Stalin Ate My Homework - Hardcover

Sayle, Alexei

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1445855917 ISBN 13: 9781445855912

Publisher: Windsor, 2011

Synopsis

Alexei knew he was doomed to be different the day he was taken to see Sergei Eisentein's Alexander Nevsky instead of Walt Disney's Bambi. Born on the day that egg rationing came to an end, Alexei grew up with his parents and the Soviet Weekly. Each year they holidayed in Eastern Europe, where they were shown round locomotive factories and the sites of Nazi atrocities. Very funny and (almost) stranger than Alexei's fiction, this is a memoir about how Liverpool, Communism and a mother that his teachers were frighted of, made him want to leave home and make people laugh.

About this title

About the Author

Born in Liverpool, the only child of Communist parents, Alexei moved to London in 1971 to attend Chelsea Art School. He became the first MC of the Comedy Store and later the Comic Strip. After years of stand-up, television, sitcoms, films and even a hit single, he published his first highly acclaimed collection of short stories. BARCELONA PLATES was followed by THE DOG CATCHER, two novels: OVERTAKEN and THE WEEPING WOMEN HOTEL and a novella, MISTER ROBERTS. This is his first work of non-fiction.

Review

'A great memoir of a strange childhood. "Just let me read you this bit" funny.' -- Frank Cottrell Boyce 'Sayle shares with [Alan] Bennett the genius for making the mundane fascinating' -- The Times 'If the result is like his other books, it will have a moral centre, there'll be bleak bits - and it will be very funny indeed.' -- Independent on Sunday 'The brilliant satires on modern life of Alexei Sayle (the only comedian worth his salt as a novelist) are contemporary gems.' -- Tim Lott, Independent 'Being able to wrap up a big moral conundrum with the guise of a fizzing entertainment is a considerable gift...it is wonderfully entertaining and tells us a lot about what it is like to live in 21st century Britain.' -- Jonathan Coe, Guardian on Overtaken 'It's not like other comedians' memoirs. It's funny.' -- Guardian 'Sayle's book has charm and substance, both as memoir and history.' -- TLS 20101119 'this enormously clever comedian is already an established novelist and his childhood was as strange and fascinating as any fiction' -- The Times 20101127

Edition details

• Publisher: Windsor
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1445855917
• ISBN 13: 9781445855912
• Binding: Hardcover