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The Diary of a Nobody

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The Diary of a Nobody

By: George Grossmith, Weedon Grossmith
Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
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The Diary of Nobody (1892) created a cultural icon, an English archetype. Anxious, accident-prone, occasionally waspish, Charles Pooter has come to epitomize English suburban life. His diary chronicles encounters with difficult tradesmen, the delights of home improvements, small parties, minor embarrassments, and problems with his troublesome son. The suburban world he inhabits is hilariously and painfully familiar in its small-mindedness and its essential decency.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2005 Naxos Audiobooks (P)2005 Naxos Audiobooks Biographical Fiction Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Biography Funny Witty Feel-Good Comedy

Editor reviews

Martin Jarvis simply owns this comic novel about hapless London city clerk Charles Pooter, an endearing stuffed shirt whose life is a series of misunderstandings. Written in 1892 by two actor brothers, one of whom starred in Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas, this fictitious diary gives voice to the grandiose hopes, simple pleasures, near misses, and outright disasters that comprise most peoples' lives. Jarvis's Pooter speaks with orotund vowels and a bemused tone. As this is a diary, Pooter necessarily tells the story, but Jarvis gives such life to Pooter's comments about his companions that we imagine their voices clearly. The diary is interspersed with snippets of period classical music, which add to the all-around pleasure.
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The first couple of hours has laugh-out-loud moments, then I think it tails off a little. Without the absolute genius narration of Martin Jarvis I would have probably ditched this half way through, but he is such a joy to listen to I pushed on till the end. If you, like me, enjoy his narration, he is wonderful reading Lord of the Flies.

Genius Jarvis

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One of my favourite books!
I absolutely love Mr Charles Pooter, his wife Carrie, his old friends Gowing and Cummings and their -slightly - errant son Lupin.

Dear old Pooter is a pompous little twit but I love him for all that.

Perfectly read by Martin Jarvis.

Wonderful!

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I really like this book, and am generally most admiring of Martin Jarvis’s work, but somehow this didn’t work for me. Why it is funnier in print I don’t know - maybe the illustrations help. A bit disappointing, sadly.

Somehow much better in print

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I can't begin to think how many times I've read 'The Diary of a Nobody', but this audio version still managed to bring out comic details I'd never noticed before! It's an enduring classic of quintessentially English humour.

Martin Jarvis reads brilliantly, and you can really picture Mr Pooter setting down his diary entries every night. This is a book not to be missed.

A classic of comedy

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It was originally serialised in Punch magazine between 1888-89, before being turned into a comic novel. Former musical performers, the brothers George and Weedon Grossmith, wrote the novel and Weedon provided the illustrations. Amazing satirical book, exposing the foibles of the lower middle classes through descriptions Charles Pooter's life (dominated by his delusions of grandeur and frequent humiliations) as well as the exploits of his family, friends, servants and local tradesmen/women. Hard not to sympathise with his poor, long-suffering wife, Carrie. The book will make you wince and laugh. it doesn't feel dated, given its age. It is a perspicacious description of human beings, cleverly written, with understated irony and charm.

Hard to believe it was published in 1892

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