vulnerable. Silvia has almost no relationship with either of her two children (Cassie’s brother is in the armed serviced, deployed to fighting the war on terror) and her social circle has narrowed considerably it seems, to basically only feature her long-term friend Cat. Ed and Jo are united in their dislike and distrust of Cat but even they are unable to really imagine the depth of instability that lurks beneath Cat’s calm General Practitioner exterior, nor will they even be able to comprehend the secrets Silvia has kept.

I have to admit, I felt that the secrets would not be revealed as early as they were in the book and I think because of that they may have lost some impact. The author built Silvia up as a certain type of character only to dismantle that very quickly and you don’t really get a chance to grasp the way in which people like Ed and Cassie feel about her because the secrets come spilling out and you are immediately presented with a different side of Silvia. While the book was very well written and enjoyable, I think the pacing was a fraction off, for me anyway. And like Shelleyrae at Book’d Out, I found the chapters from Winnie’s perspective whenever there was a lot of Winnie talking to Silvia, borderline unreadable. It was written phonetically in West Indian vernacular/accent and in long passages it made my brain melt. If it was just a couple of sentences here and there, it was quite fine and I could hear the accent in my head but paragraphs and paragraphs became very difficult to understand.

Overall I liked Oh Dear Silvia and found the idea and way it was constructed very interesting. It was the sort of book that was quite easy to rip through quickly, because there was always something more you wanted to know about a particular character, not just Silvia. It could easily have been a very depressing novel, but it still manages to retain a humour through some lovely moments and some comic relief with Jo’s outlandish attempts to get Silvia to wake up. I think Dawn French is quite clever and I’d be happy to read any of her future works.(less)

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Nov 06, 2012 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-are, provided-by-publisher

Oh Dear Sylvia is the second novel by Dawn French, her first A Tiny Bit Marvellous, published in 2011, became a bestseller in the UK.

The novel begins by introducing Ed who is seated by his ex-wife's hospital bed where Silvia rests, unresponsive and on life support after a severe head injury, with subsequent chapters shifting between the perspectives of Ed, Silvia's nurse (Winnie), housekeeper (Tia), partner (Cat), sister (Jo) and daughter (Cassandra). As each character spends time with Silvia,...more
Oh Dear Sylvia is the second novel by Dawn French, her first A Tiny Bit Marvellous, published in 2011, became a bestseller in the UK.

The novel begins by introducing Ed who is seated by his ex-wife's hospital bed where Silvia rests, unresponsive and on life support after a severe head injury, with subsequent chapters shifting between the perspectives of Ed, Silvia's nurse (Winnie), housekeeper (Tia), partner (Cat), sister (Jo) and daughter (Cassandra). As each character spends time with Silvia, reminiscing about their respective relationships with her, they develop a portrait of a complicated woman for the reader. Just as you are sure you know and violently dislike Silvia, one of her visitors makes a stunning revelation that proves the old adage that you can never really know another person.

I thought the way in which the author structured this novel was very clever. The plot is carefully constructed to reveal critical information with perfect timing, betraying secrets and truths that reflect not only on Silvia but also her visitors.
The darker, serious elements of the story are tempered by the lighter, often farcical, moments, such as Jo's attempts at pet therapy and Tia's prattle about celebrity gossip, yet an undercurrent of grief is always present.

I have to admit while I found Tia's muddled, and often accidentally profane, speech hilarious, I found Winnie's Jamaican patios very difficult to read. British, and American readers, might be more attuned to the accent and therefore more comfortable with the odd rhythm but it's not familiar to me, so I struggled with her chapters.

While there are similarities in style between A Tiny Bit Marvellous and Oh Dear Sylvia, notably the multiple perspectives and French's irreverent style of humour, somewhat disappointingly, there is barely a hint of Dawn's distinct voice.

Oh Dear Silvia is a come-tragedy which is hilarious, dark and moving in turn. Though it is not entirely what I expected from Dawn French the novel has its' own unique charm which should appeal to a broad audience.
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Feb 03, 2013 Carol Peace rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sylvia who is the main character is in a coma, she has 'fallen' off a balcony but no one seems to know how.
Her story is from the perspective of several family and friends who visit. This also includes the cleaner and the nurse who tends to her, their backgrounds are also included albeit only glimpses.
As the story goes on you see the insight into why Sylvia became this cold person who abandoned her family and only you see the whole story the other characters never know. I did enjoy the book and...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Heather rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I received this book for free through the Goodreads Firstreads program.

(This review can also be found on my blog The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl).

I love Dawn French! I think she is such a funny woman!! I was so happy to have won a copy of her fiction book entitled Oh Dear Silvia from Goodreads. However, once I started reading the book, it became apparent that I wasn't going to enjoy it.

Silvia is in a coma after falling from a balcony and hitting her head. Throughout her t...more I received this book for free through the Goodreads Firstreads program.

(This review can also be found on my blog The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl).

I love Dawn French! I think she is such a funny woman!! I was so happy to have won a copy of her fiction book entitled Oh Dear Silvia from Goodreads. However, once I started reading the book, it became apparent that I wasn't going to enjoy it.

Silvia is in a coma after falling from a balcony and hitting her head. Throughout her time in hospital, she is visited by family, her best friend, her ex-husband, her nurse, and her cleaner. Each has their own story to tell however odd it may be. Throughout this book, we will find out about who Silvia is.

The title of this book really works. After reading the book, I would say it definitely fits well with the story.

The cover of this book is quite bland. The tree on the cover of the book does have significance, but it's just rather boring. It wouldn't entice me to pick up this book to see what it's about. Surely, the cover could've been a bit more decorative.

The setting takes place mostly in suite 5 which is Silvia's room in hospital. The world building is alright. The memories of each visitor help set the story.

I found the pacing of Oh Dear Silvia to be extremely and painfully slow. At some points, I found myself skim reading the especially boring parts. I couldn't wait for this book to be over. There's not even one bit in this book where the pacing picks up. There's no real plot in this book, so there's definitely no plot twists. The pacing definitely lets this book down.

The dialogue is comedic at times which I found to be a small reprieve from the slowness of this book. Ed's dialogue really bored me.

The characters are well-developed which I found to be a relief. Each chapter of the book is told by someone who knows Silvia. The main characters that have their own chapters being Ed, Cat, Jo, Cassie, Winnie, and Tia. Ed is by far the most boring character that could ever be in a book. All he mostly talks about is his boring trees. Whilst I did find him to be a well-developed character, I found him extremely dull and found myself wishing that he'd just stop talking. Winnie and Tia were my favourite characters. Winnie has a big heart, and it really comes across in this book. Tia is from Indonesia so has a hard time pronouncing Silvia's surname which always made me laugh!! I found Tia and Jo to be the characters that brought the humour, and they delivered! Cat is the high strung character, and Cassie is the angry daughter. Each character has a unique personality. Well done to Dawn French for making each character unique! Through each of the characters' stories, we learn more and more about Silvia.

Even with the strong character personalities and comedic timing, this book still fell flat. I felt that this book was missing a plot. Oh Dear Silvia comes across more as a memoir about Silvia then anything else.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone except those who need help falling asleep. Dawn French is great, but this book just didn't do it for me.(less)

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Jan 15, 2013 Leonie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: chic-lit

I was looking forward to this book after reading a tiny bit marvelous but I fear I was slightly disappointed with this read. Overall it was very funny in parts I especially enjoyed Winnie's Jamaican accent and Tia's penchant for swearing and selling all 'mrs shit's' belongings on eBay. The thing was I found parts of it boring I found myself skipping paragraphs when Ed rambled on about his wood although I understood the significance of him buying the wood I didn't need to understand about the dif...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Sam rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, contemporary-fiction

Won this on a Goodreads Giveaway.

Despite the depressing nature of the main thread of this story, it is still quite entertaining and amusing and has a number of light-hearted moments that prevent the story being too serious or saddening. The story follows the life of Silvia through the eyes of her friends and family as they gather around her bed as she lies in a coma after falling from the balcony of her home. It quickly becomes apparent that all is not as it seems and there is a deep dark secret...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Lya06 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Qui la recensione completa: http://bookland89.blogspot.it/2013/04...

..... Ho sempre qualche difficoltà ad affrontare le storie che parlano di malattia, ma in questo caso, il coma di Silvia è il veicolo per una tragica riunione familiare, per riflessioni, per ricordi tristi e felici. Quindi al centro del libro dal titolo davvero azzeccato, "Dimmi che ti dispiace", non c'è una vera e propria storia ma c'è la riflessione e l'introspezione personale dei visitatori che, avvicinandosi a questa donna a...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Sarah Hughes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had never read any of Dawn French's previous works, so I had little to no expectations coming into this book - it was a gift, although I'll admit I probably wouldn't have chosen it myself. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The subject matter is fresh and new (who else would think of coming at the idea of a person in a coma from that perspective?). It is a veritable emotional roller-coaster - at one point I had to put the book down as I was getting funny looks for laughing out loud on the bu...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: modern-british-fiction, reviewed

The popular TV sketch comedienne (of "French and Saunders") has written her second novel, an odd and oddly funny book about a woman lying in a coma after a fall--shove?--from her balcony. The Silvia of the title is actually somewhat more interesting than the family members who come to her bedside to support her (one of which, her sister Jo, is maniacally and comically absurd--over the top to my taste; I would probably disown her if she were related to me). A couple of the characters, a West Indi...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Kiwiflora rated it 4 of 5 stars

Review copy kindly supplied by Penguin Books NZ via Booksellers New Zealand.

Dawn French - everyone's funny lady, mainstay of British light television, and yet, like many comedians, also brilliant at serious thought, producing work that has considerably more depth to it than the laughs generated. Should we be surprised then that her second book is a serious book? Poignant and reflective, it highlights how in life the wires that hold our relationships with family and those dear to us can become qu...more Review copy kindly supplied by Penguin Books NZ via Booksellers New Zealand.

Dawn French - everyone's funny lady, mainstay of British light television, and yet, like many comedians, also brilliant at serious thought, producing work that has considerably more depth to it than the laughs generated. Should we be surprised then that her second book is a serious book? Poignant and reflective, it highlights how in life the wires that hold our relationships with family and those dear to us can become quite tenuous, and how difficult it can be to repair those bonds. And that is often because we don't know what caused them to bend and break in the first place, so of course can't then fix them.

This story is all about Silvia, and how every single meaningful relationship she has had in her life is in absolute tatters. Strangely, Silvia is in a coma, lying in a hospital bed, in a vegetative state. So, rightly or wrongly, we never actually hear from Silvia herself as to how or why she is in this current predicament. For the purposes of the story she is a prop, but a prop who is the focus of the visitors that come to see her, to talk/shout/cry/reflect/scream/laugh, as they come to terms with the fact that Silvia may not be around for too much longer.

The cast of 'loved ones' is not huge, but varied and rich in complexity, damaged and vengeful, loving and protective, hurt and sad. So through their stories, we find out exactly how Silvia ended up in this small hospital room facing her own demise. There is her ex-husband Ed, her estranged daughter Cassie and absent son Jamie, her older, completely bonkers sister Jo, her lover Cat, her cleaner Tia, and overseeing all with her warmth and humanity the gorgeous nurse Winnie who, a bit like the chorus that features in Greek theatre, holds the whole thing together.

But let us not forget that the book has been written by a woman renowned for her comedy, both in writing and performing. This story reeks of Dawn French's voice. This may be distracting for some, but I loved it. I could hear her voice saying large chunks of the dialogue or even doing an audio version of the book. I could see in my mind's eye exactly how the nutty sister Jo looks and behaves. There are some truly hilarious moments in this story, that may well have you laughing out loud. There is a page of exquisite writing when Ed is looking at Silvia's hands lying on outside of the sheets - a page of writing about her hands - how do you make a page of writing about a pair of hands so beautiful? But it epitomises so gently and poignantly the intimacy of a marriage or relationship. We know from her comedy how cleverly Dawn French captures the human condition, and here she shows she can also do it in writing.

This is a great read, not too deep, not too shallow, but with just enough pathos, loose endings tied up, and the power of love and forgiveness to make it amazingly satisfying. Ah yes, you think when you finish it, that had a little bit of everything, and in just the right quantities.

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Jan 08, 2013 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, women-s-fiction

There is no doubt Dawn French is a talented writer. Her characterization is excellent. What I feel she needs to work on is her plotting skills. For me -and to be fair, I love stories with action, which is pretty much non-existent here - this story was dull. What kept me going were a couple of the characters: Silvia's mad sister, her equally mad housekeeper and nurse were all wonderful. (Silvia's husband who has an odd obsession with trees and spoke about them for pages on end to his comatose ex...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Lynn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END!!

I received Oh Dear Silvia as an uncorrected advance proof copy first-reads giveaway - thank you!

The premise of a woman - the eponymous Silvia - lying in a coma while all her nearest and dearest share their secrets and innermost thoughts with her was intriguing - and I appreciate the way each person's 'voice' clearly stands out from each other in the writing style. Winnie - the lovely, warm nurse speaking Jamaican English; Ed -...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Carofish rated it 4 of 5 stars

I couldn't wait to read this and I wasn't disappointed. Reading the blurb on the cover I expected a laugh, but its so much more than that. The patient in the bed is the catalyst for change in everyone who visits her lives. A sister who always felt 'second best' , the ex-husband who gave too much, the daughter who can't understand why her mother doesn't love her anymore. This story is full of misunderstandings and it makes one realise how important it is to communicate with one another. The nurse...more

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