The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year

Eva’s obnoxious cheating husband and emotionally retarded twins have taken her for granted throughout her married life, so when the kids leave for University, she takes to her bed. This story tells of her transformation and the characters that come into her life after she starts to live in her bedroom. I really enjoyed this audio book, as I could really identify with the main character Eva. Some of the dialogue really hit home, as I too am around the same age as the main character, have a girl and boy and a (ex) husband who was a waste of space!

But what slightly spoiled it for me was Caroline Quentin’s ridiculous accent for some of the characters, particularly Ruby, Eva’s Mum. I actually found myself mocking the reader back as some of the pronunciation was so ludicrous (supposedly a Leicester accent?)

However, I would still recommend any woman, or man, come to that, of a certain age to listen to this book as much of it will hit home. Although the theme is slightly melancholy, there are loads of laugh out loud moments and hilarious situations.

I really enjoyed the first half of the book, the plot was a bit unbelievable, but the characters made it seem possible. However, disappointingly it all started to unravel in the final third and became too far fetched.

Loved 95% of Caroline Quintens narration, but just every so often there was a screech or shout that really peirced the eardrums.

In summary, a light-hearted listen, but not Adrian Mole standard.

I laughed my way through piles of Ironing! This is one of the funniest Books I've heard for years.

Sue Townsend, genius author of the Adrian Mole series, tackles depression and loss of direction with her usual skill and aplomb.
I defy anybody reading this novel to proceed until the end without laughing out loud and also wiping away tears.
S.T. keep writing thought provoking books, I am a committed fan!

I've always enjoyed Sue Townsend's books but this book seems to have no real point and none of the characters are likeable (maybe that is the point). It meanders without any real plot progression and comes across as quite bitter, it doesn't have the playfulness of the likes of Adrian Mole but just wallows in self-absorbed unpleasant characters. If this was by anyone else then I wouldn't have stuck with it at all and I'd suggest you skip it as well.

A suprisingly enjoyable tale that was well read. It took me a little time to get used to Caroline Quentin's delivery which I found a bit full on at the start. As the story went on however, I realised it was pitched perfectly. Her Leicester accent sounded spot on to me (as a fairly frequent visitor the city for work). Good idea, well exectuted.

The blurb sounds good but the book doesn't live up to it. Firstly I have to tell you how annoying the narration was. I hated everyone's accents and it seemed that the narrator was screaming throughout the book. It is simply horrible. Make sure you listen to the sample so you can make your own decision. In the end I gave up listening and decided to read it. It made it much better but I had the awful narrators take on the characters in my head. The book starts off well and the characters were interesting but about half way through you start to wonder "Where is this going?" and it simply goes down hill. What seems like a funny book with a middle aged women take on life takes a silly turn. Disappointing.

This book drove me mad. It just rambled on and on. I just couldn't get into all the different characters that kept dipping in and out the book. And I wanted to tell the lady to get out of the bed and what a waste of a life! I also got fed up with Caroline Quentin who talks in a baby voice all the time. I usually try to finish my books but I just couldn't with this!

This book had me laughing out loud once or twice, but by the second half, Caroline Quentin`s voice had begun to grate a tad, and the accents she gave some of the characters made them seem a sandwich short of a picnic. And while I thought the idea of going to bed and making everyone wait on me was quite appealing, Eva soon lost any sympathy I had for her as she developed into a whiney, self centred woman. The book just finishes, there`s no satisfying conclusion, in fact, there`s no conclusion at all. Hence the title of this review. Still, it passed a few shifts at work, but not one I`d recommend.

When I saw the blurb for this book, I thought it sounded like an interesting idea and expected a bit of a commentary on modern stresses and how it can compel people to give up altogether or avoid their problems. There is so much potential here for an engaging, moving, and humourous story - Instead, I got a woman going to bed for a year for no reason whatsoever, in a badly-paced, unoriginal, shallow story with no understanding of the human issues involved. The protagonists were not only unlikeable but uninteresting, and the so-called "humour" was juvenile, unfunny, and often bad taste. There is a whole section purely about body waste and the woman's crusade to find someone to get rid of her excretions in bags because she doesn't want to go to the bathroom anymore! No reason given. There is no indication of depression mental illness or bad experiences to explain her reluctance. She simple appears to be a spoiled brat.

This brings me to my major grievance with the novel: because of the lack of reasonable explanation for Eva's taking to her bed, the whole premise serves as a great big slap in the face to those, like myself, who are condemned by ill health to spend much of their lives in bed. I would LOVE to be able to do more; to go to the supermarket on my own, to get married and have children and a normal life, as Eva had beforehand. Seeing this character wilfully making everyone run around after her when there appears to be nothing wrong with her made me so angry I could happily have throttled her, when I often make myself ill trying to do more than I should so I'm not a burden to others. And yes, I have suffered from serious depression, and believe me, it is nothing like this. If depression is meant to be the cause for her choices, then the portrayal is sadly lacking.

I actually couldn't finish; I kept listening for as long as I could in the hopes that Eva would learn a lesson or that the characters would grow from the experience, but I couldn't stand it