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The Good Life
Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 21, 2023
As mentioned in other reviews this is little more than the script to the first series of The Good Life tv programme. At first I even imagined where the laughter came, but soon I just settled down to enjoy the story of how Tom and Barbara Good gave up their nine-to-five existence in a bid for self-sufficiency. There was a little bit of extra depth to the characters (but not much), but I felt I knew them so well anyway, having watched the show so many times.
February 5, 2019
This novel is the story of the first series of the now classic British sit-com The Good Life.
Tom Good is 40 and he can't wait for life to begin. He feels trapped and unfulfilled in his job as a draughtsman for a plastics company where he designs plastic animals for breakfast cereal companies. I am not sure this happens now in 2019, but as a child of the 1970s, I remember this being a big event from my formative years!
As he sits over his 40th birthday dinner he decides he is going to throw in capitalism and, together with his long suffering wife Barbara, they will become self sufficient.
This means that they will have to sell their car, give up their phone, dispense with their front and back gardens to turn them into growing allotments - and start shipping in animals.
At first, their next door neighbours, Jerry and Margot Leadbetter, are amused, then appalled as their perfect Executive home finds itself next to a farm in the making. Jerry is most amused, but Margot, determined to keep her standards high is appalled when the pigs arrive.
Things aren't all plain sailing, but with a little help from their friends, the Goods start to live The Good Life.
Going to donate on my next charity shop run as I don't think I'll re-read it.
Tom Good is 40 and he can't wait for life to begin. He feels trapped and unfulfilled in his job as a draughtsman for a plastics company where he designs plastic animals for breakfast cereal companies. I am not sure this happens now in 2019, but as a child of the 1970s, I remember this being a big event from my formative years!
As he sits over his 40th birthday dinner he decides he is going to throw in capitalism and, together with his long suffering wife Barbara, they will become self sufficient.
This means that they will have to sell their car, give up their phone, dispense with their front and back gardens to turn them into growing allotments - and start shipping in animals.
At first, their next door neighbours, Jerry and Margot Leadbetter, are amused, then appalled as their perfect Executive home finds itself next to a farm in the making. Jerry is most amused, but Margot, determined to keep her standards high is appalled when the pigs arrive.
Things aren't all plain sailing, but with a little help from their friends, the Goods start to live The Good Life.
Going to donate on my next charity shop run as I don't think I'll re-read it.
January 1, 2023
Not a patch on the series.
Some adaptations take the opportunity to expand on the source material, and give extra background, explore the thoughts of the characters or fill in what happens off screen.
This book doesn't bother and literally repeats word for word what was on the screen. But because some of the TV episodes could take place over several days, it becomes especially noticeable when the book jumps forward. It would have been so easy and interesting for the book to fill in these spaces but instead it doesn't and the book doesn't really hang together. The developed characters we see on screen, played excellently by Richard Briers et el come across as mere cardboard characters in this "novel".
The worst adaptation I've ever read.
Some adaptations take the opportunity to expand on the source material, and give extra background, explore the thoughts of the characters or fill in what happens off screen.
This book doesn't bother and literally repeats word for word what was on the screen. But because some of the TV episodes could take place over several days, it becomes especially noticeable when the book jumps forward. It would have been so easy and interesting for the book to fill in these spaces but instead it doesn't and the book doesn't really hang together. The developed characters we see on screen, played excellently by Richard Briers et el come across as mere cardboard characters in this "novel".
The worst adaptation I've ever read.
July 15, 2023
The tv series is one of my go-to “comfort” shows, so I was chuffed to bits to get the book in my vintage subscription this month. Was a little disappointed to find that it’s literally just the series 1 script written up into a novel format, but it was good anyway.
September 20, 2011
Wonderful stuff and even today, inspiring to anyone who wants to grow their own veg, keep chickens or pigs or just to find ' it ' !
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews