Sorting Out Billy

by Jo Brand

Billy is a lad. He's a laugh, he's loud, he behaves badly and Sarah is besotted with him. But after another 'accident' involving Billy's temper, Sarah's face and a night in the A&E, Sarah's friends Martha and Flower decide that it's time to take action. What should they do? Reason with him? Send him to anger management classes? Hire a hit man? Martha and Flower have problems of their Martha is seven months pregnant by one of three possible blokes (she did this mainly to wind up her sanctimonious vicar father); and hippie Flower's career as a stand-up comic is more sit-down after some nasty encounters with south London's finest hecklers. Will Martha survive single-motherhood on a council estate in need of a peace-keeping force? Will Flower find the perfect put-down? And will they sort out Billy before he gets to them first...? Jo Brand tells it like it is in her darkly comic and sharply observed debut novel.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Comedy

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Josephine "Jo" Grace Brand is a BAFTA winning English stand-up comedienne, writer and actress.
Commencing her entertainment career with a move from psychiatric nursing to the alternative comedy stand up scene and early performances on Saturday Live, she went on to appearances on The Brain Drain, Channel 4's Jo Brand Through the Cakehole, Getting On and various television appearances including as a regular guest on QI. In 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ = Quite Good.
Paperback.
There is no getting away from the fact that this might offend some people. Jo Brand is a known comic in the UK, and one that is not particularly PC. She was a mental health nurse by profession, and being a nurse myself, I understand how to find humour in dark situations.

There is a fair bit of swearing.
I found it quite witty in parts.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Sorting Out Billy' by Jo Brand was a fantastic book! It had me giggling and laughing and bawling the entire way through! It was laid-back, easy going and extremely girly!

Front Cover.
Erm. As far as front covers go, this one was a bit sh*t. And before anybody starts preaching the words, "You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover" to me, let me make it clear. I'm not judging the book by it's cover, I'm just merely giving an honest opinion and saying it's not very nice. I don't get it. Yes. There's a heart on it. And then some symbols from off a pack of playing cards surrounding the heart. And it's the most yackiest shade of green I think I have ever come across...


The book's about...
So, 'Sorting Out Billy' is about three women who are close friends, Martha, Sarah and Flower. Sarah begins seeing a guy called Billy, who is a complete and utter asswipe, and who treats her like a fool. Once they get so far into their relationship, Billy becomes worse, and starts emotionally and physically hurting her.
After Martha and Flower receive a phone call from Sarah telling them what has happened and that Billy has lifted a hand to her, the three girls meet up and talk about what needs to be done to this vile, vile man. Sarah tries her best to cover up the seriousness of what has happened, and doesn't seem willing to take it any further, but Martha and Flower have other ideas.

Once Martha and Flower are alone again, they devise a list between them of things to do to Billy. The problem is, they have no other choice but to keep this list from out of Sarah's view.

So, the book is about three women, two of which want to split their best-friend and her abusive boyfriend up.

The characters were...
In my opinion, I thought the characters were perfect for the story!

You have Martha who's pregnant, but she's refusing to tell anybody who the father is. She's messy, lazy, and a complete gob-shite, especially towards her father, Brian, who she hates more than anything else in the world! Living in a particularly bad area in London, she's finding it hard to leave the house without being verbally abused or threatened by thirteen year old hooligans!

Next up is Flower. Brought into the world by hippy parents, hence the name Flower, she refuses to wear make-up and is trying her damn hardest to make it in the comedy world. As a stand-up comedian, she's travelling here and there trying to get her name known in the industry, but the problem is, people just don't find her funny! To accompany her to her gigs is her over-protective boyfriend Charlie, ready to punch up anyone who insults or laughs at his girl. Charlie is also a bit of a hippy himself, and has always wanted to have a dog. But with Flower's PMT spiralling out of control, he doesn't want to put a dog in any danger. Flower seems peaceful and at one with the world, but damn, she has one fiery temper!

Sarah is the third of the ladies. She's the one with the abusive boyfriend, the one who won't leave the house without her make-up done, or her eye-lash curlers for that matter. Sick of her friend's interfering with her relationship, Sarah is ready to make a stand. She's fine. Honestly. She's got it all under control. Billy won't take it any further than a push or a shove, surely. And she can stand up for herself anyway, right?

Did the author pull it off?
Damn right she pulled it off! As I said before, this book was absolutely hilarious! some of the things that Martha and Flower come up with on their list are down-right insane, but they really made me laugh until my sides hurt! All the way through the book, I just wanted to swing one in the general direction of Billy's face! Grr, piece of SH*T!


Surely there must have been one bad point?
I'd say that sometimes I think the comedy was taken maybe a bit too far... Sometimes I was left sitting there like, wow, did they really just say/do that? But the majority of the time, I was giggling, so meh, that doesn't bother me too much!

Final thoughts?
I'm just glad I didn't overlook it and picked it up! ;)

[Margaret Galbraith · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a few pages to get into this book but then I did really enjoy it. Jo has made these characters so real I felt like punching Billy and his long suffering girlfriend Sarah too for staying with him. I’ve never been in that situation but I cannot understand why women put up with being abused verbally or worse physically by men! Jo has a wonderful way with words and right until the end I did not know how this was going to end. It’s about friendships and the lengths you would go to help a friend in need. I throughly enjoyed this even if I felt frustrated at times. It makes you laugh and upsets you all at the same time. It’s cringe worthy too in the lower working class situations which many seem to be stuck in with no way out.

[Sue Gill · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just could not get into this book.
I didnt find i liked any of the characters. I was reading it with a growing sense of dread for how it was going to treat the topic of abuse.
All in all it was making me feel down whilst not enlightening me or empowering me. having been there i know the topic of spousal/partner abuse is important and that is why i was attracted to this book. In the long run it may have had some important things to say but there was just too much dross at the start and i dreaded a book that just looks at how miserable the situation is, I know that already, i was there. i just couldnt see this book adding to my knowledge or understanding of the human condition and it surely wasnt going to make me happy or entertain me so why bother spending the time reading it?

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tackling the issue of domestic violence via deadpan humour, I really quite enjoyed this.

The characters all felt quite real, all flawed and some far more likable than others (admittedly I did spend most of my time hoping for Billy to get the kicking of a life time), and managed to convey quite a difficult situation well without succumbing to the temptation of overwrought, melodramatic writing.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know this isn't the most popular book, but my god, every time I read it, my ribs ache from laughing. It is no literary masterpiece but it is one that is entertaining within it's simplicity and it's dark humour. And it dealt with the idea of domestic abuse in a way that made light of it without belittling the people involved or the subject.

[Aidan Matthews · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm so glad to have finished this book all I hope for is that I never have to read anything like this again. In my oppinion it is extremely poor, and least said by me the better. Asthe song says "don't look back in anger".

[Jane Pyle · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a waste of reading time that was. Depressing characters, boring storyline and I actually gave up half way because I couldn't have cared less about what happened to any of them. Disappointing.

[Jam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best book I’ve read in a long time. Such a fun read. Lots of laughs & I love that is was real life not the usual unrealistic storylines. A book about 3 friends that are nothing alike but care for each other & are brutally honest with each other at times! See each other through life’s dramas. This book really shows in a comical way that life’s not perfect but you can still see the bright side of life despite family conflict man troubles & a few run ins with the law!

[Zeynep · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good story about 3 girlfriends who would go that extra miles for each other. And this extra miles could be anything you name it. I am not sure whether it is a cultural thing but I wouldn’t chose these as solutions though.
The author is highly successful in portraying all each of their life and personalities along with their boyfriends and families. I had some names in my head on who could be Flower’s heckler or Martha’s baby’s father but frankly I didn’t see that was coming.

[Rhiannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have easily ended up on my DNF pile if I had more access to books at the moment. Found myself disliking each of the characters throughout and rolling my eyes at most parts. What a shambles of an ending.

[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would give this book zero stars if I could. I can count the books I have never finished on the fingers of one hand, and this is one of them. I didn't find it at all funny, and it was poorly written as well.

[Vejas Vasiliauskas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book when I was 18 and really enjoyed it. I found myself laughing throughout much of it. I then thought I would read it again recently (in between which time I had been in and overcome an unhealthy relationship) and didn't find it funny at all. The writing was great, though.

[Andrea Fryer · Rating 5 out of 5]

laughed so much I cried when I read this

[Sergei_kalinin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Очень хотелось на выходных почитать чего-нибудь лёгонькое �� весёленькое. Понравилась задорная обложка книги :) Заинтриговало, что автор книги - популярный британский комик (ох, уж этот мне изысканный британский юмор...). Из аннотации к книге предвкушалось, что истории трёх подружек - это будет нечто в стиле "Секса в большом городе", смешное и пикантное...

А вот и нет! Книга оказалась просто про быдло и про быдляцкую жизнь жителей трущобных районов Южного Лондона. А быдло британское не очень-то сильно отличается от быдла отечественного. Поэтому видеть какой-то особый комизм в том как "простой и туповатый парень с окраины в очередной раз напился и избил свою жену" я отказываюсь. Ибо наблюдаю подобный "комизм" сплошь и рядом в обычной жизни. Скучно и грустно...

Очень утомляет, что абсолютно все герои книги - такие вот "простые ребята с окраин". Без мозгов, без серьёзных эмоций, с исковерканными с детства судьбами (но особого сожаления и сочувствия это не вызывает, т.к. они ни на миллиметр не пытались изменить собственную судьбу к лучшему), без каких либо серьёзных устремлений и желаний, не умеющие строить нормальных человеческих отношений друг с другом. Мелкие и никчёмные, и совершенно бесцветные людишки :(

Если очень коротко о содержании книги: то это история трёх подруг, которые еле-еле выживают в мире необоснованного мужского насилия. Причём насилие это со стороны близких мужчин, с которыми они сами связали свою жизнь (но никак не могут расстаться). Такие вот непутёвые дурочки. Они вроде бы даже и пытаются что-то изменить в своих отношениях с этими мужчинами к лучшему, но делают это сказочно тупо, бестолково и безрезультатно.

Не знаю, какой эффект пытался произвести автор, описывая данных персонажей и их жизнь, но они ни фига не смешные :( Они слишком реалистичные, узнаваемые. Автор пытается оживить книгу серией каких-то нелепых гэгов в стиле "и тут вдруг кто-то громко пёрнул!". И моя надежда на "тонкий британский юмор" окончательно испаряется :(

Общее впечатление от книги скорее тягостное и беспросветное. Книга про быдляцкие отношения, где ближний воспринимается только как объект для битья или похоти. И выхода из такой жизни главным героям не найти никогда...

Книга была прочитана (довымучена) "по диагонали", т.к. читать там нечего :( Разве что порадовала финальная сцена в клубе, когда одна из героинь, накачавшись наркотой (!) и взяв на прицел пистолета (!!) аудиторию и своих друзей-приятелей, устраивает зажигательный "момент истины". Эта сцена получилась неплохой... Но эти последние несколько страниц, увы, книгу не спасают

[Drew Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flower’s stand-up comic career is dead on its feet, Martha is pregnant but can’t remember who the father is, and Sarah’s slobbish boyfriend Billy has started to hit her. These three friends’ lives are intertwined by their friendship but they are also drawn together by Billy’s violent behaviour.

Women friends rallying around together to support a friend in trouble is almost a staple of so much Chic-Lit, but Jo Brand takes this premise and turns it into a darkly comic novel. This novel doesn’t sparkle with coffee shops and boutiques, this is a much gritter world of pubs, dirty flats and dingy comedy clubs, and it really benefits from it.

Here Jo Brand writes about a world that she knows well, her description of life on the bottom rung of the comedy club circuit is uncomfortably real. She also handles the relationships in this novel well, the friendship between the women and the nature of their relationships with their boyfriends. They all have the ring of real and messy relationships.

This was Jo Brand’s first novel and she creates and handles her characters well. There are plot twists that are also handled well, the characters not reacting to them out-of-character and the characters not having insights outside of their characterisation, no one suddenly shows insight out of the blue. Her writing style does owe a lot to writing comedic material, the jokes often coming from the author’s voice rather than the characters.

There are too many similes in her text; although many of them are very funny, they quickly start getting in the way of the story, and fewer would have been much better. The ending had an almost filmic set-piece quality to it, neatly tying all the plot strands. A messier ending may have suited the story better.

This was a first novel, and many writers learn their craft in their first novel, but its quality does bode well for her other novels after this one.

[Birgit · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started off this year by reading quite a lot of British chick lit. This book by Jo Brand was generally a fast-paced and witty read, but occasionally a bit overdone in the humor department and padded with (inevitably as the author is a stand-up comedian herself) stand up routines that I didn't find as funny as they were obviously intended to be. Actually, those parts of the book were mostly awful.
While I like the descriptions of those typical British characters and settings, this book hasn't been one of the best from the Isles, mostly because Brand could have made a lot more out of the storyline that centers around three friends and their problems, Billy being just one of them. It's mostly her sharp and descriptive writing style that (almost) save this debut novel.
In short: A below average chick lit novel, with a sense of humor that wasn't quite to my liking!

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a frustrating book. I almost gave up on it and I don't think my life would have been the poorer had I done so, although I'd got far enough in that it would have felt even more of an annoying waste of time.

There are glimpses in this book of the very funny and intelligent Jo Brand and some interesting themes - heavily pregnant Martha's evolution into motherhood is subtly but realistically depicted, and you certainly experience the frustrations of seeing someone locked into a relationship with an abusive partner, just as Martha and Flower want to bang their heads over their friend Sarah's on again, off again 'romance' with Billy.

But it's just not good enough. The writing on the wall appeared in a short dull episode which includes the etiquette of defaecating in a friend's toilet.

[Nicola Hopewell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book, eventually. It took a while for me to get into it but I soon became hooked and looked forward to the moments I could delve into it. I enjoyed the individual character stories and Jo's sarcasm and details of Londons less than glamorous side were told in details that made me equally shudder and laugh. I really enjoyed the ending and I was sad to finish. I always judge a book based on how much I miss the characters lives after I've finished reading and I can honestly say that I want to know what happens in all their relationships.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a big chick lit fan, but I found this more humourous then most. Did not know the the writer was a comedian until I started looking at some of the Goodreads reviews. Other then Flower I didn't really like most the characters. I found them shallow, mean spirited, purposefully ignorant and generally huge jerks. If it wasn't for Brand's funny writing I definitely would have abandoned this book, but her humour kept me going.

[Kimberley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering I got this book free with a magazine (you know what it is like when you are at an airport and faced with a delay) I was really suprised.
Easy to get into then I couldn't put it down, charactors are beleiveable, like they could be (although I wouldn't want them) living next door.
If you want something to pass the time at an airport or a good holiday read then this is a good one

[Katie Grainger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was probably the opposite to allot of awful chick lit I have had the mis-fortune to read. It had it's flaws was hard to get into and had some silly moments but overall I didn't think this was to bad.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very basic read but still very funny!

[Ester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the first part, really funny. Ending is a bit contrived

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good fun easy read

[Petrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this but I didn't. Didn't like any of the characters at all.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't read past the 2nd chapter, it was confusing...

[Ceri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, funny in places but quite an outlandish plot!!

[Mandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story was a little confusing in places but generally good. Wasn't a big fan of the ending as it just seemed to stop.

[Yolande · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abandoned.