The Smoking Diaries

I first read Gray's volume 'An Unatural Pursuit' and was immediately hooked by his penetrating observations of his fading professional fortunes. Whether or not you like the world of theatre is irrelavent for the enjoyment of this volume. The candid observations of this brilliant and witty man in physical and carreer decline are wonmderful.


Hysterically Funny   August 10, 2004
 8 out of 10 found this review helpful

I found myself laughing out loud on public transport but was oblivious to the stares.

The funniest thing I've read in ages - Simon Gray is a comic genius.


An amusing and moving personal journal   July 15, 2004
 29 out of 29 found this review helpful

I enjoyed this book immensely and am rather bemused by the earlier reviews it has received here. The playright Simon Gray begins his diaries in his mid-sixties looking at the world around him and also back to his childhood. This is a hugely funny book, but also full of insight and honesty. Simon Gray has no illusions about himself and does not try to present a sanitised version of himself. He is frank about his faults and weaknesses and it is this that makes the book so special - it is refreshing to read a diary to which the air-brush has not been applied.

Although Simon Gray is deeply involved in the theatre of course, this is not the main theme of the book, as it concentrates more on his daily life and key events from his youth. Despite this, there are some moving accounts of his meetings with his close friend Harold Pinter during the latter's experience of suffering from cancer. Once I started this book I finished it within 24 hours - a rare event these days when few books seem to inspire me.


Not a diary   July 12, 2004
 4 out of 29 found this review helpful

I thought this was going to be a proper diary but it isn't. To some extent it's autobiographical but it rambles on and on in very long sentences and paragraphs. Some reviewers have found it amusing but I got up to about page 50 and found it so boring I've decided not to continue and will donate the book to Oxfam.