Book review: ‘The Smoking Diaries’ by Simon Gray

The ‘diaries’ in this four-volume series, of which this is the first, are not really diaries, as such, but more a series of reminiscences masquerading as an informal diary.

Playwright Simon Gray creates a wonderful new character named Simon Gray, who is clearly based on the real McCoy, but with added bumbling and insecurity. The entries are often genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, and often very moving. It’s a special kind of person who can make you laugh at an account of learning about a close friend’s cancer. The description of a financial adviser’s eyebrows also had me guffawing, much to the irritation of the other person in the room.

Brilliant.