DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH BY JULIA RAESIDE
Hardback published by Bedford Square Publishers 13th February 2025
ISBN 9781835011850
Don’t Make Me Laugh balances anger and humour with the deftest of touches. It is a story about power and control and manipulation, about gendered roles in both the workplace and our personal lives, and about how women are set up in competition with each other. And ultimately – satisfyingly – it’s a story about fighting back.
Ali is a forty-five year old radio producer who’s lost her way until a relationship with a famous comedian reminds her how it feels to be alive and in love. But slowly her exhilaration turns to doubt and finally fear as she begins to see patterns in his behaviour patterns hidden in the culture of a comedy circuit where everyone else seems to be in on the joke which makes her question everything. When Ali discovers she’s not the only woman being manipulated into playing a game she’s only just beginning to understand, she decides it’s time to work together to change the rules. Don’t make me laugh celebrates women who speak truth to power through solidarity with each other, and what happens when they decide to fight back.
MY REVIEW
This story is clearly clever giving a comedian some funny lines, with some laugh out moments. I personally thought forty-year-old radio produce, Ali, was making a big mistake getting involved with a famous comedian. Ed Catchpole, maybe funny on stage, but he seemed to me, to use his fame as a well-known well-loved comedian to hook women into his web. Ali gets caught up his world, where he likes phone sex. I was in total shock at what Ali then finds out, she isn’t the only woman connected with this comedian. I became rather suspicious of the death of a woman that has been involved with womaniser comedian Ed Catchpole. A bang-up-to-date debut novel, that will have everyone talking about it, with its theme of women who need to be brave to speak out, about how they feel after a famous man has used his power to push a woman doing something that she doesn’t feel comfortable doing. Watch this space, Don’t Make Me Laugh, by Julia Raeside debut can only climb to the top as a number one seller!
About author Julia Reaside
Julia Raeside is a journalist and broadcaster who has written for the Guardian, Times, Observer and The Big Issue among others. She makes regular contributions to BBC Radio, including review spots on Radio 4’s Front Row and Lauren Laverne’s 6Music show. She lives in London with her husband, kid and cat. https://www.instagram.com/juliaraesidewriter https://www.instagram.com/thebookdealer
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