The Queen and I

Rating:
Summary: Great read!!!
Review: A lovely, funny read. The royals are handled with respect (well, except the bubble-headed Di) and affection. I would have given it five stars but for the ending, the writing of which was obviously farmed out to the local elementary school.

Rating:
Summary: Very, very funny novel of British class differences
Review: If you're familiar with Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole diaries (and you should be!), then you might think you know what to expect from this book: a realistic, bittersweet bit of fiction laced with humor galore taken from the most mundane situations. However, if you counted on that, you'd be wrong. In "The Queen and I," Townsend veers away from realism altogether.
The premise is the Queen's nightmare - the members of Britain's royal family are declared common overnight. Previously sequestered away in luxury, they must adapt to modern working class conditions, and fast. In this context, realism must take second place to humor. Who cares how a blue-collar cockney would REALLY treat the Queen if he were to meet her, when Townsend can so cuttingly evoke their class differences with a few words of conversation, and reduce them both to laughingstocks in the process? (The Queen's upper-crust accent is so strong, her cockney neighbor thinks she's speaking a different language.) And so forth...
A one-joke storyline? Sure. But if one topic is done right, it's sometimes all you need. Townsend is a wickedly funny observer of all the absurdities in the daily life of all humans, rich, poor and even royal. Ridiculing all it surveys, this quick escapist novel is intelligent and highly enjoyable

Rating:
Summary: Splendid idea
Review: The Queen and I is a lovely story by Sue Townsend. The book gives a very nice and detailed image of the characters and the places.
What is going on in the UK? The royal family definitely doesn't seem to be who they were before their change of lifestyle. And you will find out things about Prince Philip, Prince Charles and the Queen you would have never thought of.
Sue Townsend criticises four social aspects in the book like the differents between the poor and rich people, which is an obvious aspect. Also the educational gap between the poor and rich comes clear in the book, you can notice it in the use of language, and the schools in Hell's close haven't got enough teachers, books and pencils and the roof is about to collaps. But wait till you get to the end of the book...you will be surprised!

Rating:
Summary: Good, Silly Fun
Review: Well-known British author Townsend takes an amusing premise about as far as it can go with her silly take on what might happen if the British royal family was stripped of its titles and possessions. In this farce, subliminal TV messages hoodwink British voters into electing a Republican ticket on an abolish-the-monarchy platform. The bulk of the plot is fairly predictable, but nonetheless enjoyable, fish-out-of-water stuff as the royals are sent to live in nasty council housing amidst the rabble, sans their servants, finery, and so forth. Townsend uses this as an opportunity to satirize the royals: Diana is depicted as an airhead clothes horse and has an affair with a Jamaican fellow, Charles goes environmental and falls for one of his feisty lower-class neighbors, Harry and William run wild in the streets and quickly adopt gutter accents, Prince Phillip goes mad and is bedridden, etc... Somewhat predictably the one most able to cope is the Queen--also predictable is the ending, but you can't really expect it to end any other way.