An interesting setup as we visit a woman in a coma from various pints of view. French obviously revels in writing in each of the different voices. I didn't much care for the crazy, cocaine addicted, murderous lesbian lover plot line but the ending is beautiful. ( )

Dawn French, number one bestelling author of A Tiny Bit Marvellous and one of Britain's best loved comic writers, returns with Oh Dear Silvia, a darkly comic pageturner that will have you hanging on her every word.Who is in Coma Suite Number 5?A matchless lover? A supreme egotist? A selfless martyr? A bad mother? A cherished sister? A selfish wife?All of these. For this is Silvia Shute who has always done exactly what she wants. Until now, when her life suddenly, shockingly stops.Her past holds a dark and terrible secret, and now that she is unconscious in a hospital bed, her constant stream of visitors are set to uncover the mystery of her broken life. And she must lie there, victim of the beloveds, the borings, the babblings and the plain bonkers.Like it or not, the truth is about to pay Silvia a visit. Again, and again and again...Oh Dear Silvia is the brand new novel from one of Britain's most loved comic writers and the number one bestselling author of A Tiny Bit Marvellous. Praise for Dawn French:'Extremely funny' Sunday Times'A fantastic slam-dunk pageturner' Mail on Sunday

I have never heard of Dawn French before but after finishing, "Oh Dear Silvia" definitely will go and see what else if anything she has written.

In "Oh Dear Silvia" we have Silvia Shute, a divorced woman in her fifties who after a fall from her balcony is in a coma. This novel takes place in London so definitely be prepared for some British colloquialism sprinkled liberally in this novel.

This novel is broken into interludes of people who are visiting Silvia. Through these visits we find out that at one time Silvia was a carrying wife and mother of two children and just one day stopped.

The cast of characters who provide insight into Silvia and/or also how being around Silvia has affected them are her ex-husband Ed, her estranged daughter Cassie, her older sister Jo, a Jamaican nurse Winnie, her housekeeper Tia, and her friend Cat.

I really loved how each chapter was divided up by the characters. Though the novel was very slow to start we get to see with each new chapter another layer of Silvia emerges to the reader. I definitely enjoyed the chapters that had Ed, Jo, and Cat providing insight into who Silvia really was and what led her to become estranged from her family. Though this novel is definitely slow-going and boring at the beginning, I can promise that if you stick with it you will definitely receive a pay-off in the end. I have to say that the last chapter of the novel did cause me to cry and I was 100 percent moved by the story of Silvia.

The reason why I lowered my rating down a star was definitely because of Ms. French writing in the patois of the Jamaican nurse and Indonesian housekeeper. Every Ms. French did that I felt like I figuratively hit a wall while reading and trying to decipher words to understand what these characters were saying took me completely out of the story.

I definitely recommend this novel!

Please note that I received this novel via the Amazon Vine Program. ( )

Silvia Shute lies in a coma in a hospital intensive care unit. Hoping to rouse her, family and friends come in to talk to her.

There were some very, very funny parts, mainly involving Silvia's sister, Jo. Other parts I found irritating, particularly Silvia's Indonesian cleaning lady, Tia. I didn't find her particular brand of broken English convincing, and I think most Indonesians would have no problem pronouncing Shute even if the spelling threw them off at first. It certainly wouldn't end up being pronounced 'shit'.

The Jamaican nurse's eye dialect was something of a trial as well, even though she had a good storyline.

The ending was unexpectedly moving. ( )

I received this book for free through the Goodreads Firstreads program.

(This review can also be found on my blog The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl).

I love Dawn French! I think she is such a funny woman!! I was so happy to have won a copy of her fiction book entitled Oh Dear Silvia from Goodreads. However, once I started reading the book, it became apparent that I wasn't going to enjoy it.

Silvia is in a coma after falling from a balcony and hitting her head. Throughout her time in hospital, she is visited by family, her best friend, her ex-husband, her nurse, and her cleaner. Each has their own story to tell however odd it may be. Throughout this book, we will find out about who Silvia is.

The title of this book really works. After reading the book, I would say it definitely fits well with the story.

The cover of this book is quite bland. The tree on the cover of the book does have significance, but it's just rather boring. It wouldn't entice me to pick up this book to see what it's about. Surely, the cover could've been a bit more decorative.

The setting takes place mostly in suite 5 which is Silvia's room in hospital. The world building is alright. The memories of each visitor help set the story.

I found the pacing of Oh Dear Silvia to be extremely and painfully slow. At some points, I found myself skim reading the especially boring parts. I couldn't wait for this book to be over. There's not even one bit in this book where the pacing picks up. There's no real plot in this book, so there's definitely no plot twists. The pacing definitely lets this book down.

The dialogue is comedic at times which I found to be a small reprieve from the slowness of this book. Ed's dialogue really bored me.

The characters are well-developed which I found to be a relief. Each chapter of the book is told by someone who knows Silvia. The main characters that have their own chapters being Ed, Cat, Jo, Cassie, Winnie, and Tia. Ed is by far the most boring character that could ever be in a book. All he mostly talks about is his boring trees. Whilst I did find him to be a well-developed character, I found him extremely dull and found myself wishing that he'd just stop talking. Winnie and Tia were my favourite characters. Winnie has a big heart, and it really comes across in this book. Tia is from Indonesia so has a hard time pronouncing Silvia's surname which always made me laugh!! I found Tia and Jo to be the characters that brought the humour, and they delivered! Cat is the high strung character, and Cassie is the angry daughter. Each character has a unique personality. Well done to Dawn French for making each character unique! Through each of the characters' stories, we learn more and more about Silvia.

Even with the strong character personalities and comedic timing, this book still fell flat. I felt that this book was missing a plot. Oh Dear Silvia comes across more as a memoir about Silvia then anything else.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone except those who need help falling asleep. Dawn French is great, but this book just didn't do it for me. ( )