Review: Starter For Ten

Synopsis

It's 1985 and Brian Jackson has arrived at university with a burning ambition - to make it onto TV's foremost general knowledge quiz.

 But no sooner has he embarked on 'The Challenge' than he finds himself falling hopelessly in love with his teammate, the beautiful and charismatic would-be actress, Alice Harbinson. When Alice fails to fall for his slightly over-eager charms, Brian comes up with a foolproof plan to capture her heart once and for all. 

He's going to win the game, at any cost, because - after all - everyone knows that what a woman really wants from a man is a comprehensive grasp of general knowledge...Starter for Ten is a comedy about love, class, growing-up and the all-important difference between knowledge and wisdom. Are you up to the challenge of the funniest novel in years?

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Review 

We've been told that our days are university days will define and shape the rest of our lives. This is the notion I had in my mind whilst embanking on my life at the University of Sheffield. I was told I would make numerous numbers of friends with great personalities and memories that will last me a lifetime. 

They (the UCAS advert) people lied. Although I did meet wonderful people I also met a few posh ones, the ones with more money than sense, the “oh look my daddy owns a bank” type of girls. Starter for Ten David Nichols reminded me of why some of my days at University were at times challenging and fraught. The story starts with Brian, a working class boy heading off to the great adventure that is University. He hopes to join the University Challenge Team with the ultimate goal of winning the television show. On his first night at University he meets and falls in love with Alice, a rich, spoilt and promiscuous wannabe actress. When Alice fails to fall in love with him, what ensues is a traumatic venture into the mind of teenage boy in love.  

This is a story of youth and falling in love for the first time. Falling in love at such an age can charming and filled with happy memories, watching Brian fall in love is neither of those things, it is embarrassing and filled with cringe worthy moments. Starter for Ten is realistic in its view of university with the inane lectures, posh boys with more money than sense and politically charged girls.