Ashes to Ashes
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Review
`Did Berkmann waste his time watching all those Ashes games? This lovely book is proof he did not' Daily Mail --Daily Mail
`By far the best gentle, bleakly comic take on the series' Observer --Observer
`Gripping . . . If not ball by ball then certainly blow by blow, and a wonderful tale it is too . . . Very perceptive and funny' Literary Review --Literary Review
`The book oozes a laddish solidarity . . . Berkmann's wit lays bare the painful vicissitudes of hoping for English success' Independent on Sunday --Independent on Sunday
`Both informative and terrifically funny, Berkmann has written what may be the cricket book of the summer' WBQ
--WBQ
`By far the best gentle, bleakly comic take on the series' Observer --Observer
`Gripping . . . If not ball by ball then certainly blow by blow, and a wonderful tale it is too . . . Very perceptive and funny' Literary Review --Literary Review
`The book oozes a laddish solidarity . . . Berkmann's wit lays bare the painful vicissitudes of hoping for English success' Independent on Sunday --Independent on Sunday
`Both informative and terrifically funny, Berkmann has written what may be the cricket book of the summer' WBQ
--WBQ
Product Description
In summer 2009, by far the most popular event in the cricketing calendar comes round again - the Ashes series between England and Australia. The anticipation will be intense, the hype absurd, the sense of expectation never remotely likely to be satisfied, for two good reasons. England won in 2005 by a whisker. We can't expect anything so good again, possibly for the rest of our lives. The second reason is even more brutally realistic. For the truth is that, over the past twenty years at least, Australia have usually won very easily. We begin with hope, we end in despair. For the many of us who follow English cricket closely, it's a strange and terrible form of biennial punishment for crimes we didn't know we had committed. 'Hell is other people,' said Jean-Paul Sartre, and as so often he was completely wrong. Hell is Ricky Ponting winning the toss on a perfect batting strip on a glorious sunny day. Hell is what happened in Australia in 2007, when the home side won 5-0. Of course we look forward to 2009. But we also dread it, as we would dread exams or major surgery. We would be foolish to do otherwise.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having been won over by Berkmann's last two cricket books (written for cricket enthusiasts and layman alike, and laugh out loud funny in many places), I was itching to read this with the 2009 Ashes looming. However, this book is very different, covering the Ashes Tests from 1972 til 2007 is great detail. Informative, yes, but rather dry and few laughs to be found. For the newcomer to MB's work, try Rain Men then Zimmermen. Only if you want to revise or relive memories of 'recent' Ashes Tests, should you plump for this.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What a book! Given to me by my very astute wife for my 47th birthday this month (August 09) I could not put it down. If you're a cricket fan born in the early 60s then this is the book for you. Buy it - now.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Anyone who loves cricket, particularly the lower levels of amateur cricket, should read Rain Men: Madness of Cricket, an absolutely hilarious book that is half about participating in incompetent village cricket, and half about supporting incompetent England cricketers through the tough years. The follow-up, Zimmer Men (about carrying on playing village cricket despite being over forty and still hopeless), is very nearly as funny, as is Brain Men (about the peculiar English phenonmenon that is the pub quiz, so nothing to do with cricket but still excellent).
This, however, feels like it was distilled in a library out of a load of old Wisden reports by a panicked 6th-former the night before a deadline. It has little of the personal insight and wit of the other books, perhaps because he tried to include too many series, and so ran out of space to embellish. It's not much better than the majority of ghost-written sports-books-by-numbers that are written to cash in on a big event. I find it hard to imagine Berkmann stooping to those levels, but maybe he'd just had a really big gas bill.
This, however, feels like it was distilled in a library out of a load of old Wisden reports by a panicked 6th-former the night before a deadline. It has little of the personal insight and wit of the other books, perhaps because he tried to include too many series, and so ran out of space to embellish. It's not much better than the majority of ghost-written sports-books-by-numbers that are written to cash in on a big event. I find it hard to imagine Berkmann stooping to those levels, but maybe he'd just had a really big gas bill.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Marcus Misses The Mark
Having thoroughly enjoyed MB's previous literary outings, I was expecting big things from Ashes to Ashes. Suffice to say it was about as interesting as a Tavare century. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Cooley
Ashes to Ashes
A present for my brother, who was very pleased with it. He loves sport and chose it himself. Found it really interesting.
Published 6 months ago by Mrs. J. E. Pritchard
poor and uninvolving
It's pretty ambitious to try and cram 35 years of Ashes tests into a single volume and this book fails miserably to achieve it's aim. Read more
Published 9 months ago by An avid reader
Not what i was expecting, but still a good read
I have hugely enjoyed all of Marcus Berkmann's previous cricketing books, this was the main reason for choosing this book. Read more
Published 16 months ago by NAC6562
Will make a good gift for a cricket fan.
I bought this for my father-in-law, who's a big cricket fan. Haven't given it to him yet, but it looks a good read.
Published on 21 Aug 2009 by Joanie
Listmania!
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