The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman

Healing for a daughter and a child. A friend that stands by you in your journey to help you step by step. Everything you've ever wanted in a story.Highly recommended for the first time reader.

I took a break from heavier reading to explore this book with the appealing title. I am not sure how it ended up in my Kindle recommendations, but what a joy & relief to merely enjoy a wonderfully zany adventure with these delightful characters. Very enjoyable hours we spent together!

Probably my favorite book of 2021! The author moved me to tears at time with this beautiful coming-of-age story about a young wanna be comedian. The characters were so lovable, I wanted to hear more of their stories after the conclusion. Highly recommend!

There were things I really liked about this book. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and rooting for Norman. Not sure why, but sometimes it seem like it could be shorter and still tell the story. Overall a good read.

Heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. A story of life and it’s struggles, and how to never give up. I would love to meet Norman.

LOVED Juliette Henderson’s writing style! Page after page I couldn’t wait to hear what she had in store for the well-rounded, interesting characters she built. I will definitely be looking for more from this gifted author!

The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman, Julietta HendersonReview from Jeannie Zelos book reviewsGenre: General Fiction ( Adult),Wow, a book to make you laugh and cry in the same moment, its a real bittersweet read.I loved it, for a debut book its a real cracker, something that kept me fully engrossed. There was so much detail, and at times it was so emotional that I read it in breaks. Its not a book to race to the end to see what happens, but one of those where you need to savour the journey, to enjoy each moment, each even as they happen.Jax, poor, poor Jax. The kid everyone but Norman and Sadie see as a problem. The naughty kid, the one who's always in trouble. Sadie tells Norman ( and I'm sure she told Jax too) that he makes it hard for people to like him, and yet when it comes to Norman he's so full of patience, so full of help, ideas, of ways to bolster up Norman.Lets face it, most kids are cruel and when like Norman you have a very obvious skin condition you can just imagine how hard it is for him. Actually adults can be cruel too, I'm sure Jax deflected as many comments off them too.Even though Jax dies very early in the book, he's still there, alive in Normans head, giving him confidence, reminding him all the work they've done “ Timing Normie, Timing”.There's a host of incredible characters here, some turning out to be not what they first seemed, events that could be so wrong but which turn out just right. Sadie thinks she's a bad mum, and I guess when it comes to organisation, housework, the mundane stuff she's not the best, but as a mum she's perfect, just who Norman needs. He never once doubts her love, she's always there for him, never says “ not now, I'm busy hoovering” She'd probably say “hoovering, ah well, that can wait til next month”She adores Jax too, not just for the support and confidence he gives Norman, but for himself. She sees the boy behind the naughty facade.When they come up with the trip I was thinking What? Seriously? And yet it works, with the help of the wonderful Leonard and his passion for learning via adult education classes.Its a fabulous read, fun events and characters mixed with tragedy and sadness, and it felt so real, so vivid and true. Though real life probably wouldn't pack quite so much in one go! The laughter about Norman and his scales dropping off on the hotel bed-sheets ( he's the one laughing half the time), and that decamping at speed after the Chinese medicine stained towels, with the aid of Adam and the mobility scooter kind of sums up the story. Its sad, its funny, its real. The encounter with James was so funny, I could just visualise James and little Norman brazening it out – and it was the perfect set up for Norman and his confidence, to put him on the track of his future. Dave Allen, like Norman I adored his comedy, and slow burn stories was clearly Normans future.Stars: Five, a fabulous read, full of a perfect sad/sweet/happy mix. I laughed even as I was feeling so sad for poor Norman, and he'd want me to stick with the laughing.ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

This has everything a good feel book should have and ticks all the boxes. Compassionate, endearing, touching but absolutely hilarious. The pickles Norman gets into on his journey to Edinburgh had me in giggles. All I will say is revolving door and tumble dryer!!!I adored every page and wanted to savour every word as I did not want this emotional journey to end but I couldn’t put it down so was read in one sitting. A story filled with love, determination and human connection that will definitely pull on your heart strings but having you laugh out loud the next.I am missing Norman already and is most deservedly in my top favourites of year ❤️ Fans of The Secret Life Of Albert Entwistle, One Ordinary Day At A Time, Dog Days and The Authenticity Project will love this hug in a book.Thank you Julietta for writing something so wonderful

Norman Foreman is nearly 12 and him and his best friend Jax aim to perform at the Fringe festival as a comedy double act, unfortunately Jax dies and so Norman makes a new plan to perform on his own, even more unfortunately Norman isn't really that funny on his own. Oh and he also wants to find out who his dad is.Sadies, Normans Mum wants to help her son get to Edinburgh, she doesn't particularly want to help find his dad, mainly because she doesn't know who it is and it could be one of many men she had dalliances with.This book was laugh out loud funny, but also poignant in places too. Told in alternating chapters between Norman and Sadie we follow them on this journey. Norman was a great character, brave and lovely and Sadie was just hilarious. The characters they meet on their journey just had my heart melting and I had a smile on my face the whole way through.I would highly recommend this one, but there is a trigger warning for suicide

Norman Foreman is twelve years old - a scrawny, nerdy kid covered in psoriasis who has no idea who his Dad is and who's constantly worried about his fragile, hard-working single Mum. But that's all right, because he has this wonderful, funny, confident, loyal friend - local bad boy Jax, who thinks not having a Dad is cool, and who's convinced that he and Norman are 'the bee's knees and the dog's bollocks' as a comedy duo, and that they're going to make it big at the Edinburgh Festival just as soon as they turn fifteen.At least, that's how it used to be, before Jax's asthma killed him. Now, traumatised, bereft and lonely, Norman wants to do something to celebrate his best friend's memory and make him proud - even if that something is as impossible as performing in Edinburgh all by himself at just twelve years of age.His loyal Mum Sadie and her OAP friend Leonard are determined to make Norman's dream come true somehow; but there's another vital ingredient in the mix - while they're in Edinburgh, city of his conception, Norman wants to find out once and for all who his Dad is. No pressure, then, Sadie; there's still a fortnight to go before the Festival opens ...Told alternately from Norman's and Sadie's point of view, this hilarious, heart-breaking story will have you enthralled from beginning to end.

I found this book rather tedious and laborious to read. Every sentence attempts humour, which I quickly grew tired of, especially as I didn't find much of it all that funny. Many sentences in the book are also long and convoluted to become almost unreadable. Sadie's endless self-deprecation at being a bad mother wore thin pretty quickly. And the ending was something straight out of a naff romcom – highly ridiculous. Which is all a bit of a shame as Norman was an interesting character and the relationship between him and his dead best friend was also well portrayed.

This is a lovely and charming novel which centres on three main characters who each help the eponymous Norman, who is a sickly twelve year old bot who loves comedy and desires to star in his own one man stand up show.Norman has not had an easy life and he must shake off the issues that try and hold him down while he reaches for the stars.The main characters in this book are believable and strong but they provide comical moments which make the reader smile while reasing A lovely and charming book which gets four out of five stars from me.