Carrie Kitzmiller's Reviews > Starter for Ten

Brian Jackson is a grant student entering his first year at university. Coming from blue collar family and friends, he’s always been the oddball at home, and is hoping that at university he will find his niche. As a fan of the television show University Challenge, he is excited to make the team, even if it is only as first alternate – mostly because he gets to see the posh and beautiful Alice at team meetings. As his first year of college progresses, though, Brian learns the valuable lesson that knowledge does not equal wisdom – and that there is more to being smart than knowing all the answers.

Have you ever had this kind of experience: you’re reading a book, and you read a sentence-paragraph-half-a-page-chapter that is so tautly written and absolutely hysterical that you must read it aloud to someone immediately – only there isn’t anyone around?!? I had this experience while reading Starter for Ten over and over (and over and over) again. One of the cover blurbs says that this book has the “elusive Hornby-factor” and I would second that thought – this book has the same way of looking at the world slant-ways and finding the humor and stark-raving madness in the mere fact of being human – and yet Nicholls manages to find his own voice and not come across as a Hornby wannabe.

In Brian, Nicholls has captured the ultimate eighteen-year-old – he is convinced that he is now an adult, and he is READY FOR LIFE. And yet, any of us who have reached the age of 25 – or even 20 (or in my case almost 20 years older than that) – remember how little we knew about ourselves and the world at age 18. Brian is a truly lovable character – you root for him and root for him and then groan when he completely sabotages any chances of being seen as a cool – or even normal – person. He simply has the worst possible luck, in little things like picking out the restaurant for a first date or simply getting a haircut – so you can imagine how his luck runs when it comes to the big things, like finding true love, or getting an education.

I loved Nicholls’ novel One Day, but I’m glad that I read one review that stated how different it was from Starter for Ten. Because I knew that going in, I wasn’t expecting this to be the same kind of book. It isn’t. It has more humor and, in spite of Brian’s rotten luck, more hope. This doesn’t make it better or worse, as I gave both books five stars, just different. So, if you loved One Day, read this and know that it is a different book. If you didn’t like One Day, read this and know that it is a different book.