Simply excellent. For me there are two reasons Howard Jacobson’s Live a Little shines: the more minor of the two is that he doesn’t let the religious backgrounds of the characters overpower the story; the major is the marvellous Beryl Dusinbery. What a marvellous confection of a character! Without doubt one of the best portrayals of a character I have read in a long time.
Confession: it’s difficult for me to find books funny – which says more about me than the books I read, I know. But some of Beryl’s one-liners had me laughing (and out loud too). So maybe I should make that a third reason why Live a Little shines…
Recommended unreservedly.
Ian Gouge - Writer 