The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman
By Juliette Henderson
A wonderful lovely well written warm hearted feel good book with a little sadness a long the way. A book about grief ,family and friendship that will make laugh out loud and cry ugly tears all at once a great book about lifes journey and all its spectrums along the way on a road trip. Great read.4.5/5

This was a cosy feel good read which was also humorous.
It made me laugh and cry.

I enjoyed it but it was nothing life changing or doing anything new.

The funny thing about Norman Foreman is a gentle touching novel about following your dream. At times it's completely unbelievable, but at the same time completely believable as it deals with loss, friendship and family.

Thank you such a lovely book sad and made me cry but it was just wonderful. Wish I’d read it sooner . Definitely recommended

I can't not give it five stars when it had fat tears rolling down my face a few times, more often than not had me swallowing at my throat aching with sorrow, made me smile stupidly at myself in an empty room and the scene on Lucy's houseboat made me spontaneously burst into an embarassingly loud laugh in a not-empty room.
The funny thing about Norman Foreman is that you don't know if it's an oddly uplifting tale of gut-wrenching grief, a sharply-observed celebration of living or a simple triumph of friendship... the Rolls bloody Royce of friendships, obviously.

This is a nice book. It's about family and friendship, sometimes found unexpectedly. It's funny in places - and so it should be seeing that it centres around 12-year old Norman, a wannabe young comedian who is reeling from the death of his best friend Jax. Norman and his mum Sadie together with Leonard travel to Edinburgh so that Norman can perform in the Edinburgh Fringe festival. They make several stops en route in their search for Norman's father in what becomes a self-discovery journey for them all. The last chapter is particularly lovely. 3.5 stars from me.

Thank you to the editor and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest and impartial review.

In the midst of grieving a beloved family member myself, this book was too close to the bone but what I did take away from this book was the wonderful character of Norman, who was really vivid and likeable for me. I look forward to more of Henderson's work.

I have had this book waiting for me to read for a couple of years, and kept putting off reading it, for no real reason. However having finally read it, gotta say it was worth the wait, it was fabulous.

I absolutely loved Norman, who is 12, has dreams of performing comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his best friend Jax, despite his awful comic timing, and is also dealing with a skin condition too. He's a bit awkward but once you get to know him he really is wonderful. But his life is turned upside down when Jax dies suddenly, and he has to rethink his 5 year plan.

This is the story of Norman, coming to terms with the loss of his best friend and in doing so is trying to take care of his mum, make it to Edinburgh, come up with his own comedy routine, and potentially discovering who his father is. We have chapters from both Norman and Sadie's point of views, but it is Norman that will definitely stick with me for a long while.

He's just wonderful, brave, and has a great sense of humour. I also loved getting to know Jax through Norman and Sadie's memories of him. And Leonard a new friend of Sadie's is alongside them on a road trip that is heartwarming but also hilarious.

I really enjoyed the author's writing style and felt I really got to know these characters. It is such a charming story that really got under my skin. Definitely a book I would heartily recommend.

Thank you to Transworld and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Uplit at its very best!
A perfect blend of emotional & funny.

Heartwarming and joyful - this maps Norman’s road trip from Cornwall to Edinburgh to perform at the Fringe, just like he planned to do with his best friend… there’s a great cast of characters along the way, a few madcap encounters with potential fathers, and a lot of heart.

Sweet and funny in places but nothing ground-breaking. I sort of felt I could predict exactly how the story would end when I was about 10% in, and I’d have preferred some surprises but overall this was decent. I think it would make a passable movie.

a funny and charming read about a boy who appears a little eccentric, who builds a network of family around him as he travels the country on his comedy tour. Its refreshing, perhaps it would never happen, but aside from that it restores your faith in humanity, but most of all it makes you want to hug and protect Norman Foreman from the harsh realities of life.

This was such an unexpected tale of a young boy learning to trust himself and open up to others. The characters that surround Norman Foreman are all eccentric and delightful, as is he. I loved traveling on Norman's physical and emotional journey. It was such a pleasure to read from the first page right to the last.

A comedy drama about a young boy and his mum embarking on a road trip. The story and characters were well written and it is a light, enjoyable read.

Two pre-teen boys make it their dream to do comedy. They spend their waking hours watching classic comedians, writing material and practicing their shtick. Both outsiders in their own way: they make a perfect double act. Norman is the shy straight man and Jax is a larger-than-life bad boy with perfect comic instincts. At twelve, they’ve got three more years to perfect their act and take the show on the road, only Jax isn’t going to make it. He suffers a fatal asthma attack which rocks his family and Norman’s.

Norman lives with his mum (dad unknown) and his angry psoriasis in Penzance. His mum, Sadie, works in a dead-end job at a used car lot and worries a lot about Norman and the fallout from the loss of his one-and-only friend. With the help of a colleague (retired serviceman Leonard) and his aging Morris Minor, Sadie and her son take to the road to fulfil Jax and Norman’s five-year plan (3 years early) to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe and find Norman’s biological father.

What follows is a satisfying picaresque adventure full of colourful characters, nail-biting escapades and enough gumption to fill Edinburgh Castle. Steeped in the ever-present comedy rules and life wisdom of the precocious Jax, the organisational excellence of Leonard, Norman and Sadie are the kind of characters you really want to root for. There’s grief and comedy, love, laughs and tears and a quote from Nick Drake about birds on branches that will leave you gobsmacked. You’ll find a good smattering of comedy greats and one-liners to retell at book club. In fact, I look forward to the reading group discussion with my year 10s and 11s (a notoriously difficult age group to get to). It’s got the kind of edge and humour they will enjoy.

Classifying the book is difficult. It has all the hallmarks of a YA: young people as main characters, life lessons, character growth, a unique voice and a very pacy story. It also has the makings of what booksellers call ‘Women’s fiction’ but I feel neither of these categories fully embrace the complexities of this charming story. For one thing, it is narrated equally by Sadie and Norman and for another, a good part of the story is reflective retrospection which isn’t very YA. But the grief element, poignant though light-hearted, totally is YA. If you liked ‘The bean trees’ by Barbara Kingsolver, ‘The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry’, ‘Butterflies in November’ by Audur Ava Olafsdottir, ‘They both die in the end’ by Adam Silvera or ‘Life on a refrigerator door’ by Alice Kuipers this is definitely going to float your boat. If you fancy a go at the Edinburgh Fringe, you will love this book. If neither fits you, as Jax would say, ‘kick the door down and jump in with both feet’ because I promise you will love it.

My sincerest and most colossal thanks for bringing this book into my life. Disappearing before I had a chance to read it during lockdown, the eARC appeared again as if by magic on my NetGalley shelf. So there you go, thanks Jax, the universe and Penguin Books: you just never know what’s going to happen next.

Lisa

As someone who spent their summers working in Edinburgh during festival season, this book totally appealed to me. It's a very sweet story with humour and poignancy very well done. Enjoyed!

This is a beautiful book that manages to encompass loss, grief, laughter, humour, friendships and love. I really enjoyed this book and will read this over and over.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

This book features child death, a tough topic which is dealt with respectfully and beautifully here.

I loved the Edinburgh setting and the vibrancy of the Fringe Festival is perfectly portrayed here.

‘The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman’ by Julietta Henderson is one of those delicious books you stumble on, not sure what to expect and end up loving. The Norman of the title is almost twelve and part of a future comedy duo with a five-year plan to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe. But when his comedic partner and best friend Jax dies, Norman has to think again.
The catchy first paragraph drew me straight in although I admit to being slightly disappointed when I realised it was by Sadie, Norman’s mum, and not Norman himself. But this feeling disappeared as I settled immediately into the two voices – single mum Sadie and psoriasis sufferer Norman – distinctive, real and very funny as they tell the tale of their two-person family as they face their grief and the Jax-sized hole left in their lives.
The five-year plan – Get to the Edinburgh Fringe, baby! Get famous. Get rich – was meant for a comedy duo. Norman’s problem is that Jax was the funny one. Norman is more Ernie than Eric and Sadie fears he will fail and emulate her own father who was a not very good comedian. But when she reads Norman’s re-written plan – Look after Mum. Find Dad. Get to the Edinburgh Fringe – she is stunned. ‘Finding out Norman wanted to find his father was almost as much of a shock to me as finding out I was pregnant had been. In fact, it managed to evoke pretty much the same feelings, from what I can remember. Same order, even. Bewilderment, denial, terror, followed by how the hell did this happen.’
Aided by the never-say-die attitude of Leonard, octogenarian old soldier and part-time cleaner at the garage where Sadie works, the trio embark on a road trip to Edinburgh in Leonard’s 1971 teal Austin Maxi. The route has various detours to meet the men who may, according to Sadie’s rather hazy memory, be Norman’s father. Various adventures are had along the way, their setbacks and triumphs aided by Leonard’s widespread knowledge gained at assorted classes at Penzance Community Centre.
This is a funny, sad, emotional story about grief, love and what family really means, with lots of laugh out loud moments. It’s about how prejudices and first impressions can lead you to make judgements about people you haven’t yet met. How those old-fashioned notions of determination, plodding on, making the best of it and being brave enough to take a chance, can lead to unexpected conclusions. Ultimately, it’s about how family is less about blood and more about who you let into your life.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

A really warm funny book with an excellent set of characters who reminded me a little of the Thursday Murder Club crew. Norman was a delight and his loss so well described, and the way his Mum reacts was wonderful. Probably only 4.5* but I'm feeling generous.