WILD AND CRAZY GUYS
Nick de Semlyen
Picador, £9.99
It’s no Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, but Wild and Crazy Guys is essential reading for anyone who loves the comedy output of Hollywood in the 1980s. The debut of Saturday Night Live marked the dawn of a new era in American comedy and de Semlyen charts the progress of its alumni as they made it big and dominated a decade basking in Reaganite optimism. Aykroyd, Belushi, Chase, Martin, Murray and Murphy are all here, along with Canadian contemporaries Candy and Moranis, in a saga of “extreme competitiveness, alcohol, drugs and fame” and “a decade-long duel” between Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. Their interwoven stories are linked by the loose theme of how well-suited they were to success and what they did when they attained it, but de Semlyen doesn’t look too deeply below the surface to tease out an analysis. What sustains this entertaining rollercoaster of a book is its wealth of anecdotes and the personalities of the comics themselves.
The Ungrateful Refugee
Dina Nayeri
Canongate, £10.99
Nayeri arrived in the USA in 1987, a refugee from Iran. Her mother had converted to Christianity, which under the Khomeini regime could mean death, and they had escaped via the UAE, Dubai and Italy. In a book subtitled “What Immigrants Never Tell You”, she recounts how, despite her best efforts to be accepted by her adopted country, her identity as an immigrant always defined her. Since then, she’s heard the language used against immigrants grow even harsher. With her own experience to guide her, she talks to present-day refugees in camps in Greece, weaving her own story into the tales of hardship she hears from a group that includes an Iranian who was so worn down by denials for asylum that he set himself on fire. Nayeri presents their stories sensitively and respectfully while scrutinising her own relationship with her Iranian roots, her mother, Christianity and feminism.
SUMMER ON SEASHELL ISLAND
Sophie Pembroke (Orion, £8.99)
Designed to be a perfect holiday read, Pembroke’s latest seems stranded in something of a limbo this year. But it’s depiction of the idyllic Seashell Island is still seductive. Having been dumped by her fiancé and fired from her job, Miranda Waters is left in charge of her parents’ B&B for the summer. She’s always loved the peace and quiet of the island, far more than her brother and sister, Leo and Juliet, so she can’t believe it when they both turn up to stay. This is the first time for years that all three siblings have been together, and they have a lot of issues to work through while trying to save their parents’ business and organise a summer festival. Light, upbeat and romantic, with a charming sub-plot involving llamas, it won’t make up for the cancellation of a summer holiday, but might just make the back green feel slightly more like a sun-kissed beach for a little while.
ALASTAIR MABBOTT
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here