I enjoyed this descriptive journey into my own youth.
This was funny and sad at times.It wasn’t the usual trip down memory Lane but a trip with a youngster faces the angst we all did frowning up and then the angst at being a minority faces a very challenging home situation.
I even enjoyed the fact that it was helpful in describing some of the challenges of being a Muslim today in Britain.
I have seen Tes Ilyas on TV but this has helped me understand where his humour originated.

Unfortunately, I think the marketing has done a massive disservice to this book - you cannot borrow the title from Sue Townsend's masterpiece if the book you're slapping it on is not even remotely as funny. The author may be a comedian, but this rarely comes through in the book version of his childhood diaries. I sniggered once, and maybe once or twice blew air out of my nostrils harder than usual.

Although the book is no way near "shalwar-wettingly hilarious", I'll give it that it is sad in places; certainly grittier and sadder than the experiences of the fictional Adrian Mole, who never had to deal with racist teenagers beating him up. Still, a lot of the time it was pretty dull. A lot of the book's content seems to be pitched at young readers, even though as far as I can tell, it's meant to be for adults (whereas Townsend's book appealed to all age ranges). I also couldn't help feeling uncomfortable at the bit when the narrator acknowledged that his sisters were forced to do housework while he wasn't, because he was a boy, but he then tried to make a joke of it by saying he was just too lazy to offer to help.

It was interesting to hear the perspective of a British Muslim who grew up in the 90s (and only a few years older than me), but honestly, all the attempts at humour were a distraction.

**listened to audiobook**

As a secondary school teacher working in a mixed multi-cultural school, this book sounded right up my street. I thought it would allow an insight into what some of my students go through.
However, this book was incredibly slow paced. The things mentioned were dull, and the book was uneventful. I lost interest very early on, which meant that some of the later more hard hitting moments just went over my head. Which is a real shame. This book had real promise but it just wasn't executed well at all.
It felt too personal - and by that I mean learning about Tez Ilyas friends and family - their nicknames etc. It felt like when a friend has a private joke with someone else and its mentioned in a conversation, making you feel out of the loop. That's how I felt reading this - out of the loop.

I usually love an audiobook that has been read by the author, but I did not like this narrator (Ilyas) - and think that this is one of the reasons I found the book dull.
Didn't enjoy this book at all.