Given that I can’t BE Jennifer Saunders, I do wish I were her BFF.  Or a meet-occassionally-for-coffee friend.  Or even just an acquaintance.  Because having read her recently released memoir Bonkers I seem to have fallen just a tiny bit in love.

Wonderfully absurd in partnership with Dawn French, absolutely fabulous as Edina Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous, Jennifer Saunders is a gifted comedian, actor and writer. And while we knew she could write for TV – and we find out why she didn’t write a movie for Goldie Hawn – this memoir is evidence that Saunders is also a dab hand at the memoir format.  Her narrative voice is engaging, lively and deft.

Saunders comes across as a genuinely nice human being – not perfect by any means, but a woman who knows something about what really matters in life.  Bonkers mainly focusses Saunders’ career in comedy and only lightly touches on her personal life; perhaps a little too lightly.  But her career, and the lifelong relationships it has brought her, are explored with insight and laughter.

Highly recommnded.

See also a review at the Sydney Morning Herald.