Bricking It

By: Nick Spalding

Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan, Heather Wilds

Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

When siblings Dan and Hayley Daley inherit their late grandmother's derelict Victorian farmhouse, it seems like a dream come true. All they have to do is fix the place up and sell it for a tidy profit!

Except - as anyone who has renovated an old house knows - things are never that easy.

The walls are rapidly crumbling around them, the architect is a certified lunatic, the budget is spiraling...and then there's the disturbingly intelligent cow to worry about.

On top of all this, the renovation is being featured on a daytime reality TV show, and as soon as Great Locations presenter Gerard O'Keefe catches sight of Hayley's first-floor balcony, he's determined to woo her out of her ban on romance, whether she wants him to or not.

Will Dan and Hayley survive and sell up? Or will the whole thing collapse on them like a ton of bricks?

From bestselling author Nick Spalding comes a hilarious tale of life, love, and dodgy plumbing.

©2015 Nick Spalding (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Sometimes I Just Need a Good Laugh

I kind of knew what to expect, as I recently enjoyed Nick Spalding's "Fat Chance" employing the same narrators. So when the big sale came along, I knew had to experience more of Spalding's magical moments.

This book has lots of laughs, indeed. In summary, brother and sister, Danny and Hayley Daley unexpectedly inherit their grandma's ramshackle Victorian farmhouse. Unexpectedly, because no one in the family even knew of the home's existence. They quickly realize they can make a killing if they renovate it. There begins the fun. Every manner of obstacle arises and the costs seem to skyrocket. All hilariously play out, as our siblings somehow to manage to stay on task.

There is a full cast of quirky characters, all of them quite memorable and guffaw-inducing, including the architect, the builders, the TV show host, and the resident cow, among others. I particularly enjoyed the alternating of narrators--they actually balanced each other out. That is, Napoleon Ryan focused on the comedic parts and Heather Wilds read her chapters more seriously. This seemed to keep the book from deteriorating into too much silliness.

This is not great, deep literature. It is a fun romp, a break from the seriousness of solving mysteries, of mass murderers, crime, holocausts, and all the other emotionally moving and tear-inducing subjects I often gravitate toward. Some times I just need to clear my head out and laugh. Nick Spalding enables me to do just this.

How could this be a best-seller?

What a disappointment. Generally, I love British humor and I was definitely in the mood for a laugh out loud story. It didn't have to have truly elegant writing, a particularly engaging or consistent plot or deeply fleshed out characters - which was a good thing since it had none of those - but there was, to my mind, virtually no humor either. Oh, plainly many attempts at humor but mainly rather forced and lackluster. The examples that come to mind immediately would give away critical plot lines, such as they are, so I will leave it at that. I have read another of the author's books, Fat Chance, and liked it better than this one but, all things considered, I don't think I will use up any more time or another credit on this author's work.

No Chance

I loved Nick Spalding's Fat Chance. His follow-up Bricking It employs the same formula -- a man and woman (in this case siblings) embark on a joint project (a home renovation) as part of a reality show, the chapters and first person narration alternating between the two. Comic hijinks ensue.

Here is what I see as the problem with Bricking It -- Fat Chance was about a weight loss contest, and there was some real sensitivity in that topic, one that Spalding handled with real sensitivity, and which allowed credible character development beyond his prime directive of playing it all for laughs.

In Bricking It, by contrast, the subject of home renovation provides no basis on which to build sympathy for the characters. It is strictly played for laughs. And I don't believe I'm wrong to say that there are no new jokes here -- if you've seen Funny Farm, The Money Pit, and the like, all these jokes have been done before.

Fat Chance was funny and endearing. Bricking It is neither funny nor endearing.

Unless you like unfunny jokes about cows and cowpies, and other things in even poorer taste than cowpies. Although, reading other reviews, a lot of people really liked the cow.

good story

good story, great humor, it was a tad predictable but I still liked it quite a bit. loved the characters.

Laugh out loud funny!

Once the sound quality of the narration was corrected it was all good. Enjoyed the listen and really did have tears running down my face from laughing so hard.

A fun adventure

As an avid HGTV fan, I enjoyed the adventure and description of the rehabbing an old house in another country. The characters were vividly drawn.

LMAO

What made the experience of listening to Bricking It the most enjoyable?

Started off normal with work to be done on a old farm house inherited by brother and sister. But it has so many quirky thing happening along the way. You fine yourself going on a very funny ride.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The decorator because you never could guess what was coming next.

Which character – as performed by Napoleon Ryan and Heather Wilds – was your favorite?

No favorite I ended up liking all of them from the siblings to cow

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Pat the cow!

We all have secrets and a past that is more than the younger generation tends to see in the elder. Our past may form us, but don't need to define us.

Entertaining read

Although the theme has been done before, and it is a bit of a sappy love story, it's witty and fun and I loved it.

Delightful and laugh-out-loud funny.

More often than not, when I encounter something funny in a book, I say to myself "Self, that's funny" and move on. So, it caught me completely off guard when I started listening to this book and found myself guffawing. Not just a chuckle, either. I mean tears-streaming-from-the-eyes kind of laughing. I'm sure my dog thought I'd gone off the deep end.

Here's all you need to know: a brother and sister inherit a Victorian farmhouse in rural England from their grandmother and they decide to renovate it. Everything about that process is colorful: the workers, the history, the everyday adventures and sometimes the language.

This isn't the kind of book that will make you smarter -- though it may make you think twice about renovating an old house. It is pure, uncomplicated entertainment. Yes, it has some ribald humor. And it's hilarious. I can't wait to discover Nick Spalding's other books.