Whatever Love Means

by David Baddiel

Like most people, Vic Mullan can remember where he was and what he was doing on the day of Princess Diana's death. Yes, he can remember it particularly well: he was at home, beginning an affair with Emma, Joe's wife.
The opening sections of David Baddiel's second novel chart the history of an intense and passionately sexual liaison set against the background of the most hysterical time in recent memory. But as the months wear on, and life and love return to normal, so things become more complex between Vic and Emma. And then, tragedy -a real, local, small-scale tragedy, as opposed to a national, iconic, mythological one- intervenes.

Genres: Fiction, Modern, Comedy, Romance, Contemporary, Love, London

310 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2000

About the author

David Lionel Baddiel is an English comedian, novelist and television presenter. Baddiel was born in New York, and moved to England when he was four months old. He grew up in grew up in Dollis Hill, Willesden, North London.

After studying at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree, he read English at King's College, Cambridge and graduated with a double first. He began studies for a PhD in English at University College London, but did not complete it.

Baddiel became a cabaret stand-up comedian after leaving university and also wrote sketches and jokes for various radio series. His first television appearance came in a bit-part on one episode of the showbiz satire, Filthy, Rich and Catflap. In 1988, he was introduced to Rob Newman, a comic impressionist, and the two became a writing partnership. They were subsequently paired up with the partnership of Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis for a new topical comedy show for BBC Radio 1 called The Mary Whitehouse Experience, and its success led to a transfer to television, shooting Baddiel to fame.

He has written four novels: Time for Bed, Whatever Love Means, The Secret Purposes and The Death of Eli Gold.

Baddiel has two children, both born in Westminster, London, with his girlfriend, Morwenna Banks.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I really ended up rather enjoying this book. Took a little while to settle down, and he seems to use a few ludicrously long and complicated words, but I couldn't put it down.
But, what of Joe's cough...... :-(

[Renzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Whatever loved means.

[Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of an odd one actually. presents as a "comedians; book" but isn't , because its not really funny & not intended to be (I'm guessing); What it is is a literary novel, and quite a good one. His strong point is characterisation, and the four main characters play out their minor tragedies of lives as events unravelling from their character flaws. rather than through authorial control of plot. the connection to and references regarding the death of Princess Di are allowed to drift from sight as the story unfolds which is no great loss because the 4 main protagonists are well drawn, interesting enough characters to keep the reader interested till the end. l quite liked it though I doubt I'll bother rereading it. Wouldn't mind reading other things by the author tho.

[Doris Gyamfi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I LOVED IT. ALTHOUGH I THOUGHT IT DID NOT END. I STILL HAD UNANSWERED QUESTIONS.

[Pat Osment · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book ,very cleverly written at times sad,funny and wonderful perception of emotions and feelings.Love means many things as this book shows.

[Elizabeth Carr]

A

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the first line of a book is grammatically incorrect, and therefore doesn’t actually make sense, it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the book, but I thought I’d persevere and see if David could redeem himself. Well, I certainly can’t say the writing left me ‘in awe’ - as said the review blurb on the front from the Sunday Times, but the story itself was pretty amusing and it kept me turning the pages.
It’s predominantly about a group of four people – two male friends from Uni days and their partners. There is Vic who is a carefree session musician who is having an affair with his best friend’s wife, despite having his own girlfriend Tess. Vic is not a particularly likeable character with his non committal, impulsive and thoughtless ways. I love the line where Joe describes him as 'a man whose sense of social responsibility is exhausted by pulling over to let an ambulance by'.
Joe is the wronged best friend, a conservative and gentle biochemist whose big career aim in life is to find a cure for AIDS. He lives a pretty uneventful, but relatively happy, home life with Emma and their son Jackson.
Emma comes across as a fairly weak person – well I suppose she would as we know she is having an affair from the outset, but she is also dealing with the stresses and strains of the baby, as well as her mum who is suffering from Alzhiemer’s. We are later to find out that there is a whole lot more to add to her troubles.
Tess is a bit of a sub character, Vic’s girlfriend, a successful career woman (she is a wine taster and merchant) who also appears a strong character in her relationships, in fact the only kind that could put up with Vic.
The affair between Vic and Emma begins the day of the death of Diana – hence the awful first line of ‘Vic f**ked her first the day Princess Dianna died.’ Was he in a queue?!
While this massive public tragedy unfolds so does the private one of these two couples and their entwined relationships.
Vic begins to experience new feelings, actually thinking he may love Emma, Joe struggles fruitlessly to keep their marriage together and ends up having a one night stand with Tess, who is also suspecting her boyfriend’s infidelities. This ONS tragically occurs on the eve of the death of Emma in a car crash. As Joe then struggles to work out what happened to Emma, he begins to uncover the fact that she was suffering from a brain tumour.
Then we are in for some big twists and turns and it all gets a little fast paced and far fetched. It turns out the promiscuous Vic, who always thought HIV was ‘a gay thing’, is actually carrying AIDS which he then passed onto Emma, this then being the reason her tumour had advanced so aggressively. I feel Baddiel is trying to make some moral points and gets a bit carried away at the end, losing a bit of his dry and witty ability for good storytelling.
You can tell the novel is written by a comedian with its humour happy to be made through un-PC and awkward subjects. He is also a really good story teller with great observation but his writing really isn’t up to scratch. Couldn’t he afford a decent editor? That may have turned things around a fair bit.
I can’t really see any excuse for a badly edited book. Some people may have a great story to tell but not be the greatest writer, that’s why there is always someone out there to sort that out, however, if you are someone who can excuse this then I wouldn’t totally dismiss this book. It’s an insightful and funny quick read but just not worthy of a long-term place on my bookshelf.

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty damned good - witty and accurate with regards some of the observations made about men and how they behave, staying at the high-end of contemporary/bloke lit. There was also a strange symmetry about the character in the book remembering where he was on a key date (Princess Di's death) and how I was reading this on 9/11. Baddiel tries (with some success) to say something important about life and relationships, and the message is part-conveyed, part-blurred by the amusing story he writes here. Well worth reading, and I hope to find time to read it again.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is a brilliantly written, adult book with adult themes of love, adultery, betrayal, illness and death. Although I found it to be a real page-turner, I wondered if I was reading it out of morbid fascination. Despite Baddiel's roots in the world of comedy, I found myself feeling depressed after reading this - it is not a funny book. But it is excellent and, for my money, his best and ultimately most rewarding work.

[Charlie Nowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly surprised by this novel. I found this book hard to put down and read it in three days. Baddiel is excellent at portraying his characters and most readers will relate to at least one aspect of their personalities. I also greatly admire his descriptions of London which are littered throughout the book. The story is dark with some comic touches. Overall a fantastic look at society and relationships during the end of nineties.

[Simon Bendle · Rating 2 out of 5]

A clever book that’s also funny in parts. But the behaviour of the main characters felt odd to me, implausible. And there was too much musing for my taste, too much apparent searching for universal truths in what could have been a straightforward, entertaining little story. An okay read. But Nick Hornby does this sort of stuff far better.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny to start off with, but delivers an emotional punch towards the end. Nicely written as well. The downside is the book is slightly pretentious and indulges in Baddiel's obsession such as indie bands of the 80s\90s. But don't all writers do that? The ending is also slightly unsatisfying. Well worth reading if you like his comedy.

[Stuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have guessed that this was to be about love from the title and so it was much to my dismay. However I did persevere to the last page (though) I did flick over some pages in the middle and there was a wee twist at the end.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A much more adult novel than "Time For Bed", this charts a love affair in a wonderfully realistic manner, touching and funny and horny and then throws all of that good work out with a bizarre, Frankenstein-like finish. Four stars for the first half, two for the last.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really good. Loved it. Funny, sad and I found it beautifully written. In my top three favourites.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant

[Peter Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baddiel is a surprisingly good author. He captures men's conversations and thinking well. But this is quite a bleak book, where selfishness leads to tragedy.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually gave up on it about 5 chapters in. I'm a big fan of David Baddiel's stand-up, but although it was well written and witty the characters just didn't endear themselves to me. Sorry David.

[Daniel Borough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and tragic. Amazing insight into people. I've read this book so many times and it still makes me smile and cry

[Lorraine Sprason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this and got drawn in by it. I felt the end let it down as it was implausible.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of scene setting throughout the first half but ultimately for good reason. Once the second half started I couldn't put it down.

[Grace Moovans · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not going to finish this one. Really not my kind of book, was given as a gift. Crude writing in vocab and sentence structure. Too much of a jumble for me to read.

[Tony Lawrence]

The book starts in the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana. The title is part of an interview with Prince Charles in 1981 about their relationship. At one level this book is about the death of the ‘Queen of Hearts’ and the aftermath, how it changed the British psyche. It also provided a catalyst for Vic to start an affair with his best friend’s wife. Yes Joe & Emma were going through a difficult patch, and Vic is a man of simple drives and urges, but this level of moral corruption and breach of trust is hard to understand. (Jumping ahead, Joe takes it very badly, which is not a surprise) This plot in itself would sustain the story, but Baddiel adds in a tragic personal - i.e. not public - death, Joe having a one-night stand with Vic’s girlfriend, and a medical mix-up. So there is a lot going in, but Baddiel is such as assured writer it works … this is now the 3rd book of his I’ve read, with very different styles and subject matter. The melodramatic finale between Joe and Vic doesn’t quite fit with either character, but then we were [are] a changed nation. The meek turned emotional and vengeful; the confident become confused and challenged; hearts very much on sleeves. Oh, and there’s the sad sub-plot about Emma’s mother and her dementia, maybe the simplicity of [Sylvia’s] world is a counterpoint to how complicated life and relationships can be?

[Huw Rhys · Rating 5 out of 5]

You think of David Baddiel as a rather dry observational comedian who really made his name singing about three lions on a shirt.....

Which does him massive disrespect as a novelist. This is a proper, fully blown, no holds barred love quadrangle. For those who enjoyed the Jude Law/ Natalie Portman/ Clive Owen/ Julia Roberts film "Closer", you will find some similarities here - except this is deep, it is scathing, it is brutally honest and it really connected with me emotionally at a time when.... a lot of the themes had personal resonance for me.

He makes no excuses for the flaws in his leading characters - all four of them. In their own ways, they all manage to attract some empathy - and in equal, if not greater parts, our scorn. And it is these 4 central, fully blown characters which really make this a compelling read.

It was disturbing, entertaining, thought provoking and heart rending in equal parts - it pulled at the emotions in many different directions. A thoroughly worthwhile read.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the 2nd Baddiel book I’ve read. Intertwined tale of couples and relationships. His characters I feel we all have met or relate to in our younger student days. Writing style is plain and to the point which I liked. I enjoy an intertwining tale and when the chapter title is a name, just a quirk of mine. Liked his first novel better but enjoyable nevertheless. Would deffo read more titles by him.

[Celia Adamski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, for what was contemporary fiction in the late 90’s it has dated or maybe it highlights how the world has changed and is a window to the 90’s 🤷‍♀️. The characters reminded me of people I used to know but didn’t necessary like enough to stay in touch with. But, the story was sufficiently engaging even in its drab depressed damp and mobile phone less way to keep me Reading to the end and wonder what became of Joe.

[Keith Lyons · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was given this book as a gift. Knew nothing about the author. I had to stop reading it after forty pages. Tedious, tiresome read that is meant to be clever and 'dark' (from what I read on the book's back cover).

The 'clever' sentence structure and situational constructs meant to emphasize whatever emotional or emotionless state the main character is supposed to express gave me more disdain and contempt than the character was meant to express.

Wew! That was horrible.

[Undeleeb Din · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhere in this novel is an interesting premise but as a reader I just had to work too hard to enjoy reading it. The author attempts to contrast the mundane lives of the central characters with a series of extraordinary events that occur including a predictable denouement. Ultimately the plot is slow and uninspiring and not the tender read promised on the back cover. If you are looking for something like Baddiel's Mary Whitehouse Experience then search elsewhere as you won't find those laughs and iconic catch-phrases here.

[Marc Zeller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charity shop buy as I enjoyed his first novel. Like that book, some wry (and funny), observations about relationships and love. The characters were (mostly) believable and drawn strongly. A fairly ridiculous plot twist around halfway through left it feeling disjointed but it built towards a compelling ending (providing you're happy to suspend your disbelief).

[Kate Audsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it had a gripping element that meant it exceeded my expectations and I read it in 2 days. I enjoyed the twist that I didn’t see coming and I felt that it was really well written. I’ll be reading more of his books now for sure. If anyone wants to recommend some I’d be very grateful.