Book info

• Title The Moaning of Life
• Author Karl Pilkington
• Year 2013
• Genre Travel

Left to his own devices, Karl Pilkington would be happy with his life just as it is. But now he's hit forty, everyone keeps asking him why he's so reluctant to marry his girlfriend and why he doesn't want to have kids. It's time for Karl to face up to the biggest question of the lot - what does it all mean? Karl thought he'd seen it all filming An Idiot Abroad, but now he's off around the globe to learn how other cultures deal with life's big issues.

Thoughts

This book accompanies the TV series of the same name, with Karl Pilkington discovering the highs and lows of what makes people happy, why they do certain jobs, and how various cultures deal with death. I haven’t actually seen the TV show, and only picked up the book as it was in a sale, but I have previously enjoyed the Ricky Gervais podcast with Pilkington’s wry look at life, so thought it would be interesting.

There are certainly a lot of fascinating views involved, many of which I found myself agreeing with, particularly regarding marriage, kids, and noisy neighbours, but sometimes you wonder if he’s just doing it to be a little provocative. Some of the humour involved also feels forced, as though it’s draped over the top of the real insight of the travelogue and memoir, regardless of whether it fits there or not.

Overall I enjoyed it though, it was interesting to read about different cultures and particularly how they react to someone like Pilkington, who has his own not-fussed style of interacting with others.

Rating: 3 / 5