Fat Jimmy and the Blind Ballerina

Full disclaimer: I have been sitting on a review for “Fat Jimmy and the Blind Ballerina” for a week. I have debated whether or not to actually post this review; it is not favorable to the book and I hate to insult an author. But, it’s been a week since I first drafted this review and I need to move on to other books. And I still don’t like this book, so clearly giving myself more time is not going to help.

bored

I was not impressed with this book.

I did [do] not want to write [post] this review. I received an e-book copy from the author, Eddie Owens, who asked me to read and review it, and I’m pretty sure I clearly state on my review page that I will do all reviews honestly, so I will.

Our protagonist is Fat Jimmy: he’s a stand-up comic with a particular clientele (think, “drunken frat boys”) who wants to hit it big and has decided the best way to do so is get on television. Our antagonist is . . . everyone else? I really have no idea.

Actually, I’m not really sure what the point of the book was. Fat Jimmy spends the better part of the book smoking, drinking, and talking to women just long enough that they’ll do something sex-related with him. He’s got a comic sidekick – literally, a kid who is also a stand-up comic that follows him around – and a few allies. He’s got a giant chip on his shoulder courtesy of another stand-up who stole his idea for a sitcom. He’s got four older siblings who are all very successful in their chosen careers. In a nutshell, he spends his days drinking and shagging his way across the United Kingdom while he hopes for fame.

As it turns out, the “Blind Ballerina” is a character from a comic he read as a child. He became very concerned – as a child – about how the ballerina could avoid falling off stage if she couldn’t see where the stage was. Fat Jimmy felt sorry for the ballerina, and apparently still cries over her as a drunken adult. But is she a metaphor for something? A lesson to be learned? A role model of achieving your dream no matter what? Not that I could tell.

There are a ridiculous number of flashbacks. I felt like the first few hundred pages were just laying groundwork – introducing family members, telling childhood stories, introducing friends, telling Fat Jimmy’s backstory on how he got into comedy – it was excessive.

I kept waiting for something life changing to happen to Fat Jimmy – maybe he would become blind and learn to deal with that, maybe he would have some come-to-Jesus moment and decide to improve himself and success would follow . . . nope, none of that. In the end, it was very much a reality-tv-gone-bad experience that gave him 15 seconds of fame and sets the course for the last 100 pages or so.

And ta-da – that’s the whole book! There is no seemingly giant hurdle (except his own brashness) and there is no ever-present foe trying to thwart his efforts (except, again, for himself). 

Maybe this was meant to be a personal growth novel? Except there is no personal growth.

I thought it was meant to be a comedy, but I didn’t think it was funny. Of course, that bit could just be me – I don’t find SNL particularly funny these days, and shows like “Last Comic Standing” have me fully convinced that good comedians just don’t exist anymore. So maybe it is funny. I’m maybe not the best judge of things like that.

Very few people have a life story worth writing about, much less reading about. Those that do have overcome obstacles or lived really interesting lives. Fat Jimmy does not fit that mold.

Overall: 2/10 (full credit to the author for writing a book, which is time consuming and not easy)

Discussion

  1. who
  2. URL
  3. a
  4. a
  5. Bob
  6. GCM
  7. SEO
  8. sex
  9. Val
  10. Una
  11. Pat
  12. Von
  13. Luz
  14. Ima
  15. Hal

Leave a Reply