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| A Piano in the Pyrenees: The Ups and Downs of an Englishman in the French Mountains | 
 enlarge | Author: Tony Hawks
Publisher: Ebury Press
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
New (45) from £3.07
Avg. Customer Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 3800
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 4.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0091903335
Dewey Decimal Number: 944.73084092
EAN: 9780091903336
ASIN: 0091903335
Publication Date: July 5, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Should be zero! January 6, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book is boring, lazily written, predictable and not at all funny or readable. I have never read any of Hawks other books, and with this level of writing probably never will. Perhaps there are two books by the same title, as some of the reviews certainly don't apply to the copy I read. Another one for the Charity Shop.
 Hawkes hits the right spot January 6, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a most enjoyable read. Although not hugely funny, there is an absence of belly laughs, I confidently predict that you'll sit there with a smile on your face for most of the time you have the book open. It has that feel good factor which comes about when you hear, or in this case, read of someone making a complete hash of things. Hawks has the knack of putting his foot in it and doesn't seem to learn from it. It's made even better because you know you'd probably have made the same mistakes. The only down side for me was that it finished too soon. I want to know what happened next. Recommended winter reading it's gentle humour will keep you warm.
 If this was a newspaper it would be the metro November 27, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The metro fills a niche. We all know it's not first class, but it's free and kills time on the way to work. Like the metro I own a copy of 'A piano in the Pyrenees' for economic reasons - it was free. My partner was determined to buy a book in Tesco and my mean spiritness meant I couldn't resist the 2-for-1 offer - but which book to choose. Tesco is to book choice, what a sports bar in the Pyrenees is to entertainment. Mr Hawkes and his piano looked the best of a bad lot.
You know Tony Hawks, you expect him to be a nice man and he doesn't disappoint. He has his own panache and sense of fun, but I found his writing flat and it rarely rose above the ordinary. His humour is hit and miss. I nearly gave up at page 100, but I'm pleased I pushed on, as he finds himself in the final third and his gentle style starts to swing. I've not read his other books, but I assume they're better than this one.
This would be a fair beach book, not a good one and for two weeks it was a decent alternative to the metro. If for some reason you gave this book five stars - broaden your horizon - the genre of idiot englishman abroad has many better offerings, Chris Stewart on spain springs to mind, he did it with so much more style, both in the move and his recounting of it. I give this book 2.5 stars - I couldn't stretch to 3.
 Gentle and amusing November 19, 2007
A gentle and amusing read that had me laughing out loud in places. Having lived in France myself for a short while, I could completely empathize with some of the situations that Tony found himself in. I haven't read his books before, but will try the others and look forward to them. Thoroughly recommend.
 A good read, but hardly a page turner September 22, 2007
I bought this book with high expectations after reading "round ireland with a fridge", but it took a while for the writing to match the standard of that in Hawks' first book. This is an entertaining book. with Hawks' dry humour and anecdootes making you smile, but there are few laugh out loud moments, which left me feeling dissapointed after the laughs i got out of "round ireland with a fridge", which genuinely made my ribs hurt. In short read this book if you have a bit of free time, if not look elsewhere.
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