The Nudists

by Guy Bellamy

It is a lazy summer of beach umbrellas and blistering heat. The sea is warm, the sky is blue and life is good – or is it? The Venables’ sun-drenched honeymoon takes a new direction when bridegroom Simon meets a former Page Three girl relaxing in a Mediterranean bar. And surprises of a less pleasant nature are in store for young advertising millionaire Ben Brock when the pharmaceuticals market begins to shrink. Meanwhile, penniless Nick Bannerman, furiously writing a book on woman’s inhumanity to man, receives his due and more besides as his past catches up with him and his future begins to expand. When the three parties find themselves together on a vacation to remember, all is revealed, and their crossed destinies become further entwined, for better, for worse, both richer and poorer. In this masterful comic invention, displaying all his pungent wit and subtle venom so characteristic of his earlier novels, Guy Bellamy strips the veneer off life in the last quarter of the twentieth century and, once again, succeeds brilliantly. Praise for Guy 'Whip-crack wit and street-smart prose…funny, caustic and gloriously readable' - Evening Standard 'It is rare for a book to be comic, happy and readable all at once but Guy Bellamy’s The Nudists is just that' - Daily Telegraph Guy Bellamy was born in Bristol but has lived mostly in Surrey. After National Service in Germany with the RAF, he went into journalism and has worked on newspapers in Cornwall, Bournemouth, Brighton and Fleet Street including the Daily Express and Sun. He is married with a daughter and now lives in Hampshire.

Genres: Humor, Fiction

360 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Guy Bellamy (1935–2015) was an English author known for humorous novels. He wrote 14 novels, starting with The Secret Lemonade Drinker in 1977. His last, The Secret Vodka Drinker, appeared in 2012.

Bellamy was born in Bristol in 1935, but grew up in Surrey. Upon leaving school, he joined the RAF for National Service. He worked as a journalist on local newspapers in the Surrey area before going on to work on Fleet Street, becoming one of the youngest sub-editors on the Daily Express at the age of 24. He then worked at The Sun, before leaving in 1977 to focus on writing novels.

Reviews

[Baca Buku]

I first read this book in the early nineties. I found it amusing, hilariously written and silly. Today, I still find it silly and the writing is funny, especially when it comes to the dialogue - although I also cringe at the sexism and rude language. I am still amused, but not as much as when I was younger. The references are dated, as is the hairstyle of the woman on the cover, and sunbathing nowadays?! But it's funny to read about being able to live comfortably without never having to work again on just £50,000. And I didn't know the centimetre was used as a measurement by the English then. Interesting.
These are just silly people doing silly things until they come to their senses after tragedy at the end.

[Alan Menachemson]

Yip!!! Bellamy is amazing. Totally unerrated

[Ted Bun]

Nope .... Whip-crack wit? Comedy? It failed to raise a smile here.
Street-smart prose ... Nah

The first half of the book is very tedious, concerning itself with building some rather unpleasant characters who I never developed any empathy with.

The second half is better as the pace builds and the characters lives fall apart (Hooray) before going all mushy again at the end when they all (apart from two minor characters) live happily ever after.

The title is a gratuitous misdirection ... I suppose "A Group of People Who Hang Out Nude by a Pool in Spain for a Few Days" is a bit less snappy but closer to the reality

[Lee]

So a book set in the early 1980's under a Thatcher government.

There is a rich ad agency owner, who does a bit of wife beating on the side

His ex page 3 wife who doesn't seem to notice what their young son gets up to, with a devastating result.

A misogynistic writer trying to finish his book with a large penis.

A newly married couple where the husband falls in love with the ex page 3 model and continuously hounds her and the wife who sleeps with the writer and gets pregnant.

Is there anybody in this book that I am supposed to like!!!!

[Big Endian]

About 30 years since I first read this book - which I picked up as a dog-eared copy in a charity shop in Lincolnshire, and which I still have - I'm now reading it again. As a teenager I found it hilarious, captivating, and eminently quotable, and three decades later it still sparkles. Whilst the character development is quite thin, it's still an enjoyable pulp novel to read a few pages of before sleep, or on a plane, preferably on the way to sit around a pool and drink champagne.

Still good, verging on great. Don't expect Virginia Woolf.

[Gareth Evans]

A difficult book to classify. It reads like a Nigel Williams or Tom Sharpe France, but is neither as funny nor as absurd. Having said that I found this an engaging, amusing if rather insubstantial read.

[Wendy]

This was quite amusing but a bit predictable. It would be a diverting book to take on holiday, easy to read, story moves well, and a satisfactory conclusion. It is the sort of book I'll probably forget what I've read in it. Harmless fun!

[Ronnie]

Been a bit mean with this, should be a two and a half really probably. Very undemanding, predictable and full of male fantasy. Why on earth Bellamy is so obsessed with penis size you can only guess!

[Danya]

Don’t really know what I expected when I picked this book off of my parent’s bookshelf. It was comical, but also a little uncomfortable. I didn’t really connect with the humour.

[Gail Banavage]

This guy is a bit too obsessed with penis size for my liking. It was a bit much at times.