Making It cover art

Making It

How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life

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About this listen

Making It is a memoir about beating the odds and turning things around even when it all seems hopeless, by Jay Blades, known from the hit BBC One show The Repair Shop.

We had our hardships, and there were times that we didn’t have a lot of food and didn’t have a lot of money. But that didn’t stop me having the time of my life.

In his book, Jay shares the details of his life, from his childhood growing up sheltered and innocent on a council estate in Hackney, to his adolescence when he was introduced to violent racism at secondary school, to being brutalized by police as a teen, to finally becoming the presenter of the hit primetime show The Repair Shop.

 Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Emotions Entertainment & Celebrities Personal Development Personal Success Inspiring Heartfelt Funny Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

Lynch dramatically conveys the diverse cultures, personalities, and accents of Blades's world, and recounts how he coped with dyslexia and learned to "upcycle"—repair items from a dump for resale—then taught homeless kids this marketable skill. Most memorable is Lynch's delivery of Blades's honesty, self-deprecating humor, and can-do motto: "If something's broken (including life), you can always find a way to put it together."
Moving and beguiling
All stars
Most relevant
How could anyone not love this book...I would honestly recommend it to all audio book listeners. Jay has overcome such hardships and is so honest when telling of his struggles yet never seems resentful or self-indulgent.
What he has achieved is inspirational. Am so happy that some fateful event brought him to the attention of the nation, we are all richer for it.

Great book about a fantastic human being.....

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A generously honest open and compassionate portrayal of Jay's journey so far on this mortal coil. God bless his lovely, kind, empathic heart. He is a breath of fresh air.

Beautiful.

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This is a fascinating book. I found it very interesting, moving and inspiring. The narrator is superb.

Making it

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Descriptions of places, events and people were easy to imagine. A very personal life account which made it special. Just goes to show that sometimes we can't see our own value but others can. I really enjoyed this book listened to it over a few days. The narration was best I ve heard loved it!

Wow loved this book

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Very engaging life story, I could picture it all well from Jay's description.
Always good to hear real-life experiences and how people create success...it can happen to all of us. as well as hear about all the things you can offer in life and learn from.
The choice of narrator was very fitting to the voice we already know, assuming that due to his dyslexia he didn't narrate himself.
The end I found a little rushed which may just be because I know more about this part, ans I was enjoying the build up story so much, I didn't want it to finish yet!
I enjoyed it..thank you for sharing Jay.

engaging story, he has the right narrator!

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