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Beautiful People
At 9.30pm on 2nd October 2008, BBC2 will air the first in an 8-part adaptation of Beautiful People. Produced by Jon Plowman, the man behind The Office and Ab Fab, this is the charming and funny memoir of escaping a bonkers family and following your dreams Simon Doonan's childhood was a curious mix of small town boredom and bright light city dreams. Growing up in a working class area of Reading with the mad-cap Doonan clan - Mother Betty, Father Terry, blind Aunt Phyllis, grandmother Narg and Grandfather D.C. - he yearned to get out and find the Beautiful People whom he imagined lived fabulous lives of glitz and glamour. This is the story of how Simon eventually finds a way out and escapes to London with best friend Biddie Biddlecombe. Along the way they stumble upon punks, drunks, ladies of the night, the long arm of the law and all sorts of camps, vamps and outrageous scamps. But does he ever find the Beautiful People? Or could they be the ones he left behind...?
322 pages, Paperback
First published May 24, 2005
48 people are currently reading
850 people want to read
About the author
Simon Doonan
39 books106 followersWriter, fashionista, acclaimed window dresser and author Simon Doonan is the Creative Ambassador for Barneys New York. His books include Confessions of a Window Dresser, Soccer Style, Eccentric Glamour and Gay Men Don’t Get Fat. His memoir 'Beautiful People’ was turned into a BBC TV series starring Oscar-winners Olivia Coleman and Brenda Blethyn. Simon appears as a judge on the NBC television show Making It, co-hosted by Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
July 19, 2010
I picked this one up because I have been watching the tv show "Beautiful People" on logo. Boy, the TV show takes some liberties with the book, it has a few basic plot points but that is about it!
But the book was a light and funny read, and has some vignettes about Doonan's life. It is not concentrated on his childhood like the TV show, but instead offers some tales from his childhood, his mother Betty and her large hairdo, his Father Terry and the homemade wine, his grandmother Narg, his schizophrenic uncle Ken and his sister who, oddly enough, also turned out to be gay.
You also get to meet his best friend Biddie, and hear the story of the floor pillow, and his rise to become the window dresser at Barney's in New York. All in all, I found the book to be fun and insightful, and if you need a quick read to lift your spirits, this would be a good choice.
But the book was a light and funny read, and has some vignettes about Doonan's life. It is not concentrated on his childhood like the TV show, but instead offers some tales from his childhood, his mother Betty and her large hairdo, his Father Terry and the homemade wine, his grandmother Narg, his schizophrenic uncle Ken and his sister who, oddly enough, also turned out to be gay.
You also get to meet his best friend Biddie, and hear the story of the floor pillow, and his rise to become the window dresser at Barney's in New York. All in all, I found the book to be fun and insightful, and if you need a quick read to lift your spirits, this would be a good choice.
June 29, 2009
Oh my...I spent this afternoon laughing and laughing until I started to cough up a lung, thanks to Mr. Doonan's book Nasty. I caught an episode of the tv show "Beautiful People" on the logo channel; this show is based on this book, "Nasty - My Family and Other Glamorous Varmints". Highly recommend both the show and, especially, this book.
Here is a tidbit from page 221: (he has been describing his fear of death and catching a deadly disease...)
"Somehow, I managed to elude Death for another year or so. And then it happened. I contracted syphilis. I was ten.
It started one day during a highly unriveting history lesson. We were plodding through Tudor England.
"Henry the Eighth had a massive, weeping sore on his leg caused by syphilis!" yelled our bombastic headmaster.
One by one, he scrutinized our faces for some kind of reaction. He stopped at me.
"Doonan! Stop flinching! Venereal disease does not discriminate. Even monarchs get the pox, you know!"
This was the kind of alarming tidbit which the teachers and radio broadcasters of yore kept up their sleeves to enliven the dryness of history. They were no fools. These educators knew that, without the occasional bonbon of scandal, their lessons were nothing more than sleep induction devices. As a result, everyone in England knows all kinds of appalling things about the European monarchs. ..."
And don't get me started on the horseback riding lessons he and his sister have to take...
Here is a tidbit from page 221: (he has been describing his fear of death and catching a deadly disease...)
"Somehow, I managed to elude Death for another year or so. And then it happened. I contracted syphilis. I was ten.
It started one day during a highly unriveting history lesson. We were plodding through Tudor England.
"Henry the Eighth had a massive, weeping sore on his leg caused by syphilis!" yelled our bombastic headmaster.
One by one, he scrutinized our faces for some kind of reaction. He stopped at me.
"Doonan! Stop flinching! Venereal disease does not discriminate. Even monarchs get the pox, you know!"
This was the kind of alarming tidbit which the teachers and radio broadcasters of yore kept up their sleeves to enliven the dryness of history. They were no fools. These educators knew that, without the occasional bonbon of scandal, their lessons were nothing more than sleep induction devices. As a result, everyone in England knows all kinds of appalling things about the European monarchs. ..."
And don't get me started on the horseback riding lessons he and his sister have to take...
October 29, 2025
I have the TV series on DVD and revisit every now and then. Interesting to see how it was adapted from the book. Without that ... what you're left with is an anecdotal biography of charting the narrator's life from provincial England to New York and various stops in between. In the 80s he found himself living in window dressing bliss in Hollywood. Then sounds an ominous note of impending doom. I found myself thinking " What could possibly go so disastrously wrong?". I had deleted the AIDS era from my memory.
March 11, 2022
Hettie MacDonald's 1996 romantic comedy Beautiful Thing, from the play by Jonathan Harvey, is my most-loved comfort movie, with a script I know almost by heart. Such is my affection for the movie that when I discovered Harvey had also written a television series, BBC Two's Beautiful People, I rushed to watch and re-watch every episode and was delighted to find what felt like a 12-episode version of the spirit of my favorite movie. And so I came by a circuitous route to this book, the memoir by Simon Doonan on which the BBC show is (loosely) based, which I picked up hoping to find yet another iteration of the warm, loving humor that draws me to Harvey's screen works. Unfortunately here my luck ran out. This book, a loosely linked collection of memories from both Doonan's early and adult life, is simply deeply unpleasant to read. For one thing, Doonan is far from gifted as a prose writer, with "quirky" writerly habits - such as invariably referring to his domicile as "chez nous" no matter what the context - that quickly become maddening. Far more importantly, though, there's a spirit of meanness, a pronounced callowness (a different thing from levity, which, for instance, David Sedaris has a knack for evoking) about severe mental illness, and an unmistakable thread of casual racism running through the book. Perhaps the last few chapters strike a more thoughtful note, but I'm put off enough by the first 180 pages to abandon it now - and the second star is solely for the "Camp" chapter, which offers an insightful and entertaining look at an adolescent exploration of the meaning of "camp." Overall I'm greatly disappointed.
June 24, 2010
I so want Simon Doonan to be my personal BFF, decorator, shrink and partner in crime. What a delightful read- he's a kindred spirit fo' sho'.
May 8, 2021
The book that spawned the TV sit com
Beautiful People
. I don't watch hardly any TV shows as 99% are utter crap: Beautiful People was well in the 1%.
So how did the book compare to the TV show?
Superbly.
I would definitely suggest to anyone thinking about reading this book to watch the TV show first, as i can't see it being as good watching it afterwards. The book has so much more of Simon's life in it and there are so many more characters and escapades from his childhood that were left out of the TV show and if you read the book first you'll probably end up getting grumpy that some of the characters and escapades in the book aren't in the TV show.
That's not to say the TV show is bad, it's not, it's superb, but in order to make a good sit-com out of this book there had to be a few characters left out and certain characters that were left in have been changed somewhat.
Anyways, enough of that, just go watch the TV show and have a good laugh knowing you've got a lot more to read about afterwards for desert.
My first Simon Doonan book, and it certainly won't be my last. He's a really good writer. Thanks for the giggles and laughs, Simon.
So how did the book compare to the TV show?
Superbly.
I would definitely suggest to anyone thinking about reading this book to watch the TV show first, as i can't see it being as good watching it afterwards. The book has so much more of Simon's life in it and there are so many more characters and escapades from his childhood that were left out of the TV show and if you read the book first you'll probably end up getting grumpy that some of the characters and escapades in the book aren't in the TV show.
That's not to say the TV show is bad, it's not, it's superb, but in order to make a good sit-com out of this book there had to be a few characters left out and certain characters that were left in have been changed somewhat.
Anyways, enough of that, just go watch the TV show and have a good laugh knowing you've got a lot more to read about afterwards for desert.
My first Simon Doonan book, and it certainly won't be my last. He's a really good writer. Thanks for the giggles and laughs, Simon.
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May 15, 2024When Simon got pulled over by the California Highway Patrol for DUI, and they saw he was wearing a kilt, and a strap, and whatever else, the cops just fell over in hysterics, and so did I! 😂
His hardscrabble life in Reading, England with his eccentric parents and relations, the day care center that he and his sister attended every day which was actually an orphanage, his love of colorful costumes and get ups and fanciful decor was fun to read.
It seemed that his parents, aunts and uncles loved and accepted Simon the way he was, even in the 70’s, and even more interesting, they appeared to be functioning alcoholics, and even had a hobby of making wine out of all kinds of weird fruit and vegetables, but Simon didn’t seem to view it as a problem.
A colorful, entertaining autobiography. I recommend it!
His hardscrabble life in Reading, England with his eccentric parents and relations, the day care center that he and his sister attended every day which was actually an orphanage, his love of colorful costumes and get ups and fanciful decor was fun to read.
It seemed that his parents, aunts and uncles loved and accepted Simon the way he was, even in the 70’s, and even more interesting, they appeared to be functioning alcoholics, and even had a hobby of making wine out of all kinds of weird fruit and vegetables, but Simon didn’t seem to view it as a problem.
A colorful, entertaining autobiography. I recommend it!
May 10, 2024
One of those odd occasions when the TV adaptation is far better than the book. Interesting to see how the TV plot lines were fed by the novel. An enjoyable lightweight read, I don't really understand why some have given it such rave reviews. And on second thoughts there are swathes of missing links and information, for example what was SD's school life like as a camp pupil (pretty awful I imagine), how did he end up at University? Did he graduate? How did he end up in the USA? I'd have liked to know more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2017
Amusing light . Maybe I was expecting a bit more detail about his life and how he got to where he is . Its ok but seems to go round in circles a bit rather than starting at the start of his life moving on. Which it does but it just felt like your going back , read it and you'll see what I mean. I'm not saying its bad its not , but I was just expecting a little more. And no it is nothing like the tv program .
February 5, 2023
I found myself decidedly underwhelmed by this memoir, which I almost gave up on but persevered with. I found neither the writing nor the incidents described particularly funny or worth retelling. Maybe I'm annoyed that the book bears only passing resemblance to the sitcom it inspired, and which I remember as being hilarious, if patchy.
December 31, 2017
Funny, charming, thoroughly enjoyable, and recommended. Why only three stars? A bit episodic - would have preferred more of a narrative. I also thought the chapters were a bit uneven - some uproariously funny but others significantly less so.
February 8, 2020
Delightful read! Could not put it down
I knew very little of Simon just that his husband was Jonathon Adler and he designed stuff. My life has been enriched by reading his tales of mirth and wackiness. We all should have just a touch of both in our lives.
I knew very little of Simon just that his husband was Jonathon Adler and he designed stuff. My life has been enriched by reading his tales of mirth and wackiness. We all should have just a touch of both in our lives.
July 5, 2025
Light read
I wanted to read this book after seeing Simon Doonan n YouTube Homeworthy. Always found him interesting. I guess I was expecting more from his earlier life. Glad I read the book.
I wanted to read this book after seeing Simon Doonan n YouTube Homeworthy. Always found him interesting. I guess I was expecting more from his earlier life. Glad I read the book.
July 19, 2018
Thoroughly enjoyed this memoir.
March 31, 2019
Couldn't finish it
June 8, 2019
Mightily and terrifically gay. I love that I found this book in a senior citizen center lending library. Ain’t life grand?
August 9, 2019
Very fun read. A bit disjointed, but I think that's the point.
November 7, 2019
Awesome work!!!
The stories of growing up in London and moving to the US...hilarious. I appreciate the detailed account of the major fashion movements of the time.
The stories of growing up in London and moving to the US...hilarious. I appreciate the detailed account of the major fashion movements of the time.
October 5, 2020
Fairly bland coming of age story. Some good lines but falls short of the comedy the TV series.
July 23, 2021
An unexpected hilarious read. I bought this memoir at a book sale for $1 and it was the best dollar I have spent.
May 15, 2023
Simon Doonan memoirs are always a solid bet.
April 13, 2024
I got 12% done and shelved it. Just didn’t grab my interest. Maybe a little too silly and quite smutty
August 29, 2018
This is just a wonderful book. One of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. It’s laugh out loud funny, but very touching as well. I can’t wait to read everything Doonan has written
October 14, 2010
I love him even more after reading this book! I read Eccentric Glamour first and happily drowned in a sea of British humor, biting sarcasm and gay wit.British humor, biting sarcasm and gay wit. I became aware of Doonan as a writer when I fell in love with the BBC2 series The Beautiful People based on this book. This show makes me laugh so hard that I don’t even watch it while the kids are awake. I want everyone I know to watch this show so that we can use Kylie’s mashed up slang.
What I didn’t realize when I started watching the show, I already knew who Simon Doonan was! He is the man that referred to a contestant on Top Model as “Dull slash very dull” an assessment that still makes me roar with laughter every time I think about it. I had, of course, seen Doonan in other circumstances and places throughout the fashion world. But as I am fashion industry clueless, I never knew his name.
Well, this has rightfully been corrected. I feel so much better knowing that I'm not the only person who was raised by a family of lunatics! My sister and I have even started calling our grandma Narg!
I borrowed these from the library, but I will have to buy them to live alongside other British faves that pull me out of the duldrums. Books like Rachel’s Holiday and the Georgia Nicolson series.
What I didn’t realize when I started watching the show, I already knew who Simon Doonan was! He is the man that referred to a contestant on Top Model as “Dull slash very dull” an assessment that still makes me roar with laughter every time I think about it. I had, of course, seen Doonan in other circumstances and places throughout the fashion world. But as I am fashion industry clueless, I never knew his name.
Well, this has rightfully been corrected. I feel so much better knowing that I'm not the only person who was raised by a family of lunatics! My sister and I have even started calling our grandma Narg!
I borrowed these from the library, but I will have to buy them to live alongside other British faves that pull me out of the duldrums. Books like Rachel’s Holiday and the Georgia Nicolson series.
May 6, 2013
This may be the best memoir I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Set in post-WWII Britain, Simon is a poor kid growing up gay in England. The entire book is about the challenges he faced, from the threat of schizophrenia running in the family to how to navigate the world when almost completely broke, to alcoholism in various forms.
What makes this book so remarkable though is that Doonan doesn’t shy away from any of the “nastier” aspects of his life. Every gross detail is there, in ways that are a little shocking to an American reader (since we’re used to someone coddling us and hiding the gross stuff away). It creates a sense of honestly that flows throughout the entire story; not just a retelling of events but a bearing of the soul. In a hilarious and campy way.
There are a lot of really serious issues that Doonan had to deal with; poverty, alcoholism, mental illness, coming out, and death. But all these issues are handled with amazing levity. So while part of you is cringing for what he went through, the other part is laughing hysterically at the description of the rats in the apartment. Overall it’s a Cinderella story; from rags to fabulous.
What makes this book so remarkable though is that Doonan doesn’t shy away from any of the “nastier” aspects of his life. Every gross detail is there, in ways that are a little shocking to an American reader (since we’re used to someone coddling us and hiding the gross stuff away). It creates a sense of honestly that flows throughout the entire story; not just a retelling of events but a bearing of the soul. In a hilarious and campy way.
There are a lot of really serious issues that Doonan had to deal with; poverty, alcoholism, mental illness, coming out, and death. But all these issues are handled with amazing levity. So while part of you is cringing for what he went through, the other part is laughing hysterically at the description of the rats in the apartment. Overall it’s a Cinderella story; from rags to fabulous.
March 23, 2014
Completely by accident I came across the TV series called "The Beautiful People". After initial consternation, I quickly got engrossed into the story of a little aesthete from Reading who is dreaming of moving to London and meeting the beautiful people. I didn't know who Simon Doonan was but I decided to buy the book which was adapted into that series.
The first thing we learn is that Simon Doonan is much older than the characters from the BBC production and that there is a distinct story from what I had seen on TV. For that reason, Doonan's memoirs were unfamiliar to me and I have to say I enjoyed getting to know the author. I was mildly irritated by his habit of interjecting French phrases through the book (but I guess that is very Simon Doonan so I shouldn't complain) or sentences like "Life, for my sister and I, now took a Dickensian turn." However, on the whole it is a charming book. It is funny, touching (Terry displaying Betty's shoes nearly made me cry) and sincere. I'd recommend it to those of you interested in reading about a boy who grows up in an ugly town far from Important Places, where The Real Things Happen.
The first thing we learn is that Simon Doonan is much older than the characters from the BBC production and that there is a distinct story from what I had seen on TV. For that reason, Doonan's memoirs were unfamiliar to me and I have to say I enjoyed getting to know the author. I was mildly irritated by his habit of interjecting French phrases through the book (but I guess that is very Simon Doonan so I shouldn't complain) or sentences like "Life, for my sister and I, now took a Dickensian turn." However, on the whole it is a charming book. It is funny, touching (Terry displaying Betty's shoes nearly made me cry) and sincere. I'd recommend it to those of you interested in reading about a boy who grows up in an ugly town far from Important Places, where The Real Things Happen.
August 29, 2013
Its so weird--I've seen Simon Doonan on TV and thought he was a bit--well, kind of smug and kinda snobby--maybe its just the way the Brits are..but since I'm obsessed with fashion and the fact he has the best job in the world--i.e. the Barney's gig, I pre-ordered "The Asylum" and decided to to some reading of his other books.
I am soooooooooo happy I read "The Beautiful People"!!!
If you have any sort of familial dysfunction this is definitely the book to read! Wow! Mr. Doonan is just so wickedly funny in the way he writes about his youth, his family, the characters that have been interwoven throughout his life...
That's all I'm saying because I do not want to leak any spoilers!
Honestly, I had a lot of laughs with this book...and it made me realize that he isn't smug nor is he snobby--a total error of judgement on my behalf.
Its a great, light, lively read. THIS is the book you want to bring on a beach vacay or on a long flight!
I am soooooooooo happy I read "The Beautiful People"!!!
If you have any sort of familial dysfunction this is definitely the book to read! Wow! Mr. Doonan is just so wickedly funny in the way he writes about his youth, his family, the characters that have been interwoven throughout his life...
That's all I'm saying because I do not want to leak any spoilers!
Honestly, I had a lot of laughs with this book...and it made me realize that he isn't smug nor is he snobby--a total error of judgement on my behalf.
Its a great, light, lively read. THIS is the book you want to bring on a beach vacay or on a long flight!
February 22, 2018
I enjoyed reading this.
"Nasty" isn't continuous, but rather a lot of unrelated tales. Some are extremely funny, witty and forgettable, were as others the reader skims over.
Do I recommend this book? I'm not sure, I don't think I'd reread it, but it didn't have "nasty" taste. Were as not exactly devoid of content, "Nasty" is not what anyone would call overly profound. Touching at times but not all that deep.
I think that if you enjoyed the TV series like me, and are undecided between getting it or not, then I'd probably say yes. It's different from the series. But if you haven't seen it on the telly then I'd say don't bother.
One note in case you are unfamiliar with Simon Doonon: he is an openly gay window dresser, and his life is worth reading. Once. Casually.
"Nasty" isn't continuous, but rather a lot of unrelated tales. Some are extremely funny, witty and forgettable, were as others the reader skims over.
Do I recommend this book? I'm not sure, I don't think I'd reread it, but it didn't have "nasty" taste. Were as not exactly devoid of content, "Nasty" is not what anyone would call overly profound. Touching at times but not all that deep.
I think that if you enjoyed the TV series like me, and are undecided between getting it or not, then I'd probably say yes. It's different from the series. But if you haven't seen it on the telly then I'd say don't bother.
One note in case you are unfamiliar with Simon Doonon: he is an openly gay window dresser, and his life is worth reading. Once. Casually.
February 13, 2014
This book has all the elements that a drag-hag like me craves, and the writing is pleasantly passable to my classically-trained eye. In fact, you have to read it with a British accent. Doonan is a surprisingly excellent writer when you consider that he spent his life actually living, and not just cavorting in his avant-garde imagination. Being a member of a similar class of the fabulous poor and working-class club kids, I appreciated the esprit de corps inspired by tales of his childhood surrounded by the intoxicated and mentally-ill or his depiction of a dear friend lost to AIDS. I particularly related to his OCD-obsessions with contracting syphilis. This book was very close to being added to my favorites list, but I think I need to read more from Doonan to find my favorite.
October 9, 2009
Simon Doonan, Barneys Window Display Designer, blogger of the Barneys babble and fashion extraordinaire, narrates his own memoir, in a very entertaining manner. Its personal, yet so relateable. It truly captured what I feel whenver I am in any of my cumbia-filled family reuninons in Guadalajara, where my mom is dancing around with the kids, my aunt cracking up about anything and every idiosyncratic trait that families have. Doonan is honestly an inspiration to anyone who aims for better, and its not about believeing you are far better than anyone, but its about an attitude change to always aim for higher.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews