I've never seen any of Richard Ayoade's films. I have seen him in The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh, and as Dean Learner in Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, and that's what the voice of this book reminds me of most.That said, there is a distinctness to the narrative voice that stinks of Ayoade. You can easily imagine everything in his voice, sometimes as Dean Learner, and sometimes as his unnecessarily acerbic self on Gadget Man. There's a few parts where he's repeated himself (he loves the phrase "definite article"), but it's written in such a way that you question whether it's intentional. Then he goes on to question whether his own mistakes in his possibly fictional career are intentional and you have to break down crying at the meta state of it all (this is an example of my most recently read book affected my writing style, which you could argue shows merit).So, as a piece of writing, it's not so hot. As a comedy piece, though, it works thoroughly. I laughed at some parts and smiled at others. Definitely seems to have made the working day go by quicker, anyway. My love for Richard Ayoade has not dimmed after reading this book even though it was not as good as it could have been/I hoped it would be. It is laugh out loud funny at times, very much written in his style of delivering his comedy, as is expected, as it is comepletey and utterly a conversation with himself. My favourite parts were the settings and actions that bookended the 'interviews' and some of the short essays/letters/emails/random thoughts in the appendix. The footnotes and constant flipping to the appendix is the essence of the book and I think it was done very well BUT it was a bit annoying, especially at the beginning of the book where there was one sentence that directed you to footnotes & then the appendix three times. I would forget what I had been reading before, intentional? That's Ayoade. I also found as I flipped to the appendix that there were a couple of parts that I had missed and only realised once a footnotes directed me past them (the tweets). I don't know where I missed the footnote but I didn't go back and I didn't read that bit because it would have been out of context and I really could not be bothered. Not that many of the appedicies contributed much relevance to the main text except for providing an exploration into some other hilarious situation.Even with my grudge against the appendix I thoroughly enjoyed the references to his films (absolutely loved Submarine) and it is fun to read if you are very familair with his work in the IT crowd and on panel shows because reading it in his voice makes all the difference. Is there an audio book? That'd probably make it 5 instead of 4 stars for me.
What do You think about Ayoade On Ayoade (2014)?
This is quite fun, but I was fully expecting an autobiography, which definitely isn't what this is.
—Ren
Love his acting and directing,. A funny and quirky read. Enough to keep one amused!
—Sarah
