The Sound of No Hands Clapping by Toby Young
The Sound of No Hands Clapping is Toby Young's follow up to How To Lose Friends and Alienate People
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Published by HarperCollins, out now in paperback, 615 pages, £15. |  |
Tuesday, 19, Sep 2006 06:02
Published by Abacus, out now, paperback, 288 pages, £11.99.
In a nutshell.
Gossipy. Funny. Frothing. Self-deprecating. Ego-maniacal.
What's it all about?
After detailing his spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to launch his journalism career in New York in How To Lose Friends and Alienate People, Young returns with an account of what happened next. The Sound. details his attempt to write a successful screenplay for a Hollywood big-shot. He fails. It also sees him turn his hand to playwriting, transferring his first book to the stage. It fails. In an attempt to portray a likeable side behind his egotistical hackish exterior, Young also recounts his rigorously-pursued marriage to his wife and the birth of their two young children, which forced the fiercely ambitious writer to admit that his real talents may lie closer to home.
Who's it by?
Written by self-styled media tart Toby Young. Young's main claim to fame seems to be the ability to be sacked from, or fail miserably at, a number of promising careers, having been dismissed from Vanity Fair, the Times and Mail on Sunday to name a few. Placing himself on a glass pedestal, Young feels no shame about championing his many ambitions, nor evidently about chronicling his many failings, both personal and professional. His wife suspects he might suffer from Asperger Syndrome; by the end of the book, the reader might suspect she's right.
As an example.
"Is this Toby Young?"
"Yes. Who's this?"
"_______ ______"
"Yeah, right And I'm Hugh Grant."
"Listen, I don't have time for this. I'm going to give you the number of my production office in Los Angeles and I want you to call that number and ask to speak to Lauren."
Beat.
"I'm an idiot. Sorry about that."
Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster
Reasonable. There was a mini-bidding war among film companies for Young's first memoir and though, in keeping with his track record, it failed to go anywhere, it could be that the 'love interest' element of this gives it the extra push required. However, it's equally likely that in writing this semi-expose of Hollywood, Young will have alienated all those that could have helped him and ruined his own ambitions.
What the others say
"The doyen of Loser Lit is back, as bumptious as ever. And still very, very funny" - the Sunday Times
"If you occasionally like your reading to have a certain voyeurism, this irritating self-advertisement is probably a must." - the Observer
So is it any good?
Yes, for what it is. By his own account Young aspires to grand literary aspirations. However, on the evidence here it seems fortuitous that Young has decided to ply his trade by writing about his own failings.
Having said that, Young is an amusing writer and has clearly learnt from Woody Allen the virtues of self-deprecating humour. His greatest talent lies in not entirely alienating his readership; by the end of the book you can't help but like him a little, even if you wonder how one man can screw up with quite so much stamina.
The book is split between a semi-expose of the Hollywood screenwriting process and Young's own musings on fatherhood and frustrated ambition. Many reviewers found the latter irritating, although it's an effective trick of Young's to show off his more likeable side and my loudest laugh-out-loud moment did revolve around a scene in the maternity ward.
6/10
Kate Webb